Svyati Music for choir and cello

Reading Bach Choir

The Choir is joined for this concert by cellist Stephanie Tress for
two contemporary works written for cello and choir.
Tavener’s Svyati (Holy one) is a profoundly beautiful and moving
work, which sets the text of a Russian Orthodox prayer for mercy,
with the cello representing the priest.
Nystedt’s Stabat Mater, a stark and powerful piece, explores the
emotion and pain of the mother of the crucified Christ.
The cello also accompanies Bach’s Jesu meine Freude, his earliest
and most complex motet. It reveals the composer at his expressive
best with wonderful word-painting and a huge dramatic range.
Albert Schweitzer described it as Bach’s sermon on Life and Death.
Three gems from the renaissance by Byrd, Tallis and Gesualdo
contrast with the contemporary pieces.
Also on the programme is Nystedt’s extraordinary Immortal Bach,
a fascinating setting of Komm süsser Tod, (Come sweet death),
‘exquisite and intriguing, incredibly simple, yet beautiful as well’.