Press Release: 'Path of Miracles' World Premiere - 25.07.05

The Path of Miracles
World Première: 7 July 05
Composed by Joby Talbot
Commissioned by Tenebrae

‘The Path of Miracles’ is a major new work by the celebrated English composer Joby Talbot for crack professional choir, Tenebrae, and their Director, Nigel Short. The theme of ‘The Path of Miracles’ is the deeply revered pilgrimage route, the Camino, across Northern Spain to Santiago di Compostella.
The text incorporates the catholic liturgy of St. James with evocations of the landscape and history of the road and its hardships. The components of the text have been collected and supplemented with new writing by the poet Robert Dickinson. Although not primarily a sacred work, it has a strong spiritual element, reflecting the differing motivations of modern travellers of this historic route.

The World Première of ‘The Path of Miracles’ will take place as part of the City of London Festival on July 7th at St. Bartholomew’s Church (2 concerts – 6pm & 8.30). Subsequent performances in UK and European summer festivals in 2006 will be announced after the première.

The underlying theme of travel will be reinforced by the use of physical movement in the performance, giving rise to an experience akin to music theatre. Director, Ceri Sherlock, will stage and direct the singers in performing in all areas of the Church, itself a magnificent backdrop embodying the Romanesque style of so many of the places of worship on the route, to create an uplifting acoustic and visual experience.

‘The Path of Miracles’ will be recorded for Tenebrae’s record label Signum after the première and will be released early in 2006 to precede a tour of the work.

The pilgrimage to the Cathedral of St. James at Santiago retains a unique status even in the extraordinary history of the pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Rome, Fatima and Lourdes. This is because the emphasis is on the journey rather than the destination. For a pilgrim to Santiago, the experience is as much or more the travel as the arrival. Such was the popular lure of the pilgrimage and the cult of St. James that by the twelfth century the Camino is believed to have had up to two million people walking it each year.

In the last decade the level of interest in walking the route has gone beyond religious boundaries, spanning all ages and sections of society, but often with a shared desire to escape some of the banalities of modern life. In addition to the physical experience of the walk and the breathtaking variety of landscapes from the mountains in the Pyrenees, stark Castilian plains and green hills of Galicia, there remains a deeply spiritual dimension. The Camino itself is akin to sacred ground and the sign of the symbolic scallop shell of St. James recurs in many forms along the road which is scattered with Romanesque pilgrim churches in the ancient towns and villages that line it. Two of the greatest markers on the road are the fabulous gothic cathedrals of Burgos and León. The road is some 500 miles in length and finishes in the stunning cathedral of Santiago where a massive thurible, known as the botafumerio, is swung at every Mass in an act of high religious drama, pouring incense over the faithful.

Following the first rehearsals for the work, Nigel Short says:

“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. It’s a tune we’ve all found ourselves humming hours, sometimes days after a rehearsal has finished. 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.” —-

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.

Tenebrae

Tenebrae is a professional chamber choir, founded and directed by Nigel Short (formerly of the King’ singers). In its short existence, Tenebrae has carved out a niche for itself as a choir which brings elements of ’theatre’ to sacred spaces. Many of the singers have a background in opera, and much emphasis is placed on the visual presentation of the music as well as the various elements of the sound. The ambitious scale and dramatic potential of ‘The Path of Miracles’ places it firmly within this niche and presents an opportunity to expand the frontiers of what can be expected from a choir of this quality.