Nottingham

Tenebrae

Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

19 December 2023

5*****: William Ruff

“Tenebrae create an uplifting fusion of Christmas words and music.”

The UK is still a world-beater when it comes to the number and the quality of its professional chamber choirs. And Christmas thrusts them into the limelight, revealing the magic they perform to bigger audiences than usual. The 18 members of Tenebrae who brought their Christmas Conversation to Nottingham on Tuesday are amongst the brightest stars in this particular firmament and it was a special pleasure to hear them in the Royal Concert Hall’s high-definition acoustics.

We are all familiar with Christmas words-and-music programmes – and Tenebrae certainly gave us plenty of both. However, their approach was refreshingly different. Rather than intersperse the seasonal music with poems and extracts from a variety of authors, Tenebrae decided to have a unifying script written by Garth Bardsley, providing not only continuity but also a wryly personal perspective on the festive season. This was performed by versatile actor Clive Mantle, perhaps best-known for his role in Holby City. He was ideally matched to the words – and like all good actors he made you believe that they were his.

This led to a much more honest – and frequently much funnier – approach to Christmas than is sometimes the case. Here was the season presented warts and all: yes, there was the warmth and the mystery but there were also the things that refuse to go according to plan. We learned just what lies behind the cherubic appearance of boy choristers and the terrors of singing solos. We heard about how our digital age has added new dilemmas when it comes to sending Christmas cards. There were wartime miracles, Bardsley’s hatred of blue fairy lights, the real lessons behind Dickens’ Scrooge, the history and meaning of wassailing, how children’s belief in Santa must be kept alive…and much more beside. Overall there was a message of hope, of reminding us that it’s worth making the effort to be nice to people.

The music emerged seamlessly from this framework. Most of the choral pieces were familiar: In Dulci Jubilo, Ding Dong! Merrily, Once in Royal David’s City and many more that the audience would have known since childhood. There were also new arrangements, such as a very jazzy Jingle Bells – and new pieces by Ben Parry and Bob Chilcott. There was also a magical moment when the choir surrounded the audience, enveloping them in sound and wonder.

Throughout the whole range of their programme the choir was minutely responsive to the direction of conductor Nigel Short. The merest flutter of his fingers seemed to elicit the tightest control of tone and dynamics. Ensemble was perfect, rhythms crisp, words always infused with meaning. Tenebrae can let their hair down (as in a sound-effect-strewn rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas) but they are also masters of stillness and mystery too. In short, this was a concert that was so much greater than the sum of its many parts.

A Christmas Conversation performed by Tenebrae

Nigel Short (Director), Clive Mantle (actor), Garth Bardsley (writer)