Year: 1995

Tuesday, 19 December 1995 at 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew

Subscription Concert
PROGRAM

Josquin Desprez Praeter rerum seriem
William Byrd Pro Adventu
–Rorate caeli desuper
–Atollite portas
–Ave Maria, gratia plena
–Ecce concipiet
Clemens non Papa Pastores quidnam vidistis
John Sheppard  Reges Tharis et insulae
Nicolas Gombert  Hodie beata virgo
Thomas Tallis Videte miraculum
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina O magnum mysterium
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Missa O magnum mysterium

REVIEW

Thursday 21 December 1995, The Age [Melbourne], page 13.
Energetic end to the year
Clive O’Connell
[…] ALSO ending their performing year, John O’Donnell’s Ensemble Gombert gave another demonstration of
their scholarship and conviction in a lengthy (for this group) night’s singing, beginning with a group of nine
substantial motets for the current ecclesiastical season by Desprez, Byrd, Sheppard, Gombert, Tallis and
Clemens non Papa.
After interval, we moved into the less musically striking but more emotionally comfortable world of
Palestrina through the motet and mass O magnum mysterium.
The group’s singing, as far as I can tell, is the purest and finest achieved in musical terms on offer in
Melbourne.
In this context, even a fractional hesitation or questionable intonation at a passage’s start is apparent;
fortunately, such moments are rare in the Gomberts’ work. From the rolling warmth of the bass line, through
the attractively warm timbre of the altos, to the sopranos’ pinpoint accuracy and stellar purity, this group
gives its ever-increasing audiences considerable value for their time and money.
The Gomberts’ musical choices might not make for “easy” listening; indeed, some of this night’s works were
rigorous in their language, formally complex if harmonically bracing, like Josquin’s Praeter rerum seriem and
Gombert’s Hodie beata virgo. Even when a mellifluous composer like Palestrina appears, the chosen mass is
not an instantly attractive or popular one; rather, it requires a group of the Ensemble Gombert’s type: one of
irreproachable dependability and assurance in performance.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age

Tuesday, 19 September 1995 at 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew

Subscription Concert
PROGRAM

Johannes Ockeghem  Kyrie & Gloria from Missa Caput
Josquin Desprez   Nymphes des bois
Josquin Desprez Planxit autem David
Josquin Desprez Benedicta es, caelorum regina
Clemens non Papa Pater peccavi
Fremuit spiritu Jesus
Nicolas Gombert Lugebat David Absalon
Orlande de Lassus  Magnificat octavi toni

REVIEW
Monday, 25 September 1995, The Age [Melbourne], page 13.
Local choir of exquisite quality
Clive O’Connell

There have been some changes in the personnel of the Gombert Ensemble. The number of tenors and
basses has been reduced by one in each section, and there are some new faces in the male line-up.
Not that it makes much difference to the lowest part: with Jerzy Kozlowski, Grantley McDonald and Adrian
Phillips in full voice, you could not ask for a more solid underpinning, even when the bass line is divided into
two parts.
The ensemble’s tenors – Timothy O’Connor, Nicholas Tolhurst and Peter Neustupny – produce less volume
and, at certain passages, the texture could have coped with more centre-thickening power from this rank.
Still, the ensemble is faring better in acquiring tenors than any other local choral group I’ve heard this year.
And it still has that ravishingly clear and musically polished double-quartet of sopranos and altos.
John O’Donnell and his 14 voices presented another deftly organised program: two parts of Ockeghem’s
Missa Caput, three choral works by Josquin including the mighty Planxit autem David, a brace of motets
from Clemens non Papa, the sine-qua- non Gombert piece – Lugebat David Absalon, and a Lassus Magnificat
setting.
Is it possible to over-praise? Possibly, but this standard of singing makes you impatient with most other
choral bodies because the Gomberts work so well together and have so much going for them. Even though
their chosen field of expertise is a specific one – there is no leaping across the centuries but a steady
exploration of the vein of Renaissance choral music, with the accent on the Northern schools – they sing with
a rock-hard infallibility that turns harmonic clashes into drama, not just a piquant spicing-up of the texture.
And for all its formal complexity, this music is deeply moving. Perhaps its effect comes down to the singers’
confidence and responsiveness, coupled with their director’s scholarship.
It might also be a case of the performances being given in a building made for a cappella singing; the Xavier
Chapel certainly adds lustre to any voice and is particularly kind to thorough musicians.
Whatever the cause, there have been few more absorbing samples of live choral work in my experience than
the Gomberts’ reading of Josquin’s Planxit. For sheer purity of intonation and fluidity of texture, this was a
memorable performance. When put alongside a composition of this inspired craft and expressive sincerity,
Allegri’s Miserere sounds trite and sentimental.
I’ve said it before but it is worth repeating: the Gombert Ensemble concerts are marvellous events that should
not be missed by anyone who is interested in hearing top-notch singing.
Even the most highly publicised visitors rarely produce music- making of this calibre.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age