'PATH OF MIRACLES' - in the spotlight - 3.07.06

‘Path of Miracles’, TENEBRAE’S latest commission from Joby Talbot, is shortly to be toured by the choir along the route of the Pilgrimage in Northern Spain upon which the work is based.

Also available as a new CD release from Signum Records ‘Path of Miracles’ remains in the spotlight as one of the most exciting and intriguing new choral works of the year, telling of the pilgrimage ‘Santiago di Compostella’ and drawing the listener in to the music in such a way that the experience becomes more than a simply aural one.

The full story behind the ‘Path of Miracles’, the tour, the disc, the composer and the recording technology follows.

The Tour

Each year, considerably more than 50,000 people from all over the world arrive on foot, blistered and fatigued, in the small Galician city of Santiago di Compostella, at the conclusion of a long and arduous journey across northern Spain. Many are making a gesture of faith in the manner of their Catholic forefathers, who in the early centuries of the last millennium travelled in their hundreds-of-thousands each year in search of atonement and healing at the shrine of St James in Santiago. But an increasing number today are making the journey for personal reasons. The ‘camino’, as it is known in Spain, often marks a turning point in the life of the pilgrim. He or she may be recovering from a period of personal crisis or loss, or searching for something: a sense of spirituality, a feeling of peace, or a burst of motivation. Somehow, the road to Santiago provides all of this through its shared hardship, its miraculous beauty and its lasting companionship.

In July Tenebrae will make a symbolic concert tour/pilgrimage from Burgos to Ponferrada, giving 6 concerts along the route. There are thousands of churches, chapels, monasteries and cathedrals on the Camino Frances, the most well trodden pilgrimage route across northern Spain towards Santiago di Compostella. The beautiful locations for Tenebrae’s pilgimage concerts will be the Iglesia de San Nicolas in San Juan de Ortega, Iglesia de la Merced in Burgos, Santa Maria del Castillo in Fromista, The Monasterio de San Zoilo at Carrion de los Condes, the Catedral de Leon, finishing at the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Encina in Ponferrada (see diary for more precise details).

There will be two different programmes of music performed along the tour one including the Lamentations of Padilla and Victoria’s Tenebrae Responories. The other programme will be the specially commissioned ‘Path of Miracles’ written by Joby Talbot.

The Composer

“Having heard Nigel Short’s ideas for a new piece about the medieval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella I was taken to a Tenebrae recording session at the Temple Church where I was utterly bowled over by the sheer beauty of the sound of this unique choir. A trip to northern Spain with my wife & one year old son Maurice followed & over ten magical days we visited many of the important points of the Camino including four of its greatest churches: the abbey at Roncesvalles in the foothills of the Pyrenees and the great cathedrals of Burgos, Leon & Santiago itself. The impressions these places left on me became the basis for the musical structure of the work.” Joby Talbot

As a keyboard player for the pop group ‘The Divine Comedy’, Joby benefits from a wide range of musical influences. There is no ‘familiar formula’ for Talbot whose a cappella works announce him emphatically as a fresh voice. This commission breaks the mould of standard choral music. Joby’s most recent successes include music for film – Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy (featuring the singing of Tenebrae) and for Television – BBC 2/film ‘The League of Gentlemen’. Joby Talbot is Composer in Residence at Classic FM and is published by Chester Music.

The Director

“It’s hard to put into just a few words what the music is like because there is so much variety. Bits of it are epic, reminding me of ‘Carmina Burana,’ but with 17 parts and just 18 singers – no room for passengers here! One particular melody is reminiscent of the middle-east in its harmony, evocative, mysterious and beguiling. At times the music has an energetic, driving rhythm. At others it serenely floats by, dream-like and hypnotic, with lush, warm harmony underpinning it all.”

“It is incredibly virtuosic for the singers and requires exceptional stamina both vocally and in terms of concentration. Unlike being a soloist in an opera or oratorio, in which you might actually sing for a total of 15 or 20 minutes, you are on the go constantly for the whole piece. It reaches the extremes of their ranges too with high ‘c’s for sopranos and tenors, bass bottom ‘c’s galore and even low ‘b flat’s here and there. It is also a linguistic challenge– medieval Galician, Spanish, Latin, German, medieval French, Greek, Basque and of course, some modern English.”

“The piece starts with a wonderful Anglo version of a Taiwanese chant or drone (called Pasiputput, traditionally sung to bring a bountiful harvest) from the men who sing at the bottom of their registers and then do an extremely slow glissandi up to the very top. Here, they are suddenly joined by a tumultuous fanfare from the girls – hitherto hidden in the galleries – crying out “Herr Santiago, Grot Santiago!” A lone counter-tenor then calls to St. James and his brother the Blessed St. John, and the people to pilgrimage. Four movements follow, representing four major stops in the pilgrimage route – Roncesvalles, Burgos, Leon and finally Santiago. It ends with singers walking into the distance, their voices fading to nothing, leaving that same counter tenor voice chanting, completely alone.” Nigel Short

The Sound

‘The Path of Miracles’ has been released in Super Audio CD / hybrid surround sound (or SACD). The disc was recorded by Tenebrae using special technology that allows the CD to be played in any regular CD player and in SACD players, allowing full surround sound.

Surround sound is the concept of expanding the spatial imaging of audio playback from one dimension (mono/stereo left-right) to two or three dimensions. This is often used for a more realistic audio environment, actively implemented in cinema sound systems, technical theatre, home entertainment, and a growing amount of orchestral and choral music recording. The Path of Miracles is an ideal opportunity to employ this technology due to the spatial variety of a Tenebrae performance and also the many different colours and forces encountered during the course of the piece.

The Review

‘Joby Talbot’s ambitious a cappella Path of Miracles is little short of a musical miracle itself. It is a major statement and supremely assured. Tenebrae have surely got a major hit on their hands; I would go as far to suggest that Talbot’s Path of Miracles is to the first decade of the 21st century what Arvo Part’s Passio was twenty years earlier.’ Nick Breckenfield

‘I called in to one of the recording sessions in London and was blown-away by the range and the power of the music. It’s in so many parts, and the richness of the singing, from as quiet as you can imagine to as loud as you could believe with only 17 or 18 singers, is intoxicating. I can’t wait to hear the surround sound disc. It will suit the music perfectly I suspect.’ Jacques Villeneuve (patron)

‘This is a remarkable work and a fabulous achievement by Tenebrae. Seeing the work live is an exceptional experience due to the spacial separations and movement by the choir during the music. Their tour in Spain will be particularly relevant as it takes in many of the venues along the route of the Pilgrimage itself.’ Lady Valerie Solti