Tarik O’Regan
The productive partnership between The Sixteen and the Genesis Foundation continued in May 2011 with the release of a CD of six new choral works from three of Britain’s most exciting contemporary composers: Tarik O’Regan, Roderick Williams and Ruth Byrchmore.
Like the silence of a monastic cell, the opening of fleeting, God is absolutely calm. Over tranquil, sustained lower voices, intoning the single sound ‘ah’, the altos and sopranos add soft, almost whispered interjections, encouraging one another along. Then a radiant soprano line beams out above and sublimely intones St. Teresa’s prayer, patient, unhurried and reassuring, gradually building over warm, close-knit chords to a joyous climax. The opening calm returns, but with roles reversed – the upper voices still, the lower voices punctuating. Finally the female voices are left holding on, fading away, till the sopranos edge up to a momentary last D, slyly returning us to the point whence we started.
To learn more about this project, please visit The Sixteen’s partner page.
To listen to an excerpt from fleeting, God, please visit the Audio page