Mnemosyne [BOX SET] ECM New Series ( 15 November, 1999 ) Music Our Price : £ 21.99 Prices subject to change. usually dispatched within 24 hours.

Incoherent with pleasure, babbling ecstatic praise

Words fail me to describe this music. I had already heard and loved the first collaboration of the Hilliards and Jan Garbarek, "Officium", and it completely changed my feelings toward sacred music: before listening - no interest whatsoever. After listening - completely hooked, and embarked on a trail that led through the Baltic mystics Part, Tormis and Vasks to early music, requiems, Soeur Marie Kaerouz... Mnemosyne has the same affective power, but it also introduces other, more modern pieces, and the interweaving of the saxes and voices is utterly intoxicating. Were lucky pleasure like this is legal.

The most beautiful music I have ever heard

This is, without a doubt, the most beautiful music I have ever heard. Barring none. Of course Bachs Cello concertos are amazing, and Beethovens Misa Solemnis is stunning, and all of these well known pieces speak to the soul in their way - but none of them touch the spirit quite so directly or exquisitely as this work. The first CD has quite literally helped to heal my not so well mind (brain left ravaged by a virus) and shore up a broken heart. Tracks like Agnus Dei have an ethereal rythmic quality which borrows from the best of chant and the most sublime of new age. The Hilliard ensemble do an excellent job witht he Gregorian chant - often improvised and fluid, but it is the saxaphone over the top that runs a direct line from the voices in the music to core of your being. Every evening I put my headphones on, chose a track and set the player to repeat that track over and over again. Over the course of about half an hour I can feel the sounds of this CD starting to "knit up the ravelled sleave of care", just like the most delicioius sleep. Really, honestly, the most beautiful, spellbinding music I have ever had the pleasure of listening to.

Hauntingly Beautiful, Sends shivers down your spine

I was originally played this by a friend and I knew right away that it was an album I had to have. The vocals are so pure and clear and when Jan Garbarek flows in with the sax it takes your breath away. This is an album which moves me every time I listen to it. If you havent heard it before buy it now.