Music of the Spheres: Part Songs of the British Isles by Tenebrae

Various composers

Tenebrae

Music of the Spheres: Part Songs of the British Isles

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212090428
Catnr: SIGCD 904
Release date: 09 December 2016
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Label
Signum Classics

UPC
0635212090428

Catalogue number
SIGCD 904

Release date
09 December 2016

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Internationally-renowned chamber choir Tenebrae return with a new collection of British part songs and choral works. As well as being a celebration of compositions by British composers, the disc also marks Shakespeare’s anniversary year with a selection of works based on his texts, including the much loved works by Vaughan Williams and a lesser-known set by Herbert Murrill. Perhaps the least recognisable composer name on this disc, Murrill (1909-1952) is one of a select group of composers who – through war or ill-health – died at a tragically young age and whose works were subsequently neglected during the second half of the century.

Een nieuwe collectie Britse part songs uitgevoerd door het beroemde kamerkoor Tenebrae
Het internationaal vermaarde kamerkoor Tenebrae presenteert een nieuwe collectie van Britse part songs en koorwerken. Dit album viert niet alleen de werken van Britse componisten, maar ook het jubileum van Shakespeare, met een aantal werken gebaseerd op zijn teksten, waaronder de zeer geliefde werken van Vaughan Williams en een minder bekende set van Herbert Murrill. Murrill is waarschijnlijk de onbekendste naam op dit album. Hij maakt deel uit van een selecte groep componisten die als gevolg van oorlog of slechte gezondheid al op jonge leeftijd overleed, en wiens werken vervolgens verwaarloosd werden.

Het professionele kamerkoor Tenebrae werd in 2001 opgericht door Nigel Short. Het repertoire van het koor is uitzonderlijk breed, reikend van oude muziek tot aan werken uit de romantiek en 20e eeuw, plus een aantal werken die speciaal voor hen zijn gecomponeerd. Tenebrae treedt op bij kaarslicht en creëert een sfeer van spirituele en muzikale overpeinzing, waarin middeleeuwse gezangen en renaissancewerken worden afgewisseld met hedendaagse composities. Het zorgvuldig geselecteerde team van zangers maakt gebruik van de akoestiek en sfeer van het gebouw om het publiek de kracht en intimiteit van de menselijke stem te laten ervaren.

Artist(s)

Tenebrae

Described as “phenomenal” (The Times) and “devastatingly beautiful” (Gramophone Magazine), award-winning choir Tenebrae is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles, renowned for its passion and precision. For purity and precision of tone, and flawless intonation, Nigel Short’s chamber choir Tenebrae is pretty much unbeatable. – The Times Under the direction of Nigel Short, Tenebrae performs at major festivals and venues across the globe, including the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Rheingau Musik Festival and Sydney Festival. The choir has earned international acclaim for its interpretations of choral music ranging from the Renaissance through to contemporary masterpieces, and it regularly commissions new music. Previous commissions have included works by Judith Bingham, Joanna Marsh, Owain Park, Josephine Stephenson, Joby Talbot and Roderick Williams. Tenebrae has enjoyed collaborations with some of the...

Described as “phenomenal” (The Times) and “devastatingly beautiful” (Gramophone Magazine), award-winning choir Tenebrae is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles, renowned for its passion and precision.

For purity and precision of tone, and flawless intonation, Nigel Short’s chamber choir Tenebrae is pretty much unbeatable.

– The Times

Under the direction of Nigel Short, Tenebrae performs at major festivals and venues across the globe, including the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Rheingau Musik Festival and Sydney Festival. The choir has earned international acclaim for its interpretations of choral music ranging from the Renaissance through to contemporary masterpieces, and it regularly commissions new music. Previous commissions have included works by Judith Bingham, Joanna Marsh, Owain Park, Josephine Stephenson, Joby Talbot and Roderick Williams. Tenebrae has enjoyed collaborations with some of the UK’s leading orchestras, appearing alongside the London Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music and Britten Sinfonia. The choir also produces an annual Holy Week Festival in partnership with St John’s Smith Square, London.

Choral development is central to Tenebrae’s ethos, and through its Associate Artist Programme it provides crucial training and performance opportunities to young professional singers. Alongside its performance and recording schedule, the choir also runs a thriving Learning & Connection programme which encompasses partnerships with Music Centre London and London Youth Choirs, Tenebrae Effect workshops with amateur choirs, and its newest programme Singing Schools. Run in partnership with Ealing Music Service, Singing Schools aims to embed a long-lasting singing culture in local schools which might otherwise face barriers to music-making.

A concert by the British choir Tenebrae is more than a performance. It’s an experience that envelops the audience… this is one of the best choirs in the world.

– St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Tenebrae’s ever-increasing discography has brought about collaborations with Signum, Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, LSO Live and Warner Classics. In 2012 Tenebrae was the first-ever ensemble to be multi-nominated in the same category for the BBC Music Magazine Awards, securing the accolade of ‘Best Choral Performance’ for the choir’s recording of Victoria’s Requiem Mass, 1605. In 2016 Tenebrae received its second BBC Music Magazine Award for a recording of Brahms and Bruckner Motets, the profits from the sale of which benefit Macmillan Cancer Support. In 2018, the choir received its first Grammy nomination for its album of part songs from the British Isles, Music of the Spheres.

Signum’s current roster includes many excellent ensembles but the choral jewel in the crown is surely Tenebrae – Nigel Short’s outstanding chamber choir.

– Gramophone Magazine

‘Passion and Precision’ are Tenebrae’s core values. Through its continued dedication to performance of the highest quality, Tenebrae’s vision is to inspire audiences around the world through dramatic programming, flawless performances and unforgettable experiences.

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Nigel Short (conductor)

Composer(s)

Frank Bridge

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer and folk song collector. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over nearly fifty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century.
He wrote many works for amateur and student performance. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late thirties; his studies in 1907–08 with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music.
Vaughan Williams is among the best-known British symphonists, noted for his very wide range of moods, from stormy and impassioned to tranquil, from mysterious to exuberant. Among the most familiar of his other concert works are Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) and The Lark Ascending (1914). His vocal works include hymns, folk-song arrangements and large-scale choral pieces. He wrote eight works for stage performance between 1919 and 1951. Although none of his operas became popular repertoire pieces, his ballet Job: A Masque for Dancing (1930) was successful and has been frequently staged.

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Edward Elgar

Eward Elgar was a British composer, who stood on the forefront of the revival of English music around 1900. Many of his works have entered the international concert repertoire, although there are performed more often in Britain than elsewhere.
Although Elgar is often considered as a typically English composer, he has primarily been influenced by composers on the European continent. He was contemptuous of folk music and had little respect for English Renaissance and Baroque composers. Instead he was particularly inspired by Dvorák, Händel and Brahms, and the clarity of 19th-century French composers, which resonates through his orchestrations.
Elgar was autodidact, and learned to play the organ, violin and viola at an early age within the musical family in which he was brought up. He also composed and arranged music for various ensembles. He became somewhat well-known with his overture Froissart, but only gained international recognition after composing his Enigma Variations in 1899. Currently researchers are still trying to find out which melody Elgar has hidden within the variations.
Other famous works by Elgar are the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, the oratorio The Dream of Gerontinus and the Cello Concerto.

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Charles Villiers Stanford

Charles Villiers Stanford was born in Ireland, but rose to fame as a composer, conductor and music teacher in England. While he was still an undergraduate, he was appointed organist of Trinity College, Cambrigde. In 1882 he was one of the founders of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. Later he also became Professor of Music at Cambridge University. Among his pupils were rising composers who would surpass him later on, such as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst.
Stanford composed about 200 works in almost every genre, amongst others seven symphonies, nine operas, 11 concertos, 40 choral works and 28 chamber works. Throughout his career he was always admired for his technical mastery. On the day of Stanford's death, Gustav Holst said Herbert Howells, “The one man who could get any one of us out of a technical mess is now gone from us.” After his death most of his music was quickly forgotten, with the exception of his choral works for church performance. His music became eclipsed by that of Edward Elgar and his former pupils.

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Bob Chilcott

Described by the Observer newspaper as “a contemporary hero of British choral music”, Bob Chilcott has grown up immersed in the choral tradition of his country. He grew up as a chorister and choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, and after singing professionally in London and also as a member of the vocal group the King’s Singers for a number of years, he became a full-time composer in 1997. He has embraced his career with energy and commitment, not only producing a large catalogue of music for all types of choirs, but also working with singers and choirs in more than 30 countries.
It was perhaps through his many works for young singers that he first came to prominence as a composer, prompting some large-scale performances of his pieces, particularly Can you hear me? in BC Place in Vancouver in 2001 with 2000 singers and at the Estonian Song Festival in 2004 with 7000 young singers. Thied to several other large-scale projects including notably The Angry Planet, written for David Hill and The Bach Choir for the 2012 BBC Proms, which was performed by The Bach Choir, The National Youth Choir, The BBC Singers and 200 primary school children from London.
He has written a number of substantial sacred works including Salisbury Vespers (2009), St John Passion (2013) for Wells Cathedral Choir, and his Requiem (2010) which has now been performed in over 16 countries. In 2013 he wrote The King shall rejoice for the service at Westminster Abbey to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
In June 2014 he began an 18-month term as composer-in-residence for the Washington DC-based choir Choralis as part of their 15th anniversary season celebrations. The season features a number of his works and concludes with the première of Gloria in December 2015.
Over the past 18 years Bob has worked with many thousands of singers in Britain through a continuing series of Singing Days throughout the country. Between 1997 and 2004 he was conductor of the choir of The Royal College of Music in London, and since 2002 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers.
His music has been recorded extensively and there are a number of albums dedicated to his music, including “Man I Sing” (2007), “Making Waves” (2008), “Requiem” (2012), “The Seeds of Stars” (2012), “Everyone Sang” (2013), “The Rose in the Middle of Winter” (2013), and “St John Passion” (2015). His music has been recorded by many leading British choirs and ensembles including The Sixteen, The Cambridge Singers, Tenebrae, The BBC Singers, The Choir of Wells Cathedral, The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and The King’s Singers.

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