There’s music in all things, if men had ears; the earth is but the music of the spheres.
– George Gordon Bryon
Music of the Spheres – Part Songs of the British Isles
Tenebrae brings you the glories of part song ranging from exquisite miniatures about the natural world and human experience to complex masterpieces marrying text and song. Shakespeare, Shelley, Byron, Tennyson and Milton are the inspiration of renowned composers such as Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Holst and others in this Grammy nominated recording. As with other Bene Arte releases, Tenebrae aims to marry well-known works alongside less-familiar repertoire.
Nigel Short Conductor
Martha McLorinan Mezzo-soprano
There’s music in all things, if men had ears; the earth is but the music of the spheres.
– George Gordon Bryon
- Release Date: 30 September 2016
- Record Label: Bene Arte
- Catalogue Number: SIGCD904
- Location of Recording: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London
- Total Running Time: 01:05:04
- View/Download Liner Notes
Purchase Options
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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 | Two Songs from Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’: O Mistress Mine | Herbert Murrill | 01:24 | £ | Listen | |
| 2 | Two Songs from Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’: Come Away, Death | Herbert Murrill | 03:30 | £ | Listen | |
| 3 | Autumn | Frank Bridge | 04:10 | £ | Listen | |
| 4 | Music, When Soft Voices Die | Frank Bridge | 05:16 | £ | Listen | |
| 5 | The Bee | Frank Bridge | 04:36 | £ | Listen | |
| 6 | Three Shakespeare Songs: Full Fathom Five | Ralph Vaughan Williams | 03:47 | £ | Listen | |
| 7 | Three Shakespeare Songs: The Cloud-Capp’d Towers | Ralph Vaughan Williams | 02:54 | £ | Listen | |
| 8 | Three Shakespeare Songs: Over Hill, Over Dale | Ralph Vaughan Williams | 01:13 | £ | Listen | |
| 9 | Four Part-Songs, Op. 53: There is Sweet Music | Edward Elgar | 03:22 | £ | Listen | |
| 10 | Four Part-Songs, Op. 53: Deep in My Soul | Edward Elgar | 02:25 | £ | Listen | |
| 11 | Four Part-Songs, Op. 53: O Wild West Wind | Edward Elgar | 00:57 | £ | Listen | |
| 12 | Four Part-Songs, Op. 53: Owls (An Epitaph) | Edward Elgar | 04:24 | £ | Listen | |
| 13 | Soft Music | Ernest Walker | 04:51 | £ | Listen | |
| 14 | The Drowned Lovers | Judith Bingham | 03:58 | £ | Listen | |
| 15 | The Blue Bird, Op. 119 | Charles Villiers Stanford | 02:52 | £ | Listen | |
| 16 | On Time, Op. 142 | Charles Villiers Stanford | 02:04 | £ | Listen | |
| 17 | Song of June | Jonathan Harvey | 05:43 | £ | Listen | |
| 18 | The Modern Man I Sing: The Runner | Bob Chilcott | 02:33 | £ | Listen | |
| 19 | The Modern Man I Sing: The Last Invocation | Bob Chilcott | 02:50 | £ | Listen | |
| 20 | The Modern Man I Sing: One’s-Self I Sing | Bob Chilcott | 02:14 | £ | Listen |
This choir’s great strength is their utterly unimpeachable blend, their clear intonation and their unflinchingly musical approach to their texts. Those qualities are all on display at their very finest here, with a richly rounded sound that you’ll struggle to hear bettered elsewhere, helped by a glorious recording in the acoustic of All Hallows Church, which fits them like a glove.
– MusicWeb International
If we listen to this CD with English a cappella music of the 19th and 20th century, we become fans of Tenebrae: the modulation capability of this group, its sensitivity to text and sound set is simply a dream. If you love choral music, you need to have this CD.
– Rondo Magazine
…The ability of Short and his outstandingly responsive singers to create riveting atmosphere, and communicate to the listener the import and implications of song’s narrative.
– BBC Music Magazine
It’s hard to look past the heady beauty of Tenebrae’s Vaughan Williams, however – the Three Shakespeare Songs recorded here are utterly beguiling, a haze of gauzy, cloudy, choral blend that floats suspended in the generous acoustic of All Hallow’s, Gospel Oak.
– Gramophone Magazine
This really is a definitive performance of my piece…it totally captures the watery, morbid, sensual feel of it, it’s exactly as I would want it to be.
– Judith Bingham
Best Choral Performance (Nigel Short), 2018 Grammy Awards Nomination
Presto Classical Top 100 Discs of 2016
BBC Music Magazine Choral & Song Choice – November 2016