四旬節と受難節のための音楽

ベヴァン・ファミリー・コンソートの最新作!

メアリー・ベヴァンを筆頭に、声楽や教会合唱の分野で活躍するイギリスの音楽一家ベヴァン・ファミリー。オリジナルのベヴァン・ファミリー・クワイア(ベヴァン・ファミリー合唱団)は14人のきょうだいのうち11人で構成され、父親のロジャーが指揮を執って1975年にデビュー・アルバム(LP)をリリースしました。その後次男のデイヴィッドが引き継ぎ、デイヴィッドはウェストミンスター大聖堂の副音楽監督にも就任しました。ファミリーでの音楽活動の伝統はその後も盛んになり、2013年に2世代目の親戚の何人かが新しいファミリー合唱団を結成し、「ベヴァン・ファミリー・コンソート」と名づけられました。53人に及ぶ親類のうち15人から22人のメンバー(そのうち7人はプロの歌手)で活動しており、このアルバムでは四旬節と受難節のための音楽を収録しています。
東京エムプラス

This 2025 release from the Bevan Family Consort, which promptly landed on classical best-seller charts, appeared just in time for the Lent and Passiontide season. For newcomers to the familys work, which isnt quite as well publicized as that of the Kanneh-Masons but is getting there, it provides a good introduction. Director Michael Bevan shows commendable honesty with his comment that "[s]ome could only join for a day or two, owing to professional engagements, hence the variety in voice-scorings on this album." For flawless blend, one might choose one of the English collegiate choirs instead, but what one gets here is akin to an all-star chamber music performance that clicks and generates a spontaneous kind of engagement that is not always possible with groups that have played together for years. The most striking thing, and one that is not always remarked with this group, is the selection of music devised by Francis Bevan. Any English choir will program pieces from a variety of eras, but not all can put them together in a sequence where Byrd and Alfonso Ferrabosco slide so effortlessly into Mel Bonis, Poulenc, and even a lovely Psalm 21 by David Bevan. This plays to the Bevan Family Consorts greatest strength, which is their sense of engagement with what they are singing. The environment of St. Simon and Jude Church in Gillingham, Dorset, serves the group well in picking up the textures of the individual voices. This release will be heard enthusiastically at future Lenten and Easter seasons and marks another fine entry in the familys growing catalog. ~ James Manheim