Tenebrae Responsories
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LUIS DE VICTORIA
Tenebrae Responsories
Tenebrae, Nigel Short
[ Signum / CD ]
Release Date: Monday 2 September 2013
This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.
Tenebrae return to the sublime music of Tomás Luis de Victoria on Signum with this recording of his timeless Tenebrae Responsories. The works mix the words of the Gospels with other texts commenting on collective suffering written around the 4th century, and would traditionally have been performed as part of a moving service in which candles are slowly extinguished to mark the progress and suffering of Christ that forms the Passion story.
"This beautifully realised release from Tenebrae goes a long way to confirming their position as the one of - if not the - finest chamber choirs at work in Britain today...The singing itself is marvellous throughout. When the sopranos sing alone the effect is bright, pearly and luminescent...The tightness of the ensemble is a thing to marvel at" MusicWeb International, 14th October 2013
"this recording is the most nuanced and telling available. First there is the sheer sound of the ensemble: beautifully balanced and tuned with, at times (Caligaverunt oculi), an almost glassy perfection. Next there is an exceptional awareness of the different narrative voices...Finally there is the seamless, architectural line...This really is excellent." BBC Music Magazine, December 2013 *****
"It's music of extraordinary restraint yet powerful dramatic charge...Tenebrae's performance conveys much of that sense of drama in the smallest inflections...It's a beautifully judged and scaled performance." The Guardian, 14th November 2013 ****
"Under Short's direction, Tenebrae create a sound combining the meticulous, the meditational and the madrigalian." Financial Times, 23rd November 2013 ****
"a recording that strips all excess musical flesh aside, exposing the chilly bones of these penitential masterpieces...The heart of the cycle...is almost impossibly charged, its balance of vocal fragility and tensile strength discovering the emotional paradox at the core of this music." Editor's Choice Gramophone Magazine, December 2013
