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About Home To Thanksgiving
An album celebrating harvest's end, Home to Thanksgiving is a harvest itself, selected from nearly a dozen Hillier CDs. The only thing that suffered as the result of Paul Hillier's separation from the Hilliard Ensemble was his albums' graphic design. By leaving Hilliard, the men's vocal group he'd helmed, Hillier abandoned the elegant packaging afforded him by ECM Records. On ECM, his penchant for plainchant was matched by stark photography, lending a steady visual horizon while his group darted maverickly between liturgical music and Arvo Pärt's minimalism. Somehow at Harmonia Mundi, a new Hillier collection calls for a Currier and Ives painting. So be it. Hillier listeners understand that no marketing feat can fill the gaps that punctuate the 12th-century "O quanta qualia"; only a faith in his distinct musical agenda (or, perhaps, His) can bridge such pauses. There is communal cheer ("The Apple Tree," dating from the Revolution, has a catchy chorus), but it's tempered by introversion. Secular Puritan John Cage shows up, having set lyrics by Thoreau. That follows a 16th-century snippet of Thomas Tallis, and is followed itself by a 12th-century piece that attenuates 13 syllables of benediction for over four minutes. Currier and Ives may greet listeners at the cabin door, but Hillier waits inside with a sermon straight out of Jonathan Edwards. --Marc Weidenbaum
