As the end of Great War commemorations draw closer the farewells, songs of remembrance and hymns for peace written in the twentieth century’s tumultuous opening decades together with elegies of our own time makes for a programme of solemn beauty and striking contrasts. An unbroken thread seems to tie these to music performed at the memorial service of John F Kennedy (Howell’s ravishing elegy) and the radiant Tavener anthem that so memorably concluded the funeral of Diana Princess of Wales some thirty years later.

Programme

Elgar They are at rest
Tavener Song for Athene
Gurney Since I Believe in God
Judith Bingham A Walk with Ivor Gurney
Howells Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing
Vaughan Williams Valiant-for-Truth
INTERVAL
Parry Songs of Farewell
Schoenberg Friede auf Erden

Artist Information

Tenebrae
Martha McLorinan mezzo soprano
Nigel Short conductor

Artist(s)

Nigel Short, Tenebrae