This concert from the farewell tour of the Garbarek/Hilliard collaboration differs from the three previous albums, Officium (1993), Mnemosyne (1998), and Officium Novum (2009), in that it was not recorded in the priory of St Gerold in Austria. Though the chapel there is resonant, ECM's engineers managed to create a fine balance between the atmosphere of the lively acoustic and the clarity of the studio. Over several live appearances that I heard by the group, only the chapel of King's College, Cambridge, matched that mixture of spacious sound and detailed precision. So the decision to release a full-length live recording is a brave one, as every setting (and the majority of concerts were given in churches, from chapels to cathedrals) presented a different technical and acoustic challenge. This event, from the collegiate church of St Pietro and St Stefano in Bellinzona, took place in a considerably more resonant space than its Austrian predecessor, but RSI Swiss television and radio did a fantastic job of rendering the chapel's huge sound on disc in a way that combines Garbarek's spatial wanderings with the vocal quartet's every nuance. The programme follows almost exactly the repertoire of the 2012 London St. Paul's Cathedral event from much earlier in the final world tour, the voices emerging from a low hum after the skirling soprano sets the backdrop for the baptismal hymn ‘Ov zarmanali’. The Eastern orthodox harmonies of ‘Dostoino Est’ are laid out vocally before Garbarek adds a fifth voice over wordless chanting. The voices alone plead in Arvo Pärt's ‘Most Holy Mother of God’ and the piece that drew rapturous applause whenever it was performed, ‘Alleliua Navitatas’, overcomes a cougher in the audience to become a rollicking paean of praise. Anyone who heard this combination live will regard this as a more then fitting memento of some very special concerts, and those millions who bought the earlier albums will not want to miss the chance to add this to their collections. The album, just as the farewell performances themselves did, ends with the wistful emotional punch of the 16th century Scots ‘Remember Me, My Dear’ – the closing applause a fitting tribute to a 21-year cross-genre partnership that captured hearts and minds across the world.