There is only one entry in the Fanfare Archive for Oliver Tarney: his lovely In Homeward Flight from the Harmonia Mundi disc Sanctissima performed by the ORA Singers and Suzi Digby. There is more available, though: over on Resonus, as part of The Waiting Sky: Music for Advent and Christmas, the vocal ensemble Sansara performs Tarney’s work that gives the disc its name; while on Linn, the Marian Consort performs Prayer to the Mother of God. 

All these pieces have a contemplative nature and focus on beauty. Written in 2019, Lux Stellarum shares this quality, offering the opportunity for a half-hour’s worth of meditation. There are six movements by a variety of authors, concentrating on stars and the universe. Originally written for the choir of the American Cathedral in Paris, the work seems to celebrate a cathedral acoustic, the overlapping celestial dissonances begging for space. The Choir of Royal Holloway (a college of the University of London) is superb, initially alone and then joined by the reassuring presence of organ (Andrew Dewar, who was also involved in the creation of this piece). 

Tarney utilizes plainchant from the Missa pro defunctis (the Mass of the Dead) as part of his materials, as well as Conditor alme siderum (Creator of the Stars at Night). Texts are juxtaposed: in the opening movement we hear the beautiful dissonances of the Requiem aeternam with (in English) “Seek Him that maketh the Seven Stars.” This one is bursting with joy, the organ positively hopping from chord to chord before all join in jubilant descending scales. 

The Kyrie also includes words from the Liber Uusualis (in English). That’s a lot to fit in 3:49, but Tarney makes it all vey unhurried. The soundscape is remarkably varied, too, tapering off into organ speckles of light. Stars is the simple title of the next movement. He seems positively inspired by Margaret Pickthall’s beautiful text here, and all credit to the choir for maintaining dynamic levels so consistently, as well as for superb diction. Orion, the Pleiades, and “lonelier stars” form the basis of this star-scape, and Tarney seems to set up a continuum of sound. 

The Sanctus includes texts from Psalms 104 and 147. The arrival of the organ backing the choral statements of the word Sanctus is impressive; it glows, in fact, prior to a rhythmically vital, shifting “Domine Deus Sabaoth.” The climax is a sequence of radiant “Hosannas” counterpointed by male voices. Inventive, exciting, this is fine choral writing, brilliantly realized by the Royal Holloway forces. There is something Christmassy in the organ embellishments of the choir here (or perhaps that’s wishful thinking on my part!). Two psalm excerpts (this time from the same Psalm, No. 136) add to the text of the Agnus Dei. There is the most glorious solo soprano diminuendo at one point, but the soloist is uncredited. The choral entreaties for eternal rest (“Dona eis requiem”) are heartfelt, too, before a solo tenor intones the second psalm snippet (“The moon and stars to govern the night / for his mercy endureth forever”). Finally, Tarney concludes with In paradisum, with interpolated text “after” John Donne and Eric Milner White. Tarney’s deeply considered chordal structures increase the success of this movement, as does the sense of space from Gough and the Holloway singers. There is a fine organ solo embedded here, and Andrew Dewar delivers in magisterial fashion. 

This is a lovely piece, then; and fully recommended. The recording (Keble College, Oxford) is perfect, so step forward Adaq Khan for that. This is a fine extension of Oliver Tarney’s discography.