GRANDS CONCERTS: TENEBRAE / LAMENTATIONS
The Tenebrae ensemble takes listeners on a deeply moving journey through centuries of sacred music in a programme that combines compositions reflecting the grief and hope inherent in the experience of the Holy Week and Easter. The programme explores themes of atonement, loss and redemption, juxtaposing the works of Renaissance masters with those of contemporary composers.
The concert opens with Super flumina Babylonis by Franco-Flemish composer Philippe de Monte, a contemplative meditation evoking the Israelites’ lament over the rivers of Babylon. The rich polyphony of this composition introduces the timeless themes of longing and spiritual quest that run throughout the programme. This will be followed by William Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices reflecting the Renaissance tradition of harmony that combines the purity of expression with an artful vocal structure. The emotional climax of the first part of the programme is Ne irascaris Domine, a stirring prayer for God’s mercy that Byrd composed during the time of religious persecutions in Tudor England. This part of the concert closes with Francis Poulenc’s Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence, a 20th-century masterpiece marked by poignant harmonies and a profound picture of human frailty.
After the break, the programme focuses on lamentations in their purest form. Thomas Tallis’s Lamentations of Jeremiah is a Renaissance look at the prophet’s grief over the destruction of Jerusalem. Sir James MacMillan’s Jesum tradidit impius, on the other hand, is an example of a contemporary meditation on betrayal and sacrifice, marked by the composer’s distinctive and emotionally tense style. The concert closes with Miserere by the same composer. This powerful elaboration of Psalm 51 fully captures human weakness and frailty, combining emotional intensity with a transcendent prayer for mercy.
This unique programme will be performed by the Tenebrae choir under the direction of Nigel Short, an ensemble characterised by extraordinary precision and emotional depth in the performance of sacred music. The Lamentations programme will open listeners to reflection on suffering and redemption, while allowing them to immerse themselves in the extraordinary beauty of music that transcends cultures and eras.
Performers:
Tenebrae
Nigel Short – conductor
Programme:
LAMENTATIONS
Philippe de Monte (1521–1603) Super flumina Babylonis
William Byrd (1540–1623) Mass for 4 Voices
William Byrd Ne irascaris Domine
Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence
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Thomas Tallis (1505–1585) Lamentations I
James MacMillan (b. 1959) Jesum tradidit impius
Thomas Tallis Lamentations II
James MacMillan Miserere
Organizers
