1999
2CD
Germany
The album is a sequel to Officium, one of the most significant recordings in Jan Garbarek’s career. Music spans 22 centuries, from the 'Delphic Paean' of Athenaeus to the 'Estonian Lullaby' of Veljo Tormis, via folk song fragments from North and South America and Spain.
ECM Records (ECM 1700/01)
The Hilliard Ensemble: David James (kontratenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), John Potter (tenor), Gordon Jones (bariton)
Esitus ladina, inglise, eesti, hispaania keeles
Buklett 24 lk.
Engineer: Peter Laenger
Produced by Manfred Eicher
Recorded April 1998, Propstei St. Gerold.
Engineer: Peter Laenger
Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
Peruvian folksong fragment
ISRC:
Thomas Tallis, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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16th century Scotland, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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Guillaume Dufay
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Traditional St. Albans - Great Dunmow, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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Antoine Brumel, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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13th century France, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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Guillaume Le Rouge, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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Hildegard von Bingen, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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13th century England, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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Athenaeus (127 BC), Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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Jan Garbarek
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Basque folksong fragments, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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Jan Garbarek
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16th century Russia, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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Iroquois & padleirmiut fragments, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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William Billings, Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
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Mesomedes (2nd century Greece), Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble
ISRC:
17
Review9
Website2
Database5
Music1
en_US
Mnemosyne on Spotify
Spotify
et_EE
Albumi kirjeldus Eesti raamatukogude ühiskataloogis
ester.ee
en_US
Officium was a mellifluous melding of sensual sax improvisation and early choral music; Mnemosyne embraces a wider musical world and occasionally takes a harder musical line. /---/ It is a difficult disc to categorize. Should we call it a ‘concept’ album’? In a sense, yes. Or perhaps jazz improvisation? Yes, that as well.
Gramophone
en_US
Mnemosyne means memory in pre-Christian Greek, and the five musicians work with more than 2,000 years of Western music - sometimes whole pieces, sometimes just fragments scribbled in the margins of a psalter, or, this time, new pieces by Garbarek himself that demand this most ancient of styles reinvent itself as improvisation and jazz. Officium remains a stunning, breakthrough recording. For the jazz fan, Mnemosyne moves the magic up a notch. If you haven't had the experience yet, do yourself the favour soon. (Ian Nicholson, 1999-05-01)
All About Jazz
et_EE
Product info
Amazon
en_US
However, at the purest of musical levels Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble again created something complex, exploratory and intelligently diffuse. But it is equally and endlessly rewarding when simply just drifting past, as a kind of intellectual ambience. (Graham Reid, 2012-02-12)
Elsewhere.co.nz
en_US
Info on record company homepage
ECM Records
en_US
Garbarek and the Hilliard singers cover a wider scope of music this time out, drawing on repertoire ranging from “Delphic Paean” of Athenaeus, circa 127 B.C., a 16th-century Scottish “Remember Me My Dear” to a modern “Estonian Lullaby” and the Garbarek original “Loiterando.” Mesmerizing trance music, from ancient to the future. (Bill Milkowski, 2000)
JazzTimes
en_US
... to a lullaby by the contemporary Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, with intervening contributions by Hildegard von Bingen, William Billings, and Thomas Tallis, Iroquois Indians, Basque and Peruvian folksongs, and many more far-flung choices. (Richard S. Ginell)
AllMusic
en_US
CD info
RateYourMusic
en_US
CD info
MusicBrainz
en_US
Mnemosyne is a sort of collaborative original composition that plays for one-and-three-quarter hours, and ECM's photographic presentation toys with air, earth and spirit much as Garbarek and the Hilliards do in musical terms.. (Rob Cowan, 1999-04-16)
Independent
en_US
CD info
Discogs
en_US
On “Mnemosyne,” their recent collaboration, the origin of their songs extends back to the second century B.C. with a Greek hymn to Delphic gods and ranges through ancient, obscure music al traditions as diverse as Quechuan folk songs, Estonian lullabies, Iroquois dances and Christian chants. (Michael Pronko, 2002-01-30)
The Japan Times
en_US
While familiar territories abound—among them pieces by Tallis, Dufay, and Tormis—the addition of tenor and soprano saxophones renders them beautifully arcane. Even during those pieces in which the Hilliards sing alone, Garbarek’s presence is ever felt, hovering like a shadow in the corner of our vision. (Tyran Grillo, 2010-09-24)
ECM Reviews
en_US
CD info
ArkivMusic
en_US
Paul Griffiths reviews concert by Hilliard Ensemble and improvising saxophonist Jan Garbarek at Church of St Ignatius Loyola (M) (1999-03-23)
New York Times
en_US
Officium was a mellifluous melding of sensual sax improvisation and early choral music; Mnemosyne embraces a wider musical world and occasionally takes a harder musical line. /---/ It is a difficult disc to categorize. Should we call it a ‘concept’ album’? In a sense, yes. Or perhaps jazz improvisation? Yes, that as well.
Gramophone
en_US
Mnemosyne means memory in pre-Christian Greek, and the five musicians work with more than 2,000 years of Western music - sometimes whole pieces, sometimes just fragments scribbled in the margins of a psalter, or, this time, new pieces by Garbarek himself that demand this most ancient of styles reinvent itself as improvisation and jazz. Officium remains a stunning, breakthrough recording. For the jazz fan, Mnemosyne moves the magic up a notch. If you haven't had the experience yet, do yourself the favour soon. (Ian Nicholson, 1999-05-01)
All About Jazz
en_US
However, at the purest of musical levels Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble again created something complex, exploratory and intelligently diffuse. But it is equally and endlessly rewarding when simply just drifting past, as a kind of intellectual ambience. (Graham Reid, 2012-02-12)
Elsewhere.co.nz
en_US
Garbarek and the Hilliard singers cover a wider scope of music this time out, drawing on repertoire ranging from “Delphic Paean” of Athenaeus, circa 127 B.C., a 16th-century Scottish “Remember Me My Dear” to a modern “Estonian Lullaby” and the Garbarek original “Loiterando.” Mesmerizing trance music, from ancient to the future. (Bill Milkowski, 2000)
JazzTimes
en_US
... to a lullaby by the contemporary Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, with intervening contributions by Hildegard von Bingen, William Billings, and Thomas Tallis, Iroquois Indians, Basque and Peruvian folksongs, and many more far-flung choices. (Richard S. Ginell)
AllMusic
en_US
Mnemosyne is a sort of collaborative original composition that plays for one-and-three-quarter hours, and ECM's photographic presentation toys with air, earth and spirit much as Garbarek and the Hilliards do in musical terms.. (Rob Cowan, 1999-04-16)
Independent
en_US
On “Mnemosyne,” their recent collaboration, the origin of their songs extends back to the second century B.C. with a Greek hymn to Delphic gods and ranges through ancient, obscure music al traditions as diverse as Quechuan folk songs, Estonian lullabies, Iroquois dances and Christian chants. (Michael Pronko, 2002-01-30)
The Japan Times
en_US
While familiar territories abound—among them pieces by Tallis, Dufay, and Tormis—the addition of tenor and soprano saxophones renders them beautifully arcane. Even during those pieces in which the Hilliards sing alone, Garbarek’s presence is ever felt, hovering like a shadow in the corner of our vision. (Tyran Grillo, 2010-09-24)
ECM Reviews
en_US
Paul Griffiths reviews concert by Hilliard Ensemble and improvising saxophonist Jan Garbarek at Church of St Ignatius Loyola (M) (1999-03-23)
New York Times
et_EE
Albumi kirjeldus Eesti raamatukogude ühiskataloogis
ester.ee
en_US
CD info
RateYourMusic
en_US
CD info
MusicBrainz
en_US
CD info
Discogs
en_US
CD info
ArkivMusic