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The Responsories for Tenebrae (generically) comprise 27 poetic Latin mediations on the Passion chanted (or sung) until the 1950's in the Roman Catholic Holy Week liturgy, viz., at Matins of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. There are three responsories for each day's three “Nocturns”. Tenebrae, Latin for "darkness", alludes to that at the time of the Crucifixion, the dramatic Passiontide service in which candles are successively extinguished to commemorate the former, and the incipit of the keystone of the set, "Tenebrae factae sunt".
These remarkable texts blend the Gospel Passion narratives, the "Christological passages" of the Old Testament, Lamentations, Psalms and original text to weave a unique fabric, not quite a Passion narrative and not quite a meditation, often featuring the striking thread of Christ seemingly commenting upon his own Passion. Exceedingly bitter and riven with rancor and recrimination, the Responsories pay but scant attention to the notion, ubiquitous in Bach, that Christ dies to redeem humanity, and fulminate against Judas and "the Jews".
The unique drama and poetic, introspective cast of these texts have occasioned stunning musical settings of the whole or partial set, those by Tomás Luís de Victoria, Don Carlo Gesualdo di Venosa, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, and Michael Haydn (brother of Franz Josef) being the most well-known. Expectably dark and pessimistic, these often beautiful texts do not fail the characterizations "paranoid" and "profoundly depressed", e.g., the madrigalesque "Aestimatus sum", based largely on Psalm LXXXVIII: the inward terror they bespeak calls to mind the dark lyrics of Robert Johnson (The Complete Recordings). While this stance is most uncharacteristic of the Christ of the Gospels, it also inspires deeply moving, universal art.
Victoria’s 1585 setting (which, for reasons not completely clear, sets only 18, viz., the 2nd and 3rd Nocturns of each day) is perfused with the trademark “Spanish” fire and drama of this contemporary of the mystic St. John of the Cross, at far remove the gentle perfection of better-known Palestrina. But this raises a fair question of exactly with how much “theatre” to perform this work. Having known them by and since George Malcolm’s iconic 1959 recording (Victoria: Responsories for Tenebrae) with the men and boys of Westminster, which burns with theatrical drama, I eagerly went to hear Stile Antico live a few days ago, and was deeply impressed with their musicality, authenticity (even without boy trebles), and knowledge of, and care and feel for the music. Their performance, perfectly reproduced on this recording, comports with modern knowledge and standards of how Renaissance a cappella polyphony should be faithfully performed, which, while deeply satisfying, are not the same as George Malcolm’s (or the Sistine Choir's in other unforgettable early recordings), yet so clearly “right”, on the basis of which conclusion I cannot recommend this recording too highly: it is a perfect, inspired performance and presentation of these stunning and unusual works by a tremendously talented and competent contemporary ensemble.
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- Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2018
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- Marilyn EdwardsReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 13, 2018
Beautiful sound - beautiful music.
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- Bryony JacquesReviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2018
Quick delivery and as deacribed
- Mr Ernest R KellowReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2018
Just what it says on the tin.
