A nourishing, thoughtfully compiled release… On this premiere recording, Sarah Connolly teams up with Tenebrae under Nigel Short’s watchful lead to give a performance of breathtaking composure, spine-tingling atmosphere and palpable conviction.
Gramophone Magazine
Recordings
A Walk with Ivor Gurney
Tenebrae and Nigel Short are joined by Aurora Orchestra together with mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly and narrator Simon Callow for A Walk with Ivor Gurney, an album celebrating the music of Ivor Gurney whose promising career as a composer was interrupted by World War I. Alongside four pieces of Gurney’s own music are works by his contemporaries, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells. The recording features a new piece by Judith Bingham commissioned by Tenebrae in 2013 for the choir with Dame Sarah Connolly.
- Release Date: 19 October 2018
- Record Label: Signum
- Catalogue Number: SIGCD557
- Location of Recording: St Giles-without-Cripplegate, London
- Total Running Time: 01:27:23
- View/Download Liner Notes
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Full Recording (Digital Download): £
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Add individual tracks to your shopping cart by ticking their boxes in the table below.
| Buy | # | Title | Composer | Duration | Price | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis | Ralph Vaughan Williams | 14:16 | £ | Listen | |
| 2 | Like as the Hart | Herbert Howells | 07:09 | £ | Listen | |
| 3 | Since I believe in God the Father Almighty | Ivor Gurney | 05:49 | £ | Listen | |
| 4 | A Walk With Ivor Gurney | Judith Bingham | 12:15 | £ | Listen | |
| 5 | By a Bierside | Ivor Gurney | 04:28 | £ | Listen | |
| 6 | In Flanders | Ivor Gurney | 03:15 | £ | Listen | |
| 7 | Sleep | Ivor Gurney | 03:32 | £ | Listen | |
| 8 | An Oxford Elegy | Ralph Vaughan Williams | 22:51 | £ | Listen | |
| 9 | Valiant for Truth | Ralph Vaughan Williams | 05:24 | £ | Listen | |
| 10 | Lord thou hast been our refuge | Ralph Vaughan Williams | 08:18 | £ | Listen |
A nourishing, thoughtfully compiled release… On this premiere recording, Sarah Connolly teams up with Tenebrae under Nigel Short’s watchful lead to give a performance of breathtaking composure, spine-tingling atmosphere and palpable conviction.
Gramophone Magazine
…radiant playing from the Aurora Orchestra, opening the set with an austerely beautiful reading of Vaughan Williams’s Tallis Fantasia under Nigel Short.
The Arts Desk
Nigel Short’s peerless Tenebrae singers, backed by the Aurora Orchestra, offer nothing but sorrowful beauty and multiple reasons to give thanks.
The Times
Throughout this disc the singing of Tenebrae confirms their stature as one of the UK’s premier chamber choirs. Nigel Short has clearly prepared them for these assignments with great thoroughness and he conducts the programme with evident empathy. The contributions of the Aurora orchestra are excellent too. The technical aspects of the production were in the expert hands of producer Nicholas Parker and engineer Mike Hatch. They’ve done a fine job. The icing on the cake comes in the shape of Philip Lancaster’s outstanding booklet essay which is not only highly informative but also draws the threads of the programme together most successfully.
This imaginatively conceived and superbly executed programme is a wonderful way to honour one of the most tragic figures in twentieth-century British music. Tenebrae have done the memory of Ivor Gurney proud.
MusicWeb International
The disc’s title is from an extended piece for soloist and choir by Judith Bingham, commissioned by Tenebrae in 2013 and superbly sung by this top vocal ensemble. This is an album of riches.
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer
Stunning singing from Connolly and Tenebrae… It’s a really well-conceived programme. The recording offers a perfect ambient halo: dark and resonant.
Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3 Record Review
Recording of the Month, MusicWeb International (October 2018)
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