| Officium | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | September 1994 [1] | |||
| Recorded | September 1993 | |||
| Venue | Propstei St. Gerold Austria | |||
| Genre | Jazz, Gregorian chant | |||
| Length | 77:34 | |||
| Label | ECM New Series ECM 1525 | |||
| Producer | Manfred Eicher | |||
| Jan Garbarek chronology | ||||
| ||||
Officium is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek and British male vocal quartet Hilliard Ensemble recorded at the monastery of Propstei St. Gerold in Austria in September 1993 and released on ECM the following year.
Brought together by producer Manfred Eicher, this collaboration—based on 12th- to 16th-century liturgical works by composers including Cristóbal de Morales and Perotinus Magnus [2] —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 followed by Officium Novum (2010) and Remember me, my dear (2019). [4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [5] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [6] |
AllMusic awards the album with 3½ stars and Richard S. Ginell's review says: "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." [5]
Marius Gabriel remarked that Officium is "what Coltrane hears in heaven". [7]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Netherlands (NVPI) [8] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| Norway (IFPI Norway) [9] | Gold | 25,000* |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [10] | Gold | 25,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) [11] | Gold | 100,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music.
ECM is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres. ECM's motto is "the most beautiful sound next to silence", taken from a 1971 review of ECM releases in Coda, a Canadian jazz magazine.
Cristóbal de Morales was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Hilliard Ensemble was a British male vocal quartet originally devoted to the performance of early music. The group was named after the Elizabethan miniaturist painter Nicholas Hilliard. Founded in 1974, the group disbanded in 2014.
Manfred Eicher is a German record producer and the founder of ECM Records.
Belonging is a studio album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, recorded over two days in April 1974 and released on ECM later that year—the debut of Jarrett's "European Quartet", featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek and rhythm section Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. Because Jarrett's contract with ABC/Impulse! prevented him from performing with the quartet under his own name, the group became known as the "Belonging" quartet.
Triptykon is the fourth album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, recorded on 8 November 1972 and released on ECM the following year—his third for the label. The trio features rhythm section Arild Andersen and Edward Vesala.
Esoteric Circle is the second album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, originally released under the band name "The Esoteric Circle" on Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label but re-issued under his name on the Freedom imprint, performed by Garbarek with Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen.
Places is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, recorded in December 1977 and released on ECM the following year. The quartet features pianist John Taylor, guitarist Bill Connors, and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
Legend of the Seven Dreams is an album by Norwegian jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek recorded in July 1988 and released on ECM October later that year.
Luminessence: Music for String Orchestra and Saxophone is an album composed by American pianist Keith Jarrett featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek and the Südfunk-Sinfonieorchester conducted by Mladen Gutesha, recorded in April 1974 and released on ECM the following year—Jarrett does not perform on this album. The title is a portmanteau of "luminescence" and "essence".
Arbour Zena is an orchestral work composed by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett which was recorded in October 1975 and released by ECM the following year. The trio features saxophonist Jan Garbarek and bassist Charlie Haden backed by members of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mladen Gutesha.
Vision is an album by Indian violinist L. Shankar recorded in April 1983 and released by ECM in 1984. The trio features Shankar playing a 10-string stereophonic double violin accompanied by saxophonist Jan Garbarek and trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg.
Dis is an album by Norwegian jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek, recorded for ECM in December 1976 and released in May the following year. Garbarek is backed by American jazz guitarist Ralph Towner, with a guest appearance from Den Norske Messingsekstett on brass.
Folk Songs is an album by bassist Charlie Haden, recorded in November 1979 and released on ECM in February 1981—the second album by the trio, featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek and guitarist Egberto Gismonti, following Mágico (1980).
Eventyr is an album by Norwegian jazz saxophonist and composer Jan Garbarek recorded in December 1980 and released on ECM September the following year. The trio features guitarist John Abercrombie and percussionist Naná Vasconcelos.
Paths, Prints is an album by Norwegian jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek, recorded in December 1981 and released on ECM 6 September 1982. The quartet features rhythm section Bill Frisell, Eberhard Weber and Jon Christensen.
Madar is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek recorded in August 1992 and released on ECM in January 1994. The trio features Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem—who wrote most of the album—and Pakistani tabla master Ustad Shaukat Hussain.
Officium Novum is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble recorded in Austria in June 2009 and released on ECM in September the following year. The album is a sequel to their 1994 collaboration Officium.
Mnemosyne is an album by Norwegian jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble, recorded in April 1998 and released on ECM a year later—a sequel to their previous collaboration, Officium (1994).
