Mixing iconic choral works with music by some of today’s most exciting composers, this varied programme is centred around themes of rest. Joel Thompson’s virtuosic new work is a particular highlight: written for 15 vocal parts, A Prayer for Deliverance (2021) perfectly showcases Tenebrae’s core values of passion and precision. The second half features Herbert Howells’ Requiem – surely one of the most moving works in the English choral repertoire.

Programme

Gustav Holst – The Evening Watch
Cecilia McDowall – Standing as I do before God
Francis Pott – The Souls of the Righteous
Caroline Shaw – and the swallow
Richard Rodney Bennett – A Good-Night
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Rest
Joel Thompson – A Prayer for Deliverance

John Tavener – Song for Athene
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Valiant for Truth
Robert Pearsall – Lay a Garland
Arthur Sullivan – The Long Day Closes
Herbert Howells – Requiem
William Henry Harris – Bring Us, O Lord God

Artist(s)

Nigel Short, Tenebrae