The 'Hilliard sound'—''specific, identifiable'', in the words of Paul Hillier, so familiar in past recordings in areas far removed from the present programme, seems none the less, to be absolutely right for this delightful selection of German romantic partsongs. That characteristic sound is a rich blend, made of nine hand-picked individual male voices. They form, together, an instrument of quite remarkable beauty and almost limitless flexibility, capable of interpreting moods as different as Max Reger's dark musings on the subject of death (in Ich hab' die Nacht getraumet, for example), and Schubert's tenderest thoughts on love (in Liebe). A typical example of the group's flexibility is their handling of a song such as Schubert's Sehnsucht, which opens slowly, allowing the listener to enjoy to the full the lush harmonies of the composer; then, with commendable discipline, moving as one, they proceed to interpret each phrase, each word individually with meticulous tuning, subtly graded dynamics and clean, expressive declamation. They are equally at home in the more rumbustious jollity of Schumann's ''Die Minnesanger'' and in the same composer's quietly descriptive ''Lotosblume''—sung, indeed, with a very audible portamento at ''Sonne Pracht'': how the singer must have enjoyed that moment!—though such undisguised self-indulgence is a comparative rarity. The two songs by Peter Cornelius are something of a challenge, particularly the nine-part Der alte Soldat. This is an extremely testing piece, with its constantly shifting harmonic structure, its build-up of sustained emotion and the ever-increasing tension of its rhythmic complexity. The Hilliard Ensemble, naturally, take all this very much in their stride.
Three songs by Richard Strauss bring the recital to a close and their performance epitomizes the quite extraordinary expressive capability of the Hilliard Ensemble: the menacing drama of ''Vor den Turen'', the dreamy atmosphere of ''Traumlicht'' and the carefree—if characteristically heavy-footed—Teutonic frolicking of ''Frohlich im Maien''.
For all who enjoy this type of repertoire, this recording is a winner and cannot be too highly recommended. The insert notes provide some useful information about the history of the German partsong and the social background to the songs.'