085Booklet3 28/9/06 16:52 Page 1 ALSO on signumclassics Mother and Child SIGCD501 Rachmaninoff Vespers SIGCD054 Path of Miracles SIGCD078 A distinctive and distinguished A live recording of the stirring account Commissioned from Joby Talbot, Path collection of works by a number of by Tenebrae of Rachmaninoff’s All- of Miracles is an ambitious and far living composers, including five world Night Vigil – first performed in 1915, reaching choral cycle, telling the story première recordings. The centre-piece this is a politically and spiritually of the pilgrimage to Santiago de of the disc is a new commission for influenced work of rare beauty. Compostela. Taking in vocal traditions Tenebrae from the world acclaimed from around the world, and combining composer Sir John Tavener (Mother “Tenebrae sing with the precision and medieval sources with contemporary and Child). Other composers are: finely produced tone that one has poetry, the listener is taken on a sonic Dove, Pott, Swayne, L’Estrange, come to expect from them. Their journey of unparalleled richness, Filsell and Rodney Bennett. singing is splendidly controlled, guided by the voices of Tenebrae, whether in soft passages or in the directed by Nigel Short. fervent climaxes.” Musicweb www.signumrecords.com www.tenebrae-choir.com Available through most record stores and at www.signumrecords.com For more information call +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 085Booklet3 28/9/06 16:52 Page 3 Allegri Miserere Tenebrae: Allegri Miserere 1. John Tavener (b. 1944) [6.11] Song for Athene The fusion of a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet Alleluia. 2. John Ireland (1879-1962) [4.05] with Eastern Orthodox chant in the opening May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Ex ore innocentium moments of John Tavener’s Song for Athene sets Alleluia. 3. John Tavener [3.51] the tone for a divergent and diverting aggregate of Remember me, O Lord, when you come The Lamb creeds, songs, and prayers performed by Tenebrae into your kingdom. 4. Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) [4.39] Hymn to the Cherubim under the direction of Nigel Short. Songs of Alleluia. 5. Count Alexander Sheremetiev (1859-1931) [3.42] innocence and experience, war, remembrance and Give rest, O Lord, to your handmaid Now ye heavenly powers hope mingle with Orthodox hymns, Roman who has fallen asleep. 6. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) [10.59] Catholic motets and Anglican anthems. From the Alleluia. Hymn to St Cecilia secretive Vatican of the Seventeenth Century to The Choir of Saints have found the 7. Pawel Lukaszewski (b. 1968) [3.57] present-day Poland, by way of the American Civil well-spring of life and door of paradise. Ave Maria War, there are plenty of crosscurrents, Alleluia. 8. Antonio Lotti (1667-1740) [3.39] 8-part Crucifixus concurrences and reflections with which to Life: a shadow and a dream. conjure in this programme. Alleluia. 9. Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652) [11.59] Miserere Weeping at the grave creates the song: 10. Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) [3.08] 1. John Tavener (born 1944) composed Song for Alleluia. Esti Dal Athene in 1993 to commemorate the tragic death Alleluia. 11. Trad. arr. Nigel Short [4.34] of actress Athene Hariades. The opening ‘Alleluia’ Come, enjoy rewards and crowns The Dying Soldier reflects Tavener’s devotion to the Eastern Orthodox I have prepared for you. 12. Gustav Holst (1874-1934) [4.53] faith and his fascination with its musical Psalm 148, Lord who has made us for Thine own traditions while the quotation from the final scene Baritone solo: Andrew Rupp 13. William Henry Harris (1883-1973) [5.23] Faire is the Heaven of Hamlet, ‘flights of angels sing thee to thy rest’, Total time [71.03] brings Hariades’ profession to the foreground. 2. From untimely death to young life and the The combined effect is of extreme simplicity and distinctly English strains of John Ireland’s Ex ore TENEBRAE emotional purity. The work now serves as a duplex innocentium - ‘from the mouths of the innocent’. DIRECTED BY NIGEL SHORT memorial having been performed as the Despite sympathies for pagan mysticism, recessional Hymn at the funeral of Diana, Princess socialism and humanism, Ireland (1879-1962) www.signumrecords.com www.tenebrae-choir.com of Wales in 1997. - 3 - 085Booklet3 28/9/06 16:52 Page 5 never flinched from his devotion to English church And I will love thee more and more, Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee, Holy, Holy, Holy, music. The text of this little Passiontide motet (by Until I see thee as thou art. Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee. Ever blessed Lord God Almighty: Bishop W.W. How) reflects on Christ’s suffering He is called by thy name, Holy, Holy, Holy, through the eyes of a single innocent - how Jesus Poem by Bishop W.W. How For He calls Himself a Lamb. God in three persons, blessed, blessed Trinity Christ chose a ‘poor and humble lot’ and died ‘to He is meek, and He is mild; Saints and Martyrs bless and praise Thee, save a child like me’. The pathos of the music is 3. Tavener’s carol, The Lamb was written for the He became a little child. Hearts and voices swell one hymn heightened at the child’s imagining of the composer’s young nephew in 1982. The poem, by I a child, and thou a lamb, Holy, Holy, Holy crucifixion, the simple song breaking into two William Blake, begins by asking questions of the We are called by His name. Lord, Heaven and earth are full of Thy great glory, emotionally heightened streams before re-grouping lamb (‘Little lamb, who made thee?’) before Little Lamb, God bless thee! Holy blessed Trinity for a reposeful close. answering them in the second stanza. Blake Amen entwines the gentleness of creation with the idea Poem by William Blake Glory be to Thee, Glory to Thee in the highest, It is a thing most wonderful, of God coming into the world as both innocent Hosannah, Hosannah, Hosannah Almost too wonderful to be, child and meek, sacrificial lamb. These complex 4. Rachmaninov’s setting of the Divine Liturgy of In the highest to Father and Son and Holy Spirit That God’s own Son should come from heaven, and competing images are softened by Tavener’s St John Chrysostom remains, for many, the most Glory to Thee in the highest, in the highest, And die to save a child like me. treatment of the text - by turns haunting, musically satisfying setting of this particular Cherubim and Seraphim And yet I know that it is true: enchanting and mesmerising. Russian Orthodox service. Although Rachmaninov Angels and Archangels praise and worship He chose a poor and humble lot, (1873-1943) never stipulated whether it was Thee singing And wept, and toiled and mourned and died, Little Lamb, who made thee? intended for performance in church or concert Alleluia. For love of those who loved him not. Dost thou know who made thee? hall, it works well in both contexts due to its I sometimes think about the Cross, Gave thee life, and bid thee feed, formal clarity and the spiritual splendour of the 5. Count Alexander Sheremetiev (1859-1931) And shut my eyes, By the stream and o’er the mead; choral writing. The Hymn to the Cherubim calls was a Russian nobleman and philanthropist who, And try to see the cruel nails and crown of thorns, Gave thee clothing of delight, for us to lay aside the cares of this life and receive following the lead of his father, founded his own And Jesus crucified for me. Softest clothing, woolly, bright; the ‘King of All’. The sublime, undulating opening orchestra and choir in order to further the cause of But even could I see him die, Gave thee such a tender voice, soon gives way to hushed tones before building music in Russia. His vast inherited wealth gave I should but see a little part Making all the vales rejoice? into a grand climax, glorifying the Holy Trinity. The him access to the finest musicians around and Of that great love, which, like a fire, Little Lamb, who made thee? hymn ends gently, like Tavener’s Hymn to Athene, enabled him to mount concerts at prices low Is always burning in his heart. Dost thou know who made thee? with long-spun Alleluias. enough for the general public to afford. His few And yet I want to love thee, Lord; surviving compositions include a setting of Now O light the flame within my heart, ye heavenly powers from the Liturgy of the - 4 - - 5 - 085Booklet3 28/9/06 16:52 Page 7 Pre-sanctified Gifts. Calling the Orthodox faithful I Whom I belong to, So small beside their large confusing words, to communion, this quietly powerful piece bids In a garden shady this holy lady Whom I could wrong. So gay against the greater silences them to partake in everlasting life. With reverent cadence and subtle psalm, I am defeat Of dreadful things you did: O hang the head, Like a black swan as death came on When it knows it Impetuous child with the tremendous brain, Now ye Powers of Heaven do serve invisibly with us; Poured forth her song in perfect calm: Can now do nothing O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain, Lo, the King of Glory enters. And by ocean’s margin this innocent virgin By suffering. Lost innocence who wished your lover dead, Lo, the mystical sacrifice is upborne, fulfilled. Constructed an organ to enlarge her prayer, All you lived through, Weep for the lives your wishes never led.