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!
Oboe Passion: Arias & Concertos By J.s. Bach & Sons
Challenge Classics
SACD
$18.99Sep 27, 2011
This recording has been ‘in the can’ for a long time. Indeed the Bach arias have appeared before on CC 72034, the concertos on the Vanguard Classics label way back around the turn of the century. This attractive double-disc release gives the aria texts in German only at the back of the booklet, and has interesting if largely somewhat anecdotal booklet notes by Pauline Oostenrijk.
Your response to CD 1 will depend a little on whether you fancy the idea of 13 of Bach’s cantata arias for soprano and oboe obbligato taken in isolation and played back to back. It can be a bit much in one sitting, but the programme has been nicely ordered to provide contrast and is packed full of beautiful music. Nienke and Pauline Oostenrijk have performed these works many times before, and their familiarity with and love for these pieces radiates warmly through your speakers. Nienke’s soprano voice is a touch darker than choirboy purity, though it can take on this character at some moments. She uses vibrato in a natural fashion, not throwing it in like an opera diva’s wide wobble, but also not cramping her own style in an attempt to fit some abstract early music performance ideal. There are one or two moments where Bach’s technical demands test her accuracy just a little such as in the energetic Flößt, mein Heiland from the Christmas Oratorio, but there are lovely little touches as well, such as the echo in Liebster Jesu, Mein Verlangenwhich appears to have been dropped in during post production, the soloist taking up a position somewhere at the back of the church to provide the effect. The soprano voice and oboe are balanced nicely against the continuo harpsichord or organ and, where applicable, strings or other instruments. There are lovely numbers throughout the programme, but my highlights include the pointillist organ and recorders and scrunchy harmonies of Die Seele ruht in Jesu Händen, as well as the gorgeous opening track Ich Bin Vergnuegt Mit Meinem Gluecke and the moving Seufer, Tränen, Kummer, Not. There are a few similar collections around, including a very fine but much more large scale and operatic sounding one on the Archiv label with Magdalena Kozená, a comparison with which would be like comparing chalk with marble.
The J.S. Bach oboe concerto overlaps with a couple of recent releases I’ve looked at, from ECM with Heinz Holliger, and with Alexei Ogrintchouk on the BIS label for the BWV 1055 reconstruction. Pauline Oostenrijk’s recording doesn’t really replace either of these, but it is very fine in a fairly laid back sort of way. Her oboe d’amore playing is truly lyrical in the central Larghetto, and the playing is lively if not particularly urgent in the outer movements. The delicious sound of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta suits Johann Christian Bach’s Mozart-influenced Concerto in F perfectly. This gentle approach obtains maximum tenderness in J.C. Bach’s Larghetto, but I was glad to hear the orchestral articulation and dynamics firming up for elder brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Concerto in E flat. It’s perhaps a little far -fetched to read too much Sturm und Drang into this concerto, which is more pleasantly diverting than filled with the ‘violent mood changes’ which Oostenrijk claims for it in her booklet notes, but there is plenty of that empfindsame expression which characterises C.P.E. Bach’s melodically strong compositional style.
This is a fine brace of re-releases packaged in an attractive SACD hybrid single-thickness double jewel case. The SACD layer is a recent re-mastering, but doesn’t add a huge amount to already more than decent stereo recordings.
Elgar: Go, Song Of Mine - Part-songs & Choral Works / Allwood, Rodolfus Choir
Signum Classics
CD
$19.99Jan 01, 2012
Drawn from across the composer's lengthy career, this collection of Part-Songs and Choral Works explores the great variety and range within Elgar's work for choir and voices. Along with more well-known works such as Love and Deep in my Soul there are early pieces such as O Salutaris hostia (composed for small amateur choirs) that give hints of his later mature style, through to the 1928 piece I sing the Birth - a work that shows Elgar's ability to adapt to more contemporary styles of 20th-century choral composition. The Rodolfus Choir have established themselves as one of the leading youth choirs in Britain, made up of singers aged from 16 to 25 who have been chosen from past and present members of the Eton Choral Courses for prospective choral scholars. Many members of the Choir are choral scholars, some are at music college, and most hope to make a career in music. The Rodolfus Choir and Ralph Allwood are well-known for imaginative programming, and for presenting new music. The Rodolfus Choir's recent CD recordings with Signum include music as diverse as Howells, Monteverdi, Grier, Tallis and the German Romantics. 'One can only marvel at the group's remarkable collective skill and cohesion' fanfare magazine
Schutz: Sacred Music / Mauersberger, Dresdner Kreuzchor
Brilliant Classics
CD
$28.99Nov 19, 2013
"Seculi sui Musicus excellentissimus" was the epitaph inscribed on his tombstone in the old Frauenkirche of Dresden -- to his contemporaries, the Saxon-born Heinrich Schütz was one of the most outstanding composers of the century, and even writers of music history today refer to him as 'Musicus poeticus ecclesiasticus', whose works were and are still the epitome of Protestant church music.
This collection is a tribute to the great Baroque composer, who received most of his training in Venice from the organist of St Mark's, Giovanni Gabrieli. The richness of colour and musical splendour of the Psalmen Davids, scored for several choruses and first to feature on the release, reflects the arts-minded Saxon court for which they were composed; next comes a collection of motets, which similarly follow in the footsteps of Venetian composition through 'painting in sound' the content of the text and dividing the choir into two or more tonal groups. The motet played a significant role in church service music, and Schütz also wrote a number of polychoral concertos for festive occasions, the affective Magnificat anima mea SWV468 for Christmas among them. Rounding off the compilation is the composer's Schwanengesang, literally meaning 'Swan Song' and deemed to be his parting gift to the world -- here Luther's version of the 'German Magnificat' at the end of the piece reveals Schütz's taking on the role of musical interpreter in the cause of Lutheran teaching.
The renowned Dresden Kreuzchor became closely associated with the works of Schütz under the directorship of Rudolf Mauersberger, who made the choir an instrument of singular appeal. Here they feature alongside a number of other distinguished German choral groups and ensembles, including the Berliner Solisten, to perform the works of a composer who represented an important transitional phase in sacred music.
Other information: - Recordings made in 1965, 1970 and 1983--4. - Heinrich Schütz was no doubt one of the most important composers from the period of transition from Renaissance to Baroque, a German who imbued the strict german polyphony with Italian melos of warmth and emotion. Johann Sebastian Bach considered him the greatest of his predecessors. - Brilliant Classics has given Schütz ample due in its Schütz Edition volumes 1-4, and this new set presents some of his grandest works, the splendid Psalms of David, Polychoral Concertos and Motets and his moving Schwanengesang, music both magnificent and intimate. - Performances in the best german choral tradition by the famous Dresdner Kreuzchor, Capella Fidicina and the Berliner Solisten. - Booklet contains detailed notes on the composer and his music.
Brubeck: Songs of Praise - Sacred Choral Works / Pacific Mozart Ensemble
Sono Luminus
CD
$18.99Jan 26, 2010
In addition to being one of the most well-known of jazz pianists, Dave Brubeck is also a composer who has explored many new avenues in composition and performance. Lauded around the world, he received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor in December 2009.
Brubeck's "Songs of Praise" is recorded here by the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, a group noted for passionate, expert and engaging choral performances of music from Brahms to Brubeck to the Beach Boys.
Crossing Over features the music of Anna Thorvaldsdottir, John Tavener, William Schuman, Daniel Elder, and more. This release contains world premiere recordings, as well as rarely recorded pieces. Skylark is a chamber choir consisting of professional musicians from across the United States. The group also performs educational programs for students across the nation.
REVIEW:
All the music is concise, in the manner of utterances made or heard on a deathbed; the longest work clocking in at just over nine minutes. This is new music, put together in a new way, beautifully sung and recorded. In short, it's fabulous for listeners looking for a place to start with contemporary choral music, downbeat subject matter or not.
The 26th Volume of Bach Cantatas with Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan consists of three works composed for performances during the last three months of 1742. They are part of the composer's projected (but discontinued) Chorale Cantata Year, in which every cantata for a whole year was to be based on a well-known chorale rather than on the traditional gospel reading for the Sunday in question. The text of the chosen hymn was thus reworked by the librettist into poems suitable for setting into recitatives, arias, duets etc. Of the three works in question, BWV 180 (Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele) is the most famous -- based as it is on a communion hymn by Johannes Crüger. Among Bach connoisseurs, its opening chorus -- which also opens the disc -- has long been regarded as one of the most beautiful in any of the cantatas. ('One can tell from the composition that the master was working on one of his favourite melodies', wrote Albert Schweitzer.) BWV 122 (Das neugeborne Kindelein) was intended for the Sunday after Christmas, which in 1742 was also New Year's Eve, and is a meditation on the future, seen in the light of the recent birth of the Saviour. The BIS Cantata Cycle has recently been earning even more praise than usual. In the yearly best-of-lists of the critics of the German magazine Fono Forum, the whole series is put forward as Edition des Jahres, and Volume 24 was named Choc de l'année in the influential French review Le Monde de la musique, while Diapason gave it their November Diapason d'Or. In the same month Volume 25 was chosen as Disc of the Month by BBC Music Magazine, while in the December issue the Gramophone critic wrote: 'Suzuki projects the unity of each work with carefully sculpted opening choruses, well-leavened recitatives and urgent, radiant orchestral playing -- a recording series, reaching near its mid-point, of outstanding consistency.' This the 26th volume will surely be seen as a worthy successor!
The Sixteen and Harry Christophers releases The Deer’s Cry, an intriguing mix of pieces written by composers who lived four centuries apart. Both William Byrd (c. 1540-1623) and Arvo Part (b. 1935), whose work is featured here, are considered masters of sacred music, and both received significant persecution for their work. Compositions of Byrd’s presented here come from the Cantiones Sacrae, and include Tribue, Domine, and Ad Dominum cum tribularer, among others. The pieces on this album by Arvo Part display his unique compositional voice, blending ancient and modern, and include his entrancing Nunc dimittis. The Sixteen’s Choral Pilgrimage tour will take place in 2016, and will bring this programme to 33 cities across the UK, including Oxford, London, Cambridge, York, Cardiff, Manchester, and Edinburgh.
Will Todd: Mass In Blue, Etc / Backhouse, Halliday, Et Al
Signum Classics
CD
$19.99Jan 01, 2006
Leading young composer Will Todd performs a unique fusion of sacred choral music and jazz in his 'Mass in Blue'. This central work is complemented by beautiful musical settings of religous texts, infused with a highly individual and melodic style, bringing the composer's life-long love of traditional choral music into the 21st century with spiritual sensitivity and a contemporary edge. An accomplished jazz musician, Will Todd has played piano, saxophone and clarinet in Jazz bands from an early age and in 1999 he toured Europe, the Far and Middle East and America with his Jazz Quartet. Soprano Bethany Halliday brings an eclectic vocal style to her performance. The daughter of a Baptist pastor, her early influences were gospel, in particular the recordings of Mahalia Jackson, one of the world's greatest gospel singers. She went on to train as an opera singer but has maintained a love of Jazz and gospel music. His extensive output includes opera, musicals, oratorio, orchestral works and works for children and amateur performers. His work has been featured on Radio 3's In Tune, Classic FM and the Radio 2 Arts Programme and he has had performances of his music all over the UK as well as in the USA.
