Holst: The Evening-watch, H159

“all performed with Tenebrae’s customary poise.” Financial Times, 15th October 2011 ****

“[Tenebrae's] account of Parry's Songs of Farewell abounds in subtleties of phrasing and telling distinctions of dynamic, yet flows beautifully, the textual narrative unfolding with a rare continuity and coherence. Technically the singing is impeccable without being at all effortful or studied...Huge credit to Nigel Short. Of this programme's type, I can't envisage hearing anything better.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 *****

“Short gives wonderful shape to the well-known 'My soul, there is a country' and extracts that essential longing from 'I know my soul hath power'...Most impressive, however, is the fluidity of the double-choir motet, 'Lord, let me know mine end', the textual clarity and emotional intensity of that fairly summarises the complexity of the composer's heterodoxy.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011

“The tone quality achieved by Tenebrae is incredibly smooth and consistent. There isn't a hint of unevenness or unwanted peaks and troughs within individual voice parts. It's an extremely easy choir to listen to...there is a very quiet, still quality to the disc that, over the course of the whole programme, is quite soporific, relaxing and altogether ideal for a winter evening's listening.” International Record Review, February 2012

“this classic performance will be difficult to better’ … ‘Janet Baker gives a radiant and most moving interpretation of the title role” Gramophone Magazine (Savitri)

“The ladies of the Purcell Singers give atmospheric performances, with great purity of intonation and wonderfully clear words … the engineering of the whole disc is impeccable” Gramophone Magazine (Rig Veda Hymns)

“Unreservedly recommended” Gramophone Magazine

“The girls are given solo duties in several of the these works. They rise to the occasion and are not inferior in musicality to the adult Lay Clerks. This CD should be welcomed by anyone who wants to go more deeply into Holst's and Finzi's oeuvre.” International Record Review, May 2013

“There can be nothing but praise for the excellence of these performances, for the quality and choice of the music itself and, most of all, for the gorgeous sound quality of these recordings made in Ely Cathedral. Add to this some eminently readable booklet–notes and we have a real winner, even if the overall aural effect bears a striking resemblance to those ubiquitous inoffensive compilation discs played in hotel lobbies the world over.
Within the basic theme of death and the soul's subsequent journey to paradise the music juxtaposes chunks of plainsong and standard cathedral choir repertoire with some rather more esoteric choral pieces. Whether it's the ancient plainchant In paradisum, Psalm 121 sung to Walford Davies's fine Anglican chant, William Harris's richly textured anthem Faire is theHeaven or the almost erotically indulgent arrangement by Timothy Brown of Steal Away, Clare College Choir distinguish it all with finely crafted and beautifully shaped performances that aren't just note–perfect but intensely perceptive as well. There's no hint of the sickliness we sometimes experience when church music is exposed to such slick professionalism on disc – rather a real sense of wonder and awe at the timeless beauty of the programme.
It's difficult to listen to the disc in its entirety without falling into some kind of soporific trance, but taken individually each piece is, in its own way, as dramatic and earth–shaking as the garish blue cover leads us to suspect.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The Cloud Messenger is a 43-minute work of considerableimaginative power. Before its previoussingle-issue release it had been virtually forgottensince its disastrous premiere under Holst'sbaton in 1913. It shows the composer alreadyworking on an epic scale-–-something that castslight on the subsequent eruption of The Planets.It's marvellous to have the work on disc, though,as you might expect, it's uneven. Those whoadmire the ascetic rigour of his later music mayshare Imogen Holst's reservations, and find thescore disappointingly 'backward'. There arecertainly echoes of Vaughan Williams's A SeaSymphony and several older models. On theother hand, the glittering approach to the sacredcity on Mount Kailasa and the stylised orientalismof the climactic dance are new to Britishmusic; another world, that of 'Venus', is foreshadowedin the closing pages.One of the few incontrovertible masterpiecesin Holst's output, the familiar Hymn of Jesus hasseldom received a better performance on disc.The choral singing itself is splendidly crisp, butthe lively acoustic can blunt the impact ofHolst's acerbic harmonies.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010