ethereal sound, ensures a well-balanced accompaniment to boy soprano Alfred Harrison’s emotionally eloquent solo. Returning to the full instrumentation of flute, violin and chamber organ, ‘Ach, ziehe die Seele’, sung with lyrical agility by countertenor soloist Hugh Cutting, presents the most direct relationship to Bach’s material. In the following movement, tenor soloist Gopal Kambo soars with seemingly effortless delicacy amid the spacious resonance of the more distant main organ, here played by Junior Organ Scholar James Anderson-Besant. ‘Bald sur Rechten’ uses contrasting, widely spaced lines on the violin and left and right hands of the organ to create a clear, crystalline texture surrounding bass soloist James Adams’s sustained phrases. The cantata’s final chorale gradually drifts further and further from Bach’s material. Towards the end, a sustained pedal G highlights the structural importance of this pitch throughout the cycle. In the second of disc two’s purely instrumental works, Commentary on BWV 562, flautist Sarah O’Flynn, violinist Cecily Ward and organist Glen Dempsey deftly navigate between the controlled Baroque expressivity of D minor Bach-based material and the angular incisiveness of progressively longer Boulez-like episodes. The last of the cycle’s choral works, Plebs angelica, relates to Michael Tippett’s setting of the same text in a 1943 motet. Like Tippett, Finnissy also explores the rich harmonic possibilities afforded by double choir. Beginning diatonically, in a modal G, Finnissy’s harmony reveals increasingly kaleidoscopic richness, yet the spacing of voices ensures that even the densest, most saturated harmony is never muddy. The motet’s monumental blocks of sound contrast beautifully with the intricate polyphony of earlier movements. The concluding piece, Plebs angelica – alternativo, for two organs, is also the longest single movement of the cycle. Beginning by reiterating the start of the preceding motet, the piece subsequently highlights material from the cycle’s other movements, juxtaposing and re-presenting musical ideas. It feels as though we are being invited to consider the cycle outside of a linear temporal framework, touching on the theological interpretations of time and eternity that are expressed in the texts. In the world of contemporary music, the idea that new choral repertoire might also be used in a liturgical context can raise questions. There is an implication that such music must compromise on its contemporaneity, perhaps by avoiding ‘unusual’ sounds such as extended vocal techniques, or re-using the music of the past, to satisfy the perceived requirements of a devotional setting. Advocates of this view might point to the commercial success of much recent European and North American choral music, in which the perfect balance of white note clusters and tonal resolution makes it immediately accessible to amateur singers. But such dismissive attitudes arguably miss the point of Finnissy’s cycle. In addition to being designed around the specific circumstances of St John’s Chapel Choir, Pious Anthems & Voluntaries clearly reflects Finnissy’s longstanding engagement with the music of the past. Here is truly a ‘cabinet’ of musical objects, viewed through the prism of Finnissy’s language to create something both engaging and profoundly moving. The accompanying CD booklet is a typical reflection of the vast breadth of Finnissy’s inner encyclopaedia. Cited influences include the music of earlier composers (and the specific works that became the cycle’s found objects), paintings by David Hockney, Biblical texts, the chapel’s Victorian Gothic architecture, and the associated ‘Victorian’ idea of spiritual renewal in the face of the society’s ills. Yet there is a generosity to the way in which Finnissy’s music draws us in, with each listening revealing ever more richness. It is easy to forget that these pieces were envisaged not just as standalone concert works, but as part of the choir’s regular liturgical repertoire. It is even more striking to be reminded that this is a choir made up of boy sopranos and full-time university students. In a genre – the Anglican choral tradition – which is often seen to typify the most conservative of British musical institutions, the project is surely testament to Andrew Nethsingha’s inspired vision.

中文翻译：

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Lisa Streich - Lisa Streich，眼睑。德国柏林交响乐团，斯诺登，Nawri，合奏 Musikfabrik，Löffler，Weirich，Portah，Schwarz，Ensemble Links，合奏 Mosaik，Poppe。凯罗斯，KAI18002。

空灵的声音，确保为男孩女高音阿尔弗雷德哈里森的情感雄辩独奏提供均衡的伴奏。回到长笛、小提琴和室内风琴的完整乐器，“Ach, ziehe die Seele”由男高音独奏家 Hugh Cut 以抒情的敏捷演唱，呈现出与巴赫材料最直接的关系。在接下来的乐章中，男高音独奏家戈帕尔·坎博（Gopal Kambo）在更远的主要管风琴的宽敞共鸣中以看似毫不费力的精致翱翔，这里由初级管风琴学者詹姆斯·安德森-贝桑特演奏。'Bald sur Rechten' 在小提琴和管风琴的左手和右手上使用对比鲜明的间隔线，在低音独奏家詹姆斯亚当斯的持续乐句周围营造出清晰、水晶般的质感。康塔塔最后的颂歌逐渐远离巴赫的材料。到最后，持续踏板 G 突出了该音高在整个循环中的结构重要性。在第二部纯乐器作品 BWV 562 的评论中，长笛演奏家莎拉·奥弗林、小提琴家塞西莉·沃德和风琴演奏家格伦·登普西巧妙地在 D 小调巴赫材料的受控巴洛克表现力和逐渐变长的布列兹的棱角分明之间巧妙地驾驭- 类似的情节。该周期的最后一首合唱作品 Plebs angelica 与迈克尔·蒂皮特 (Michael Tippett) 在 1943 年的一首诗歌中对同一文本的设置有关。和 Tippett 一样，Finnissy 也探索了双合唱团提供的丰富和声的可能性。从全音阶开始，在模态 G 中，Finnissy 的和声展现出越来越多万花筒般的丰富性，但声音的间距确保即使是最密集、最饱和的和声也不会浑浊。颂歌巨大的声音块与早期乐章错综复杂的复调形成了美妙的对比。结尾乐曲 Plebs angelica - alternativo 用于两个器官，也是该循环中最长的单个乐章。这首曲子首先重申了前面的经文开头，随后突出了该循环其他乐章的素材，并列并重新呈现了音乐思想。感觉好像我们被邀请考虑线性时间框架之外的循环，触及文本中表达的时间和永恒的神学解释。在当代音乐世界中，新的合唱曲目也可能用于礼仪环境的想法可能会引发问题。暗示这样的音乐必须在其同时代性上妥协，也许通过避免“不寻常”的声音，例如扩展的声乐技巧，或重新使用过去的音乐，以满足灵修环境的感知要求。这种观点的拥护者可能会指出最近欧洲和北美合唱音乐在商业上的成功，其中白音群和音调分辨率的完美平衡使得业余歌手可以立即使用。但这种不屑一顾的态度可以说是错过了 Finnissy 周期的重点。除了围绕圣约翰教堂合唱团的具体情况设计之外，Pious Anthems & Voluntaries 清楚地反映了 Finnissy 对过去音乐的长期参与。这是一个真正的音乐物品“柜子”，通过 Finnissy 语言的棱镜来观察，创造出既引人入胜又深刻动人的东西。随附的 CD 小册子典型地反映了 Finnissy 内部百科全书的广度。被引用的影响包括早期作曲家的音乐（以及成为循环发现对象的特定作品）、大卫霍克尼的画作、圣经文本、教堂的维多利亚哥特式建筑，以及相关的“维多利亚时代”的面部精神更新理念社会的弊病。然而，Finnissy 的音乐吸引我们的方式是慷慨的，每一次聆听都展现出更多的丰富性。很容易忘记，这些作品不仅被设想为独立的音乐会作品，而且被设想为合唱团常规礼仪曲目的一部分。更令人震惊的是，这是一个由男高音和全日制大学生组成的合唱团。