A Hymn of Heavenly Beauty

Twenty-five years ago, Nigel Short founded the Tenebrae Choir. Seeking the best voices, he found them in the choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the two London opera houses, and the choir of Westminster Abbey. With the sixteen-voice Tenebrae Choir, Short realized a lifelong dream: “During the years with the King’s Singers, as a sextet, we could not sing many operas. I envisioned a choir that could combine the broad, passionate sound of large church choirs with the precision of a small vocal ensemble.”

“A Hymn to Heavenly Beauty” is the title of this spiritual journey through five centuries of choral art. Works by Tallis, a composer of the English Renaissance, meet sacred a cappella compositions from the 20th century. From Alonso Lobo’s deeply felt “Versa est in luctum,” which makes the mourning of the Spanish Renaissance palpable, the journey leads to the solemn Burial Sentences of Purcell and Croft. A highlight is Allegri’s famous “Miserere,” whose suspended high notes, in the acoustics of the Papio College Church, will have an almost unreal effect.

John Tavener’s meditative works enter into dialogue with the somber richness of the Russian Orthodox tradition, as found in the pages of Rachmaninov and Česnokov. With Eric Whitacre’s luminous harmonies and the essential beauty of Gustav Holst’s “Nunc Dimittis,” the circle of heavenly beauty is closed.