Tenebrae officiate, transforming their listeners from an audience to a congregation.
– Record Review, Building a Library, BBC Radio 3
Medieval Chant and Tallis Lamentations
A sequence of chant and polyphony for Holy Week.
The timeless beauty of the simple, melodic and rhythmic inflections of chant has captivated listeners for around a thousand years. This recording of medieval chant is complemented by one of the most poignant and intense polyphonic settings of a sacred text, Tallis’ Lamentations.
Tenebrae Consort is an outstanding group of musicians, with singers hand-picked from the award winning chamber choir Tenebrae. Known for their instinctive ensemble skills, the singers and instrumentalists are directed from within the Consort by Nigel Short who leads the group to attain music making of the highest quality.
Focussing on the repertoire originally written for consort performance, particularly early music, Tenebrae Consort aims to shed new interpretative light on works through the combination of both passion and precision, creating an intimate and unique concert experience.
Tenebrae officiate, transforming their listeners from an audience to a congregation.
– Record Review, Building a Library, BBC Radio 3
- Release Date: 10 March 2014
- Record Label: Bene Arte
- Catalogue Number: SIGCD901
- Location of Recording: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London
- Total Running Time: 01:05:23
- View/Download Liner Notes
Purchase Options
You have the option to purchase the physical CD for delivery, or download the full recording or individual tracks, in a choice of audio formats.
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Individual Tracks
Add individual tracks to your shopping cart by ticking their boxes in the track listing table below.
| Buy | # | Title | Composer | Duration | Price | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hymn for Passiontide: Pange lingua gloriosi | Plainchant | 03:12 | £ | Listen | |
| 2 | Compline for Passiontide: I. Deus in adiutorium | Plainchant | 00:52 | £ | Listen | |
| 3 | Compline for Passiontide: II. Antiphon - Psalms | Plainchant | 10:54 | £ | Listen | |
| 4 | Compline for Passiontide: III. Chapter - Respond | Plainchant | 01:21 | £ | Listen | |
| 5 | Compline for Passiontide: IV. Hymn | Plainchant | 03:53 | £ | Listen | |
| 6 | Compline for Passiontide: V. Versicle & Response | Plainchant | 00:23 | £ | Listen | |
| 7 | Compline for Passiontide: VI. Antiphon - Canticle | Plainchant | 04:28 | £ | Listen | |
| 8 | Compline for Passiontide: VII. Preces - Collect - Benedicamus | Plainchant | 05:19 | £ | Listen | |
| 9 | Lamentations of Jeremiah I | Thomas Tallis | 08:27 | £ | Listen | |
| 10 | Respond: In monte Oliveti | Plainchant | 02:18 | £ | Listen | |
| 11 | Lamentations of Jeremiah II | Thomas Tallis | 13:36 | £ | Listen | |
| 12 | Respond: Tristis est anima mea | Plainchant | 02:53 | £ | Listen | |
| 13 | Respond for Compline in Passiontide: In manus tuas I | John Sheppard | 03:43 | £ | Listen | |
| 14 | Litany after Lauds for Maundy Thursday | Plainchant | 03:49 | £ | Listen |
the performance of Tallis’s Lamentations is majestically dark and intense, displaying this group’s famous sensitivity toward musical structure, as well as their exquisite harmonic control
– BBC Music Magazine
The singing of the gentle psalms is hypnotically pure
– The Observer
This is a lovely disc, the consort sings with a beautifully rich, smooth and rounded tone, giving the chant a fine combination of strength and flexibility.
– Planet Hugill
The fragility of the single voices (and the darker shades generated by these lower male-voice keys) summons a world of private, secret devotion, where abstract grief becomes the very real conflict of Catholics under a Protestant monarch. Textures are translucent, each individual voice offering its own personal musical plea… This is simplicity at once artful and artless – perfectly poised at the junction of recital and rite.
– Gramophone Magazine
BBC Radio 3 ‘Building a Library’ chosen recording (March 2018)