Officium (album)

Officium is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek and early music vocal group the Hilliard Ensemble, that was released in 1994. The album was recorded at the monastery of Propstei St. Gerold in Austria.

Officium
Live album by
Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble
Released1994 (1994)
RecordedSeptember 1993
VenuePropstei St. Gerold, Austria
GenreJazz, Gregorian chant
Length77:34
LabelECM New Series ECM 1525 NS
ProducerManfred Eicher
Jan Garbarek chronology
Twelve Moons
(1992)		 Officium
(1994)		 Visible World
(1995)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

The album starts and ends with music by the sixteenth-century Spanish composer Cristobal de Morales.

Reception

Allmusic awarded the album with 3½ stars and its review by Richard S. Ginell states: "Recorded in a heavily reverberant Austrian monastery, the voices sometimes develop in overwhelming waves, and Garbarek rides their crest, his soprano saxophone soaring in the monastery acoustic, or he underscores the voices almost unobtrusively, echoing the voices, finding ample room to move around the modal harmonies yet applying his sound sparingly."[1] Marius Gabriel remarked that Officium is "what Coltrane hears in heaven." [2]

Brought together by Manfred Eicher, this collaboration has become one of the most successful releases on the ECM label, achieving sales of more than 1.5 million.[3] Following a number of successful concert tours, a second collaborative album, Mnemosyne, was released in 1999. Officium Novum, another sequel album, was released in September 2010.[4]

Track listing
  1. "Parce mihi domine" (from the Office of the Dead by Christóbal de Morales) – 6:42
  2. "Primo tempore" (Anonymous) – 8:03
  3. "Sanctus" (Anonymous) – 4:44
  4. "Regnanten Sempiterna" (Anonymous) – 5:36
  5. "O Salutaris Hostia" (Pierre de la Rue) – 4:34
  6. "Procedentem sponsum" (Anonymous) – 2:50
  7. "Pulcherrima rosa" (Anonymous) – 6:55
  8. "Parce mihi domine" (de Morales) – 5:35
  9. "Beata viscera" (Magister Perotinus) – 6:34
  10. "De spineto nata rosa" (Anonymous) – 2:30
  11. "Credo" (Anonymous) – 2:06
  12. "Ave maris stella" (Guillaume Du Fay) – 4:14
  13. "Virgo flagellatur" (Anonymous) – 5:19
  14. "Oratio Ieremiae" (Anonymous) – 5:00
  15. "Parce mihi domine" (de Morales) – 6:52

Personnel

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Netherlands (NVPI)[5] Gold 50,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[6] Gold 25,000*
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[7] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[8] Gold 100,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

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References
  1. Ginell, R. S.Allmusic Review: Officium accessed 11 March 2010
  2. What Coltrane hears in heaven by Marius Gabriel
  3. In Conversation With Jan Garbarek, jazz.com Archived 2010-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Information on new CD Officium Novum
  5. "Dutch album certifications – Jan Garbarek – Officium" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 1 March 2020. Enter Officium in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  6. "IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  7. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Jan Garbarek; 'Officium')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  8. "British album certifications – Jan Garbarek – Officium". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 March 2020. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Officium in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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