Officium Novum

In 1993 The Hilliard Ensemble released an album of early music polyphony with Jan Garbarek improvisi ng a saxophone line around the four-part harmony. Officium was a huge success – becoming one of ECM’s best-sellers and reaching the charts in several countries. It was a groundbreaking idea, Garbarek’s sax being like a fifth voice, bringing a fresh and distinctive addition to medieval music. Such musical meetings have become much more common since then. They released a follow up, Mnemosyne, in 1999, which included fragments of what could be called world music. And now here’s Officium Novum, recorded in the same glorious acoustic of St Gerold’s church in Austria.

Why is it in Songlines? Because the main musical focus is on Armenia and the composer and song-collector Komitas Vardapet (1869-1935). Listen to ‘Surb, Surb’ (Holy, Holy) and you can hear the modal sound of Armenian song, before Garbarek comes in with what could be a duduk melody, moving slowly. It’s the ‘Sanctus’ from the Armenian mass – let’s not forget they were the first Christian nation on earth – arranged by Vardapet and one of the most beautiful pieces, although Garbarek’s improvisations are not duduk-like by the end.

Apart from the four Vardapet tracks, there’s Russian Orthodox and Spanish material, music by Arvo Part and two excellent pieces by Garbarek himself. If you like the Officium approach then you’ll like Officium Novum and it certainly demonstrates how porous or unnecessary musical borders have become.