The Hilliard Ensemble - Hilliard Live, Vol. 2 - For Ockeghem (2007)

Recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on 5th February 1997, the eve of the 500th anniversary of Johannes Ockeghems' death, this is a live recording of various pieces collected as a tribute to the great composer. Apart from five pieces by Ockeghem himself, Ordinaries taken from a selection of his masses, there are several from other contemporary composers which pay tribute to Ockeghem - Antoine Busnois' "In hydraulis", Loyset Compère's "Omnium bonorum plena", and Johannes Lupi's "Ergone conticuit".

Interspersed between pieces are excerpts in English translation from Guillaume Crétin's poem lamenting Ockeghem's death, "Déploration sur le trespas de feu Okergan Trésorier de Sainct-Martin de Tours", read by the late actor Bob Peck. The only reason I knock a star off an otherwise excellent disc is that there is too much of the spoken poetry for my liking to the detriment of the musical content.