Paul Hillier
Proensa
ECM NEW SERIES (Germany) 1989
ECM1368 (LP) insert
sleeve : EX(Some light stains)
media : EX/EX(a slight dust noise)
British baritone vocalist Paul Hillier released this album in 1989 on ECM NEW SERIES, the contemporary music division of the up-and-coming German jazz label. The album was released in 1989 on ECM NEW SERIES, the contemporary music division of the leading German jazz label, and featured the American lute player Stepehn Stubbd, viola player Erin Headley, and harpist Andrew Lawrence-King, with whom Paul Hillier has frequently collaborated. This work features medieval troubadour songs from Roman Provence (present-day southern France). The entire piece is performed by an ensemble of vocalists and stringed instruments, and the taut, delicate melodies of the lute, harp, and viols, together with the gentle vocals, float through the sound field with a pleasant reverberation, creating a wonderful sense of meditative atmosphere. This is old music, but it sounds very fresh. As always, I take my hat off to label owner Manfred Eicher, who is also a producer.
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