Rating: 5/5
A gem
This is another innovative project by the great Paul Hillier. I haven't always liked his more adventurous exploits, but this one is quite brilliant, I think. He has interspersed the wonderful Requiem setting by Ockeghem with pieces (Fragments of Requiem) by the contemporary Danish composer Bent Sorensen, which could easily have turned out to be a horrible mess, but it works extremely well. Sorensen's work is distinctively 21st Century in some of its harmonic structures, but captures a similar spare and beautiful sense to Ockeghem's great work and the two composers complement each other really well. I think the result is quite spellbinding.
Hillier and Ars Nova Copenhagen perform it all brilliantly. They have a lovely, haunting sound which is exactly right for this music and the technical excellence to make it glow with beauty. Hillier uses his decades of experience to bring out just the right feel in both composers' works so that they blend very well together while retaining their individual identities. It is exemplary work, I think, and beautifully recorded so that the overall sound is quite breathtaking in places.
I would warmly recommend this even to those who, like me, are a bit sceptical about mixing contemporary music with great polyphonic works. I love Ockeghem's Requiem and was very concerned that this would simply spoil it, but tried it because Paul Hillier can produce something truly special sometimes. This is one of those times, in my view and I would urge people to try it. I think it's a real gem.
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