'Precision Choir are Perfectly Placed' - 26.09.03

[Review: Hexham Abbey] Howard Layfield: 26 September 2003, Hexham Courant

Passion and precision is the motto of the professional chamber choir Tenebrae and these qualities were gloriously evident in their concert. Aptly named after the special candlelit Roman Catholic services of Holy Week, they thrilled the audience with their eclectic programme of contemplation and redemption.

This is not just another early music ensemble, of which we have enjoyed several at earlier festivals. Tenebrae’s range spanned more than four centuries, from plainsong and Gibbons to Giles Swayne and Nigel Short himself, their director. Particularly striking was the dramatic exploitation of the Abbey building. Small groups and soloists were placed and moved at various times, using the east and west of the nave, the Night Stair, the gallery, the choir and the transept.

Allegri’s famous Miserere gained new life from this spatial treatment. Added to this was the clear and intense quality of young voices, singing with obvious concentration and devotion. Encouraged to bring individuality and sparkle to their singing, some voices seemed occasionally to become prominent, but for this listener, the urgency and impact of the performances was thus enhanced. It was no surprise to hear works of the contemporary John Tavener in such a visionary context, and it was good to have William Harris’s Faire is the Heaven and Britten’s Hymn to St Cecilia as well as Giles Swayne’s highly original and Zulu-influenced Magnificat.

Nigel Short provided an especially welcome and effective work, The Dream of Herod, in effect a short oratorio. Elements of drama and movement were essential to this concept as well as contrasting groups and soloists – Herod, the Magi, the Holy family and choruses of infants and parents. Timpani and organ were added – the latter intensifying the last scene with a cumulatively forceful toccata. The organist, Robert Harre Jones, gave effective support also in Tavener’s Mother and Child, John Ireland’s Ex ore innocentium and Holst’s Lord, who hast made us for thine own.

Such was the careful preparation and utterly convincing performance of the programme that the audience was tangibly moved in its appreciation.