My favourite Tenebrae track is Arnold Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden from the Symphonic Psalms and Prayers disc. It’s one of the first pieces I sang with the group and I can remember registering in the first rehearsal a sense of wondrous fear I had never experienced before. I tap into this emotion every time I sing with Tenebrae. I hope it’s a sustainable performance method.
Besides the other excellent tracks on the ‘Symphonic Psalms and Prayers’ disc, I am currently listening to Maurice Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye performed by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Pierre Boulez. My flatmate Jack and I are learning to play it in its original form – a piano duet. Ravel wrote it for Mimi and Jean Godebski, aged six and seven. Knowledge of this haunts us throughout our thrice-daily rehearsals.
Listen to our full lock-down playlist on Spotify here.