Bach & Macmillan: Motets and Sacred Songs (Live) Tenebrae & Nigel Short

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229 (Live):
• 1 Bach: Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229 (Live) 08:23
• James MacMillan (b. 1959): Tenebrae Responsories (Live):
• 2 MacMillan: Tenebrae Responsories: I. Tenebrae factae sunt (Live) 05:48
• Johann Sebastian Bach:
• 3 Bach: Jesu, meine Freude (Live) 20:13
• James MacMillan: Miserere (Live)
• 4 MacMillan: Miserere (Live) 12:10
• Tenebrae Responsories (Live):
• 5 MacMillan: Tenebrae Responsories: II. Tradiderunt me (Live) 05:42
• 6 MacMillan: Tenebrae Responsories III: Jesum tradidit impius (Live) 08:23
• I Saw Eternity the Other Night (Live):
• 7 MacMillan: I Saw Eternity the Other Night (Live) 06:23
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Singet dem Herrn, BWV 225 (Live)
• 8 Bach: Singet dem Herrn, BWV 225 (Live) 12:25
• Total Runtime 01:19:27

Info for Bach & Macmillan: Motets and Sacred Songs (Live)

Tenebrae bring their trademark passion and precision to this live performance of music by J. S. Bach and Sir James MacMillan, recorded live at Snape Maltings in May 2023. Renowned for their technical difficulty, Bach's motets are pillars of the choral repertoire, requiring minute attention to detail as well as a full emotional range. Here, Tenebrae performs the three most well-known of the set, culminating in the joyful Singet dem Herrn. Like Bach, Sir James MacMillan has written much of his music for the church, and his settings of the Tenebrae responsories paint a vivid picture of the events of Holy Week. This album also features the premiere recording of I saw Eternity the other night, which MacMillan composed for Tenebrae in 2021 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the London Bach Society.

Emma Walshe, soprano
Tenebrae
Nigel Short, direction

Tenebrae
Described as 'phenomenal' (The Times) and 'devastatingly beautiful' (Gramophone), award-winning choir Tenebrae, under the direction of Nigel Short, is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles renowned for its passion and precision.

Tenebrae’s ever-increasing discography has brought about collaborations with Signum, Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, LSO Live and Warner Classics. In 2012 Tenebrae were the first-ever ensemble to be multi-nominated in the same category for the BBC Music Magazine Awards, securing the accolade of Best Choral Performance for their recording of Victoria’s Requiem Mass, 1605. The following year the choir’s recording of Fauré’s Requiem with the London Symphony Orchestra was nominated for the Gramophone Awards, having been described as 'the very best Fauré Requiem on disc' (Gramophone) and 'the English choral tradition at its zenith' (Richard Morrison, Chief Music Critic, The Times). In 2014 the choir’s recording of Russian Orthodox music was launched on its own label, Bene Arte, receiving glowing reviews and reaching number 1 in the UK Specialist Classical Chart. In 2016 Tenebrae received its second BBC Music Magazine Award for a recording of Brahms and Bruckner Motets, the profits from the sale of which benefit Macmillan Cancer Support.

Tenebrae is a dedicated advocate for contemporary composers having worked with Judith Bingham, Ola Gjeilo, Alexander L’Estrange, Alexander Levine, Paweł Łukaszewski, Paul Mealor, Owain Park, Hilary Tann, Joby Talbot, Sir John Tavener and Will Todd. The choir is renowned for its highly acclaimed interpretations of choral music with repertoire ranging from hauntingly passionate works of the Renaissance through to contemporary choral masterpieces.

Tenebrae is regularly engaged with the world’s finest orchestras and has appeared at major national and international festivals including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Three Choirs Festival, Leipzig Gewandhaus (Germany) and Montreux Choral Festival (Switzerland).

Tenebrae and Nigel Short co-curate a Holy Week Festival at St John’s Smith Square, London, together with regular concerts throughout the UK, Europe and the USA. Alongside concert performances, the choir presents its inspirational workshop method, The Tenebrae Effect, designed to challenge and advance every participant by instilling skills essential to a Tenebrae performance.

‘Passion and Precision’ are Tenebrae’s core values. Through its continued dedication to performance of the highest quality, Tenebrae’s vision is to deliver dramatic programming, flawless performances and unforgettable experiences, allowing audiences around the world to be moved by the power and intimacy of the human voice.

Nigel Short
Award-winning conductor Nigel Short has built up an enviable reputation for his recording and live performance work with leading orchestras and ensembles across the world.

A singer of great acclaim, Nigel was a member of the renowned vocal ensemble The King’s Singers from 1994–2000. Upon leaving the group, he formed Tenebrae, a virtuosic choir that embraced his dedication to passion and precision. Under his direction Tenebrae has collaborated with internationally acclaimed orchestras and instrumentalists and now enjoys a reputation as one of the world’s finest vocal ensembles.

To date, Nigel has conducted the Aurora Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, English Chamber Orchestra, English Concert, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Scottish Ensemble. He has directed the London Symphony Orchestra alongside Tenebrae in a live recording of Fauré’s Requiem, which was nominated for the Gramophone Awards (2013), and since then, he has conducted the orchestra at St Paul’s Cathedral as part of the City of London Festival. Other orchestral recordings include Mozart’s Requiem and Ave verum corpus with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and two discs of music by Will Todd with the English Chamber Orchestra.

Nigel has vast recording experience having conducted for many of the world’s major labels including Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, LSO Live, Signum and Warner Classics. As a Gramophone award-winning producer, Nigel works with many of the UK’s leading professional choirs and vocal ensembles including Alamire, Ex Cathedra, Gallicantus and The King’s Singers.

This album contains no booklet.