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International Record Review - (02//2014)
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SIGCD344
0635212034422
(ID356)
Tenebrae and Nigel Short are no strangers to Victoria’s
music, having made an eloquently beautiful recording of his 1605 Requiem
a few years ago (it was reviewed in IRR in June 2011). Their approach to
what is possibly the most concentrated essence of the composer’s work is
correspondingly informed with musical intelligence. There is a careful
shaping of lines throughout and very great care taken to shape the dramatic
narrative of these liturgical and human masterpieces.
Intonation is always precise and this, coupled with the ensemble’s sense of
phrasing, can be breathtaking, as, for example, at the opening of Unus ex
discipulis, but there is still room for the individuality of the voices
to appear in the verses for reduced scoring. Similarly effective is
Tenebrae factae sunt, sung according to late Roman tradition an octave
lower, and thus only by men’s voices: it is powerfully beautiful and, well,
tenebrous; the verse is particularly lovely. Another outstanding verse is
that of O vos omnes, this time featuring the upper voices. As
important as these details is the shaping of the narrative, which can be a
challenge in liturgical works as concise as these, but Tenebrae is extremely
attentive to this aspect of the music too, nowhere more than in
Caligaverunt oculi mei, which in this context seems epic in scale.
Competition is strong in this field: there are fine recordings by The
Sixteen, by The Tallis Scholars, by Westminster Cathedral Choir and, most
particularly, by Pro Cantione Antiqua under Bruno Turner. It is this last
that always seems to me to penetrate to the essence of this extraordinary
music in a way that no other recording has managed to do. However, Tenebrae
and Short bring their own vision to these remarkable pieces — which is,
interestingly, somewhere between a choral vision, such as that of The Tallis
Scholars, and a chamber one, such as that of Pro Cantione Antiqua — with
conviction and in a recording that is outstanding for its clarity.
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