Easter 2016

[BBMmk2]

With Ash Wednesday upon us, the Season of Lent has arrived for 2016.

What I was wondering, do Forum Members, tend to play more religious music at this time of year, than at any other?

If so, what recordings do you like to listen to, or would like?

[Barbirollians]

As I am not religious - the answer is generally no - yet I always tend to find myself playing the St Matthew Passion ( Gardiner DG recording) about Easter time

[ardcarp]

...and the St John. Current fave is NCO and Higginbottom.

[jean]

I've got lots of recordings of various settings of the Lamentations, and I always mean to play them at this time of year but often don't get round to it.

I get to sing quite a lot of seasonal stuff - some of the Gesualdo Tenebrae responsories this year. Haven't thought about Easter yet.

[ardcarp]

...and thanks for reminding me Jean. The Victoria Tenebrae (Gorge Malcolm and WCC) on vinyl get a spin around this time.

[jean]

I've got that LP somewhere - never surpassed, in spite of all the traffic noise!

[Petrushka]

Coincidentally, playing 'Evensong for Ash Wednesday' disc 12 in the King's College Choir box.

[Serial_Apologist]

This year will be the centenary of the Easter Uprising. Did the Irish Republicans have any revolutionary Catholic hymns apart from Onward Fenian Brethren we could play? Or would that idea be a contradiction in terms?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

For Passiontide, the Schutz and Bach Passions (and this year, having found a copy of the score for a quid, Pebderecki's "St Luke"); Haydn's Seven Last Words; Tallis and Krenek's Lamentations; Plainchant for Good Friday (the DG recording of the Chant School of Munsterschwarzach Benedictine Abbey); and various Stabat Maters from the Eton Choirbook.

For Easter itself, the Plainchant for Easter Sunday, and Bach's "Easter Oratorio".

[BBMmk2]

We did a fantastic Misserre(Allegeri) at our school's Chapel, yesterday.

Now that's another work, The Lamentations(Jeremiah the Prophet?). (Recordings?)

[mahlerei]

ThisEaster:

Alexander Grechaninov: Passion Week (Chandos)
Maximilian Steinberg: Passion Week (Cappella Romana)
Osvaldo Golijov: La Pasión según San Marcos (DG)

The Steinberg is a recent find; the other two are old favourites. The Golijov is well worth exploring.

Not a great fan of 'the holy minimalist' but this is a remarkable piece, superbly sung by the US group Chanticleer:

John Tavener: Lamentations & Praises (Teldec)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Now that's another work, The Lamentations(Jeremiah the Prophet?). (Recordings?)

For the Tallis, I have Jeremy Summerly with the Oxford Camerata on NAXOS (who also perform other setting s of the Lamentations by Palestrina, Lassus and de Brito) and Pro Cantione Antiqua, led by Mark Brown on REGIS.

For Krenek's set-ting , I have the Marcus Creed/RIAS Kammerchor recording on Harmonia Mundi (and I've just seen another version with the Netherlands Chamber Choir under Uwe Gronostay which will give my debit card a bit of exercise).

And then, of course (which I forgot to include on my list) there's Stravinsky's Threni. (Sadly, shockingly, only one recording - that by the composer himself. So sad that Robert Craft wasn't able to get round to recording it for KOCH/NAXOS - cause for lamentation, indeed.)

[Pulcinella]

And then, of course (which I forgot to include on my list) there's Stravinsky's Threni. (Sadly, shockingly, only one recording - that by the composer himself. So sad that Robert Craft wasn't able to get round to recording it for KOCH/NAXOS - cause for lamentation, indeed.)

But he did:

http://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-Vol-VI-Symphony-Lamentations/dp/B00005YDJC

Not made it onto Naxos yet though.
This is a piece I struggle with; might try again (I have a copy of the score, which ought to help!).
En passant, and perhaps for the Missing persons thread, does anyone remember and know what became of our Stravinsky fan Threni, quite a prolific poster on the/a previous board?

[Ferretfancy]

Religious music in my collection, which includes all the Bach cantatas, is there because I enjoy it just as music and not for its spiritual connotations.Although I am an atheist I can't ignore a whole history of religious music, or its drama, the St Matthew Passion for example.

Polyphonic church music doesn't do much for me, even though I enjoyed singing Byrd and Tallis at school, and I loath the incense laden atmosphere of works like The Dream of Gerontius.

I suspect that most of us like to try fitting our music listening to events of the church year, and I was educated in the Anglican tradition, so yes, I have tried the experiment of choosing appropriate music. It's rather fun hearing the individual cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio on the correct days over the festive season. For me the most haunting piece of religious music is The Symphony of Psalms.

[jean]

If I took any time off from Renaissance polyphony, I'd listen to Poulenc's Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence.