The FAT BLOKE Reviews: The Hilliard Ensemble, Review

★★★★

David James - countertenor
Rogers Covey-Crump - tenor
Steven Harrold - tenor
Gordon Jones - baritone

Founded in 1974 and this is their final year as they retire from the touring concert scene in Dec. The world of sacred music shall be a lot poorer for this loss, however as always I will continue to play their music on the Sunday show.

I've waited a long time to hear these guys in the flesh and I wasn't disappointed. Stunning rendition of Guillame Dufay L'homme Arme but the Heider was truly abysmal. Discordant rubbish even it was written for them. Leave this in the bin but thank goodness they performed both alternately!

Apart from that their encore was delightful; which a third of the audience missed because they started walking out before the Hilliards had left the arena. HOW RUDE !!! Their encore was playful, funny and delivered with panache so those who left early, you missed something rather unexpected and quite brilliant. Serves you right! 

Even with such a dreadful piece of music as the Heider (that included hand clapping?, whispering? shouting? spoken word?) it was a superb event.

Overall 4 out of 5 (the Heider let it down a point)
Off to see them in Cambridge in a couple of months time where they perform with Jan Garbarek as they recompile Officium. Cannot wait. 

Full review on Sundays show Aug 17th 21:00GMT @ Black Diamond FM