The Angels

The Angels

20 €
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Présentation

The Angels, Metaboles' new album from NoMadMusic, immerses the listener in the twists and turns of spiritual music. The works of Purcell, Byrd and Palestrina, champions of 17th century polyphonic music, resonate with those of Harvey, a major figure in contemporary music.

The Métaboles revive the splendid tradition of English choirs: from Winchester to the refectory of the monks of Royaumont, where the album was recorded, the Gothic walls of the abbeys welcome sumptuous music, magnified by the acoustics.

Video

Jonathan Harvey - The Angels / teaser

Presse

4 F - In the acoustical setting of the Royaumont Abbey, Les Métaboles bring to life an a cappella repertoire of famous Englishmen, from Henry Purcell to Jonathan Harvey

Télérama - Sophie Bourdais
The Angels - CD

In the acoustical setting of the Royaumont Abbey, Les Métaboles bring to life an a cappella repertoire of famous Englishmen, from Henry Purcell to Jonathan Harvey.

Supple, clear, and warm, the voices of Les Métaboles are just as capable of intervening as soloists and ensuring the clarity of the vocal lines as they are of blending into the choral polyphony. They are marvelous in this agelessly modern repertoire, which plays with a Gregorian plainchant coated in a vocal mist and traversed by turbulence (Plainsongs for Peace and Light), sculpting the sound with bewitching harmonic sequences (I love the Lord), and finally taking us into another dimension (The Angels), with a floating and strangely comforting beauty.

5 stars - the perfect intonation of Les Métaboles under the crafted conducting of Léo Warynski

Classica - Jérémie Bigorie
The Angels - CD

Recorded within the walls of the monks' refectory at Royaumont Abbey, the entirely a cappella programme combines ancient and contemporary periods. William Byrd's Ave Verum immediately reveals the perfection of Les Métaboles' intonation under the crafted direction of Léo Warynski. A space opens out, starting from the opening quartet of soloists from the pulpit, to the full ensemble. The latter is arranged in a double choir for Palestrina's sublime Stabat Mater, taken at a relatively fast tempo. The result is a choral effusion of great fluidity, of which the quality of execution precludes any precipitation, especially during the exchanges in alla breve values. We find this urgency in Purcell's Remember Not, of which the intensity represents a gesture of desperation. It is echoed in Jonathan Harvey's Remember, to whom the album pays a fine tribute nine years after his passing.

One of the great French choral ensembles

France Musique, En Pistes - Emilie Munéra
Une nuit américaine (CD)

During this election week in the USA, En Pistes’s favourite is the latest record by the vocal ensemble Les Métaboles titled “Une Nuit Américaine”. A record, filled with discoveries, which establishes Les Métaboles as one of the great French choral ensembles.

Couverture
The Angels
Colonne droite

The Angels

William Byrd
Ave verum corpus

Jonathan Harvey
I Love the Lord
Come, Holy Ghost
Plainsongs for peace and light

Henry Purcell
Remember not, Lord, our offences

Jonathan Harvey
Remember, O Lord 

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Stabat Mater

Jonathan Harvey
The Annunciation
The Angels