Directed by former King’s Singers member Nigel Short, Tenebrae is renowned for its sheer expressiveness and the purity of its vocal blend. Francis Poulenc’s Figure Humaine is a remarkable work, a paean to liberty composed during the Second World War setting texts by the French surrealist poet Paul Éluard. Poulenc’s distinctive harmonies and extraordinary part-writing are brilliantly showcased throughout, but particularly in the penultimate, demanding “Un feu sans tache.” Other choral gems by Poulenc on this recording include the intense and concentrated Mass in G and the exquisite Quatre petites prieres de Saint Francois d'Assise, both sung with pinpoint accuracy and a sense of joie de vivre.
- 2014
- 2022
- Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
- Tenebrae & Nigel Short
- Joanne Lunn, Mark Padmore, Bernarda Fink, Julian Clarkson, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Monteverdi Choir, Robert Murray, Peter Harvey, Paul Tindall, Katherine Fuge, English Baroque Soloists & John Eliot Gardiner
- Gabrieli & Paul McCreesh
- Joby Talbot
- The Sixteen & Harry Christophers
- Stile Antico & Fretwork