We have decided to don the sackcloth and ashes and search out the best recordings of the haunting setting of Psalm 51: Allegri's Miserere. But what are the best recordings of this great Holy Week choral work?
The story of Allegri's Miserere
The title ‘Allegri’s Miserere’ only tells half the story. While Gregorio Allegri did indeed write his setting of the penitential Psalm 51 for Rome’s Sistine Chapel in the 1630s, the ‘standard’ version we are familiar with is probably some way removed from the composer’s original thoughts.
Allegri’s own music was relatively simple, alternating sections by a five-voice main choir and a four-voice solo choir, the latter of whom would then add skilfully improvised ornaments (‘abbellimenti’) – the fearsome high C faced by the treble or soprano soloist today probably emerged as a result of such improvisation over the years.
Proud of its choral jewel, the Papacy forbade publication and performance of the Miserere outside the Vatican, hence the 14-year-old Mozart needing to rely on his own ears to make a copy of the score after just one hearing in 1770.
The feat is not quite as impressive as it seems as, over its 12 or so minutes, the Miserere essentially repeats the same music five times over, its sections divided by passages of plainchant.
The best recordings of Allegri's Miserere
1. Alison Stamp (soprano); The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips
With any recording of Allegri’s Miserere, the listener’s attention is inevitably drawn to, above all, how well the soloist tackles those top Cs. It’s not so much reaching the note itself that is so difficult but keeping what lies either side under control – swooping up to the C and/or then smudging the tricky quaver ornament on the way down are both hard to avoid.
Treble Roy Goodman set the early benchmark with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge in 1964, since when recordings have emerged with regularity from boys’ and adult choirs in roughly equal measure. No fewer than four of these come from the Tallis Scholars.
While their live performance in Rome in 1994 is scintillating, it’s the Scholars’ 1980 recording in the chapel of Merton College, Oxford that impresses most. Their pure-voiced soprano Alison Stamp soars sublimely and expressively (not easy at that pitch) above a solo quartet that is placed some distance from the microphones, giving that all-important degree of separation from the main choir – something a number of recordings surprisingly lack.
The balance of voices throughout is impeccable, while overall pacing is also deftly managed by conductor Peter Phillips – always appropriately self-reflective, but never lingeringly self-indulgent. Above all, it is a recording that is packed with atmosphere.
Gimell CDGIM 339 (1980)
2. Jeremy Budd (treble); The Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral/John Scott
The Miserere has been well served on disc by Britain’s cathedral choirs. Truro (2003; Lammas Records), for instance, has a superb treble soloist in Joshua Brooksbank; nor would I want to be without Westminster Abbey’s 1986 recording under Simon Preston (Archiv). But neither can boast the extraordinary acoustic of St Paul’s.
Notice just how long the echo rings around the dome at the end of each section before conductor John Scott even dares to move things along – no wonder this comes in at around a minute longer than most other recordings.
Yes, roomy acoustics are famously forgiving, but the choir’s large numbers are impressively disciplined in terms of balance and control, while treble Jeremy Budd’s impeccable intonation and diction is matched by that of his fellow soloists.
Hyperion CDA 66439 (1990)
3. Grace Davidson (soprano); Tenebrae/Nigel Short
Among adult choirs, a superbly agile Miserere was released by the Cardinall’s Musick in 2011, though their use of the more ornate tonus peregrinus plainchant may not suit all tastes, while a nicely balanced 1995 performance by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge (Brilliant Classics) is let down only by an unflatteringly dry acoustic.
That’s an accusation that can’t be levelled at Tenebrae’s 2006 sumptuously recorded version on Signum.
Nigel Short’s 26-voice choir may contain some individual star names, but they blend excellently as a group – the result is a gutsy, but never coarse, choral sound, complemented by first-rate soloists headed by soprano Grace Davidson. As part of a similarly beautifully sung and deftly chosen programme, it’s a must-have.
Signum SIGCD 085 (2006)
4. Roy Goodman (treble); The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge/David Willcocks
Nearly 50 years, but only a couple of hundred yards of river, separate the two recordings vying for the final place in my library. So… the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge’s inspiring Chandos disc from last year – broad-paced, contemplative and captured in glorious sound – or the famous 1964 King’s version on Decca?
Despite the slightly cloudy recorded sound and occasional smudged choral entries, the latter just wins the day, not least because its age gives it a certain sense of occasion. Welcome, too, is the fact that the Miserere is sung here in English – why have so few choirs been tempted to follow suit?
And then there’s Roy Goodman. With an ease and control at the top of the range that copes even with conductor David Willcocks’s decidedly deliberate tempos, Goodman’s is a treble voice that still inspires today.
Decca 466 3732 (1964)
Allegri's Miserere: original lyrics
Miserere mei, Deus,
secundum magnam misericordiam tuam:
Et secundum multitudinem miserationum
tuarum,
dele iniquitatem meam.
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea:
et a peccato meo munda me.
Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco:
et peccatum meum contra me est semper.
Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci:
ut iustificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas
cum iudicaris.
Ecce, enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum:
et in peccatis concepit me mater mea.
Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti:
incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae
manifestasti mihi.
Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor:
lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam:
et exsultabunt ossa humiliata.
Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis:
et omnes iniquitates meas dele.
What are the lyrics in English?
Have mercy upon me, O God,
after thy great goodness:
according to the multitude of
thy mercies
do away mine offences.
Wash me throughly from my wickedness:
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my faults:
and my sin is ever before me.
Against thee only have I sinned, and done this
evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified
in thy saying, and clear when thou art judged.
Behold, I was shapen in wickedness:
and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
But lo, thou requirest truth in the inward parts:
and shalt make me to understand wisdom
secretly.
Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean: thou shalt wash me,
and I shall be whiter
than snow.
Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness:
that the bones which thou hast broken may
rejoice. Turn thy face from my sins:
and put out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God:
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence:
and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
O give me the comfort of thy help again:
and stablish me with thy free Spirit.
Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked:
and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God,
thou that art the God of my health:
and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness.
Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord:
and my mouth shall shew thy praise.
For thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I
give it thee:
but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit:
a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise.
O be favourable and gracious unto Sion:
build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness,
with the burnt-offerings and oblations:
then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar.
This article originally appeared in the March 2011 issue of BBC Music Magazine
Illlustration: Steve Rawlings/Debutart