Fairuz, Good Friday

Three selected readings from the Lamentations of Jeremiah are sung during the First Nocturn at Tenebrae on each of the last three days of Holy Week. In this recording we hear the Lamentations for Good Friday from the third of Palestrina's four settings, wonderful, sensitive compositions for four, five and six voices. Musica Contexta, under Simon Ravens, responds well to the music and its dark harmonies and unexpected modulations. In particular, the third Lamentation, with its repeated Hebrew letters ('Aleph, Aleph, Aleph'), was sung with power and understanding. I noted with pleasure that the singers had followed Guidetti's 1587 notated edition of the florid responsories that follow each of the Lamentations.

Other than a set in 1957, this long-out-of-print LP was guitarist Jim Hall's debut as a leader. The 29-year-old Hall was not exactly an unknown name at the time, having played with the Original Chico Hamilton Quintet and the Jimmy Giuffre Three; he was still a year away from joining Sonny Rollins. Subtitled "The Modest Jazz Trio," the band on this date consists of Hall, bassist Red Kelly, and Red Mitchell quite effectively playing piano (he was usually a bassist). The combination works quite well, performing what was essentially straight-ahead jazz. Originally, the unit was only supposed to record the "Good Friday Blues" for a blues anthology album, but the music felt so strong that the trio cut a full album in one day, performing three standards, two Mitchell originals and Bill Harris' "Bill Not Phil."

When it comes to old Italian vocal music, the Italian choir "La Stagione Armonica" from Padua under the direction of Sergio Balestracci has proven its high musical level several times. After the recording with responsories, which Alessandro Scarlatti composed for Good Saturday, the follow-up album with Scarlatti's responsories for Good Friday is now released.