From 10 to 24 November, the Nederlands Chamber Choir went on tour with the programme Songs of Farewell, a programme of masterpieces from the English choral tradition. Even today, these compositions, written in response to the First World War, bring comfort and tranquillity. The concert in the Grote Kerk in Zwolle was recorded live.
Songs of Farewell
Requiem by Herbert Howells
Herbert Howells wrote his Requiem in memory of those soldiers, but the writing process took a very bitter turn when his son - who had added a note to the score at his father's invitation - died of polio at the age of nine.
About the Requiem
Howells had composed the Requiem half a century back in 1932, modelled on A Short Requiem of 1915 by Walford Davies, then one of his first teachers at the RCM. A humiliating moment during the premiere of his piano concerto in 1925 had led him to turn his back on the arena of the circus of con- cert halls and turn to consolatory works by English colleagues from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The Salvator mundi is in the phrygi mode, traditionally the musical metaphor for mourning. Hope breaks through on 'et lux perpetua luceat eis' in the loudest climax during the fifth movement. Peace radiates from the final chord (D major) of I heard a voice from Heaven. Latin offers the most complex music, the Anglican psalm texts simpler syllabic singing.
- Huib Ramaer
Songs of Farewell - Hubert Parry
Hubert Parry arrived at his composition Songs of Farewell in response to the deaths of some of his students at the Royal College of Music in London on the World War I battlefield. These six motets, which he began in 1913 and completed in 1918, are noble and comforting in mood. Whereas the first movements are four-part, from the third song onwards, a voice is added each time, until the overwhelming eight-part final movement.
About Songs of Farewell
These six motets, begun in 1913 and completed in 1914-15, are noble and comforting in atmosphere. While the first movements are four-part, from the third song onwards, a voice is added each time, until the overwhelming eight-part final movement. The Songs of Farewell open with a vision of the Lord on his throne in a Heaven where roses do not wilt. An exercise in humility follows: I know my soul hath power to know all things. The music breaks out into a distant key to underscore the bitterly ironic - and for us current - observation, that we as humans are proud but miserable creatures. The third song offers a deep glimpse into the soul of a weary man, the fourth begs to be reunited with lost sights. In the last songs, the agnostic in Parry preaches: he criticises the relentless exclusion of sinners during Judgement Day: Leave them alone Lord, forgive them! Let us pay on earth, not burn in Hell.
Huib Ramaer
Tenebrae Responsories - James MacMIllan
Scottish composer James Macmallin composed his Tenebrae Responsories in the spirit of Renaissance masters such as Gesualdo and Victoria. The work is as complex as it is dramatic: central is the power of love that speaks from the personal sacrifices we make.
About the Tenebrae Responsories
The triptych sung here recalls in theme and intensity Seven Last Words from the Cross, the iconic 1993 work that MacMillan also dazzled us with here in the Netherlands. The gradual extinction of candles during the psalm readings is a centuries-old ritual on the Iberian peninsula during Holy Week. Abrasive chromaticism outlines Christ's pain and suffering in the first movement. Three bursts of indignation at the perjurers who handed him over to his executioners frame the middle section. Exclamations on 'Jesum' interpret Peter's betrayal in the finale. Unforgettable
is the final passage in which a soloist rises from the choral sound, recounts how Peter follows the procession to the crucifixion from a distance and delivers a lament over his betrayal that, as a listener, leaves you with chills.
- Huib Ramaer