Joanne Metcalf, Rihm, Sciarrino and Moody

COMPOSERS: Joanne Metcalf,Rihm,Sciarrino and Moody
LABELS: Oehms
ALBUM TITLE: Singer Pur
WORKS: Four Passiontide Motets
PERFORMER: Singer Pur

Hilliard Ensemble
CATALOGUE NO: OC 354

I’ve heard few more extraordinary



CDs of contemporary vocal music



than this. Not because of the oddness



of the sounds: there are no strange



palatal clicks, no whispering – just



straightforward singing of marvellous



refinement and expressivity. What



seizes the ear are the thick weaves



of counterpoint, and the dense and



dissonant harmonies. To make this



music speak the singers need a razorsharp



sense of pitch and a focused,



pure tone, which the young German



vocal sextet, Singer Pur, certainly have.



Their role model is clearly the



British vocal quartet the Hilliard



Ensemble, who actually join forces



with the German group in Joanne



Metcalf’s setting of Dante. But the



younger group yields nothing to the



older one in terms of purity, accuracy



and intensity of tone.



The best item is Wolfgang Rihm’s



Four Passiontide Motets, poised



beautifully on the cusp between



a hyper-intense Italian madrigal



style somewhat like Gesualdo, and



something much more modern and



strange. Add to that the wonderful



resonant acoustic of the recording, and



you have the ingredients of something



truly rich and marvellous. Ivan Hewett