Interview: PAUL HILLIER

Our friends in the North

Nearly 20 years ago on a midsummer's eve — a potent, magical night in the North — Paul Hillier found himself in Finland with his Hilliard Ensemble. There for the first time he met the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, who slipped into his pocket a CD of the music of Veljo Tormis — Estonia's Bartók. The folksongs, runesongs, wedding songs and laments cast a spell: these were the forgotten voices of the past, newly recreated in the voices of a choir which was, in Hillier's words, 'focused, tuned, without vibrato, but nonetheless resonant'. A decade on, he was producing the choir's first ECM recording, Tormis's Forgotten People, settings of Balto-Finnic rune- and folksongs. Last September, Hillier was invited by Toñu Kaljuste to take over from him as the EPCC's Artistic Director.

Hillier intends to maintain the choir's championing of Tormis and Arvo Pärt, and to explore the music of the Baltic region in depth. The voyage starts with the first volume of his new Harmonia Mundi project, Baltic Voices.

'I want to explore the music of all the countries around the Baltic Sea,' Hillier says. 'And that includes Russia! We've recorded some 18th-century Russian music for release next year; Russian choirs don't sing so much of the earlier repertoire — or, if they do, it tends to sound like Tchaikovsky. So I guess I'm bringing my own early-music interests to bear a bit here — with the huge advantage, of course, that the EPCC all speak Russian!'

Does Hillier do all his own research? 'In the first instance, yes. But it involves talking to people who can help. For example, there's a wonderful series of American publications called Musica Russica: they've been most helpful with advice and ideas. Arvo Pärt himself has given me some useful leads in discovering new Lithuanian composers, and Peteris Vasks, who I've recently met, has promised to help too.'

So what are the details of the Baltic Voices three-year plan? 'On the second disc I hope to include some Per Norgard, but it's a little too early to be too specific! Like this first disc, it'll focus almost entirely on contemporary composers.' Here Estonian composer Cyrillus Kreek, a contemporary of Vaughan Williams, is the only exception. And the Tormis Latvian Bourdon songs are older than the hills; but have never been recorded before. Tormis was present for the recording. 'In certain tracks, he wanted the soloists to be heard as if from afar. We found an ingenious way of making this work, with singers rotating as they sang.' Pärt was there, too, for the first recording of his which was the son of 'With Pärt it's always a question of matching his idea of what the piece is trying to do, with what's actually happening! He tends to offer a mixture of practical suggestions and idealised notions. This is a rather unusual piece for him — it has quite a swing to it in parts!'

The Baltic Voices project seems to be something of a turning point for singer, conductor, composer, editor, academic and writer, Hillier. Significantly, perhaps, he has taken leave of absence from the University of Indiana's Early Music Institute — something of a still centre to his peripatetic musical life. 'I do find myself being drawn back to Europe, and to all sorts of conducting opportunities. I love to teach; but there's so much administration, and that's extremely time consuming. I really want to put my energy back into performing — and into writing more about music.' And composing? 'Well, maybe just arranging. There are too many real composers around! And I've learned that it really is important not to try to do too much.' Hilary Finch