Perth Festival: Tenebrae
St John’s Kirk, Perth, 24/05/24
Tenebrae; Nigel Short (conductor)
Tenebrae is a London-based chamber choir, directed by Nigel Short, with an enviable reputation for performing with ‘passion and precision’. The night of 24th May saw them present a programme of mostly English choral music, titled ‘A Prayer for Deliverance’, in St John’s Kirk as part of the Perth Festival.
Holst’s ‘The Evening Watch’, a setting of a metaphysical Henry Vaughan poem, opened the programme. A darkly chromatic mood framed a dialogue between body and soul at bedtime, the former first by solo tenor and then mezzo-soprano, the latter by the choir. Rich dense harmonies let us know that ‘sleep’ might also mean ‘death’. In Celia McDowall’s ‘Standing as I Do Before God’, which followed, gently shifting choral harmonies frame a solo soprano, the soul of nurse Edith Cavell, as she makes her final journey from prison cell to execution by a Nazi firing squad, the harmonies unresolved in the closing diminuendo. Francis Pott’s ‘The Souls of the Righteous’, with text from the Book of Wisdom, started in harmonic territory reminiscent of Vaughan Williams. A solo tenor stepped forward and the line became very expressive, seeming to reach towards heaven. After a huge and very moving climax, the music subsided to an exquisitely delayed glowing cadence on the word ‘Amen’. Absolutely glorious.
Next up, Caroline Shaw’s ‘and the swallow’ took words from Psalm 84 expressing a longing to get closer to God and expressed this with lovely rising tendrils of humming over restless choral chording, finally conveying a sense of calm and rightness with pentatonic simplicity, searching ‘ahhs’ completing the picture. Richard Rodney Bennett’s ‘A Good Night’, an elegy for Linda McCartney, was mostly calm and soothing but with phenomenal power in the climaxes and a lovely cadence at the end. If the Pott had been suggestive of Vaughan Williams, the bona fide Vaughan Williams setting of Christina Rosetti, ‘Rest’, was strangely less so, its consoling if elegiac message delivered in conventional, less modal, but exquisite harmonies.
The first half concluded with a 2021 Joel Thompson setting of text from Psalm 13 which had lent its name to the programme and is being premiered on Tenebrae’s tour, ‘A Prayer for Deliverance’. It is an extraordinary piece, demanding the highest levels of vocal virtuosity and ensemble cohesion, which it fully received. At first, shifting tonalities, glissandi, pitch bending and powerful dynamics accompany the defiant appeal to a distant God. When this mood abates, sweeter, strange shifting choral harmonies underlie a solo tenor’s supplication. A solo soprano brings a new mood of surrender to the will of God, unleashing a mood of rejoicing, the choir emulating the pealing of bells, the soloist rising to a high B. After a pause, the final Amen was contrapuntal and almost neo classical, but with novel searching harmonies, ascending and then descending to a final scrunchy cadence. A stunning performance of a stunning piece.
Opening the second half, John Tavener’s 1994 ‘Song for Athene’, though an elegy, traced a metamorphosis from sombre tender farewell to rejoicing in the resurrection. A drone of 6 male voices at the altar intoned a plainchant series of soft ‘Alleluias’, with antiphonic responses from the rest of the choir at the back of the church. As the choir processed slowly towards the altar, their responses became richer in harmony and chromaticism and they took up the ‘Alleluias’ as well. After a huge loud, harmonically rich climax, the texture pared back to a tenor solo, diminuendo. Vaughan Williams sounded like himself more unmistakably in ‘Valiant-for-Truth’, a Bunyan setting that did not make it into the final version of the opera, ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’. Nice writing for solo soprano and full choir fortissimo led to some trumpet emulation and a big finish.
Robert Pearsall’s 1840 setting of ‘Lay a Garland’, adapted from a Beaumont & Fletcher soliloquy, bewailing the fate of a constant woman jilted by an inconstant fiancé, seemed to look backwards to ancient polyphony, but armed with 19th century chromaticism and harmonic wizardry – it was very lovely with a fabulous ensemble sound. Arthur Sullivan’s 1868 ‘The Long Day Closes’ is more overtly gloomy and crepuscular, but harmonically satisfying to sing. I know this because my choir, Clackmannanshire Choral Society, last performed it in our 2016 Spring Concert.
Herbert Howells’ 1932 ‘Requiem’ was the extended piece of the second half. In 6 movements, apart from two settings of ‘Requiem aeternam’, it eschews the Roman liturgy in favour of Psalm settings and quotations from a 1928 version of the Book of Common Prayer, and the Book of Revelation, all in English, and is beautifully crafted. Particularly striking was the third movement, the first setting of ‘Requiem aeternam’, which opened with a very neo-classical, almost Renaissance feel, with scrunchy harmonies appearing at the words ‘lux perpetua’. The last movement, ‘I heard a voice from Heaven’ was also particularly awe-inspiring, starting with tenor solo, then very modern choral harmonies enter and, after a bass solo, grow richer by degrees to a full and impassioned sound, ending in a satisfying cadence.
The concert concluded with William Henry Harris’ 1959 ‘Bring us, O Lord’, a limpidly calm Donne setting for double choir, expertly crafted with the exquisite harmonic wizardry of the long-serving organist and Music Director of St George’s Chapel in Windsor Palace. Absolutely gorgeous.
The enthusiastic applause from the Perth Festival audience confirmed that Tenebrae’s reputation for ‘passion and precision’ is richly deserved. Their flawless intonation, ensemble cohesion, dynamic power and unwavering commitment to engaging, communicative and persuasive performance are all truly phenomenal. Full marks from me.