Limelight — May 2017

Tempos a re br i sker, more

matter of fact, and there’s a

deliberately brittle quality to the

upper voices that refuses

tofilloutintoabsolute

certainty. In many

ways it’s rather more

French, catching

the edginess

of continental

choirs without

compromising on

British choral precision of

tuning and balance.

Some repertoire, inevitably,

responds better to one treatment

than another. There’s a hazy

gorgeousness to some of the

gentlerworksontheearlier

recording –Vinea Mea Electa

from theQuatre Motets pour

un Temps de Pénitence, Quem

Vidistis Pastoresfrom the

Christmas motets, the opening

movement ofUn Soir de Neige

• but it’s matched by the new
  muscularity, the ferocity and
  unblinking confrontation
  of the later take onTimor
  et Tremor,thedeclamatory
  assertiveness ofHodie Christus
  Natus Estand the climactic
  moment ofLa Bonne Neige.
  It’s testimony to the
  chameleon-like beauty of
  theMass in Gthat the piece
  worksbothways,butforcedto
  choose, I’d opt for the fragility
  and urgency of the 2017
  recording,whichvoicesnot
  only the fears and uncertainties
  of1937Europe,butthoseof
  today with disquieting clarity.
  Alexandra Coghlan

Recording of the month

Poulenc

Sacred choral works

The Sixteen/Harry Christophers

CORO COR16149

★★★★

HowdoyoutakeyourPoulenc?

Ionlyaskbecause,conveniently,

TheSixteenhaverecordedalot

oftherepertoireontheirlatest

disc before, and their thinking

has changed dramatically in the

30-yeargap.Thecontrastbetween

the 1990Figure Humaine(Virgin

Classics,nowErato5624312)and

the newly releasedFrancis Poulenc:

Choral Music(CORO) is striking –

neither an improvement nor

thereverse,simplytwovery

differentapproachestothe

composer’s sacred music.

Poulenc’sjourneytofaithwas

aswiftanddramaticone.The

turningpointisusuallyplacedin

1936,whentwoseparateevents

together propelled the composer

intoanewstateofmind.The

sudden and violent death of

his friend, composer Pierre-

OctaveFerroud,inacaraccident

promptedavisittothesmall

chapel at Rocamadour, where a

mystical experience restored the

Catholicismofhischildhood.

He immediately began work on

asacredpiece–theLitaniesàla

Vierge Noir–takinghisfirststeps

inagenrethatwouldbecomea

constant throughout his life.

The new

recording is a

much leaner, more

sinewy affair

The sound-world ofFigure

Humaineisoneofgauzy,glossy

beauty – a Mannerist vision of

aheaventhat’sallsoft-

focus loveliness and

elegance. These are

performances that

cushion chromatic

edges, smoothing

them down into

tensions whose

eventual release

becomes inevitable.

The new recording, by contrast,

is a much leaner, more sinewy

affair.Goneisthesoftening

breadth of sound, the artful

distance from the microphones.

This is a portrait of faith painted

closeenoughtoseethefrownsof

doubt, the sweat and the blood as

well as the gilded halo.

RECORDINGOF THE

MONTH

MOSTLY MONK, WITH A TOUCH OF THE RASCAL

A fresh take on the sacred works of a 20th-century French master by one of England’s finest

Harry Christophers and The Sixteen

72 LIMELIGHT MAY 2017 http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au

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