In
the booklet note this collection is described as “a divergent
and diverting aggregate of creeds, songs and prayers”. I
must say I’m not completely sure that it all holds together
as a programme, though there’s a great deal to enjoy and
admire in terms both of the music and the exceptionally high
standards of performance – as I’ve come to expect from Nigel
Short and his fine choir.
For
me the pieces that really don’t work here are those by Lotti
and Allegri. For all that both are splendidly sung neither
really sits comfortably in what is otherwise a programme
of twentieth-century music. I would willingly have foregone
Allegri’s tediously repetitive piece in exchange for another
more modern work.
But
that’s really the only quibble I have about this programme.
I was delighted to find John Ireland’s fresh and gently ecstatic
Passiontide motet had been included. The ladies of Tenebrae
sing it with a marvellous sense of open-eyed wonder. The
two Russian items are also most successful although I did
wonder why the Rachmaninov piece was sung in English. It’s
given a beautiful performance even if these English singers
lack the sheer amplitude of sound that a Slavic choir would
have at its disposal. The offering by Sheremetiev was completely
new to me – indeed, I can’t recall hearing any music by this
composer before. Now ye heavenly powers, which is
sung in Russian, is for male voices. It’s described in the
notes as “quietly powerful” and that’s a very apt description.
The music is mainly subdued in tone and the piece has a grave
beauty that’s most attractive. Even more affecting is the
other Eastern European piece, Kodály’s Esti Dal. This
setting of a Northern Hungarian song is a little gem. It
is sung in the original language and features a lovely soprano
solo, one of several solos during the course of the programme,
all of which are taken excellently from within the choir’s
ranks.
Britten’s Hymn
to St. Cecilia is a terrifically inventive piece of
music in which the composer shows real flair in his writing
for unaccompanied choir, even if Auden’s text seems rather
high-flown in its imagery and somewhat verbose. Tenebrae
not only rise to its manifold challenges but also surmount
them with ease. They are excellent too in Holst’s splendid
setting of Psalm 148, receiving marvellous support from
Jeremy Filsell at the organ.
But
in many ways the best is saved for last. Sir William Harris’s
sumptuous setting for double choir of words by Edmund Spenser
is, for me, one of the glories of English church music. It
moves from the rarefied celestial atmosphere of the quiet
opening to the blazing conviction and excitement of the passage
at “And those eternall burning Seraphims” – Tenebrae are
marvellous here – before the pacific mood returns at the
close. The performance of this miniature masterpiece is thrilling
in every respect. Indeed, I feel that here Nigel Short and
his singers come close to realising the “endlesse perfectnesse” of
which Spenser speaks.
This
is an outstanding disc, which I have enjoyed greatly. The
sheer quality of singing has always impressed me on the previous
discs I’ve heard from this choir and, indeed, when I’ve heard
them live. This new release is as good as any I’ve heard
from them. The engineering is excellent and the disc comes
with a good booklet including full texts. Another winner
from Tenebrae!
John Quinn
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Tenebrae/Nigel
Short 
