Compère: Omnium bonorum plena

The famous Hilliard Ensemble presents a tribute to the fifteenth-century master composer, Ockeghem.

Interspersed with the music are parts of Guillaume Crétin’s Lament on the Death of the Late Ockeghem, Treasurer of Saint Martin of Tours, in a specially commissioned translation by Virginia Rounding, read by Bob Peck.

Between about 1400 and 1550, musical life in Europe was dominated by five generations of musicians born and formed in a well-defined geographical area generally described by musicologists as franco-flemish. From this area emanated the overwhelming majority of the musical elite of the Renaissance – illustrious composers and musicians, recruited at great expense by wealthy patrons right across Europe. The southern part of this area, Picardy, was a rich pool of talented singers and composers. The cathedral and collegial churches of Amiens alongside the Picard church chapters pursued a general musical education for choirboys who, if they showed any natural musical talent, could become professional musicians, either in their churches or – greatest prize of all – by being recruited to the private chapels of the grandest of European rulers. With five composers from different generations, and of varying status, this programme of religious music conveys a relatively comprehensive survey of what 16th-century musical life in the churches of one of the most musically well-endowed French provinces might have been.

Odhecaton made its debut in 1998 and has won many prestigious prizes for its recordings, reflecting critical recognition of the group’s having pioneered a new interpretive approach to the performance of polyphonic music. Their core repertoire encompasses the work of Italian, French, Flemish and Spanish composers of the 15th century.

Pérotin and the Ars Antiqua Winner of a Diapason D’Or (May 2007)

In all the excitement and immediacy of live performance the world-famous Hilliard Ensemble here displays the complex musical style of the Notre Dame school of around 1200 AD. They contrast this Parisian form with contemporary examples from south-western France and England.

Hilliard live 2: For Ockeghem

A tribute to the fifteenth-century master composer, Ockeghem. Interspersed with the music are parts of Guillaume Crétin’s Lament on the Death of the Late Ockeghem, Treasurer of Saint Martin of Tours, in a specially commissioned translation, read by Bob Peck.

Hilliard live 3: Antoine Brumel

This disc celebrates another late fifteenth-century composer - Antoine Brumel, who was one of the most influential composers of his generation. The disc includes his Missa Victimae paschali and Ave, virgo gloriosa.

Hilliard live 4: Guillaume Dufay

A Franco-Flemish composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance, Dufay was the central figure in the Burgundian School and was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century. This disc includes his Missa Se la Face ay Pale.

Of The Hilliard’s recordings:

“… eloquence of worshipful music, winding through some amazing counterpoint.” The Times

“Supremely musical and overflowing with food for thought.” The Guardian