Year: 1998

Tuesday 15 December 1998 at 8pm
Wednesday 16 December at 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Rd, Kew

Subscription Concert 5

PROGRAM

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Dies sanctificatus a 4
Lapidabant Stephanum a 4
Hic est disciplinus ille a 5
Innocentes pro Christe a 4
O admirabile commercium a 5
Reges Tharsis a 5
Senex puerum portabat a 5
Nunc dimittus a 12
Hodie Christus natus est a 8
Missa Hodie Christus natus est a 8

SINGERS

Soprano Deborah Summerbell Carol Veldhoven Claerwen Jones Maria Pisani Helen Gagliano

Alto Bernadette Ballard Jennifer George Margaret Arnold Barbara Tattam

Tenor Stuart Tennant Frank Prain Andrew Green Philip Legge

Bass Julian Liberto Tom Henry Thomas Drent Andrew Fysh

REVIEW

Monday 21 December, The Age [Melbourne], page 16.
The year of the Italians
Joel Crotty

Ensemble Gombert’s final offering for 1998 was an all-Palestrina affair, the last in a series of events that have
focussed on Italian Renaissance music.
We have investigated the political life of Florence and Venice through the music of Dufay and Giovanni
Gabrieli, respectively. Moreover, the experimentalism of Gesualdo and Josquin added a colorful dimension to
the season.
As we draw to the close of the 20th century, it is pleasing to know that in the West we have become a
population of musical detectives.
In previous centuries, many Renaissance composers, such as Gesualdo, were buried under the weight of
subsequent musical epochs. It seems almost unthinkable today that Josquin could have been dismissed by
generations of singers as an irrelevancy.
Conversely, Palestrina’s star has only slightly dimmed this century, due in part to musicologists recovering
the other master composers from his time. Nowadays Palestrina is competing for attention in the sprawl that
is music history.
How Palestrina remained such a dominant force in Western music for such a long time is certainly open to
debate. None the less, he was championed by the Catholic Church for centuries because of his conservative
compositional principles.
He wrote music that was restrained and emotionally balanced, and as a consequence, more than adequately
fulfilled the church’s requirements.
His music, however, did not stand the test of time just because he appeased the church hierarchy. Pedagogues
have used his brilliant, though ridged, contrapuntal structures as examples of excellence.
As with all Gombert concerts, John O’Donnell, the choir’s artistic director, programmed the Palestrina event
to explore a range of the composer’s output.
O’Donnell divided the concert into two halves. The first section was concerned with music associated with
some of the festivals within the Christmas to Candlemas period, roughly December to February. In the notes,
he guided us through the archaic rituals with the music as signposts.
This half was almost uniformly good, with only a few wayward spots of minor concern in Innocentes pro
Christe and Reges Tharsis. However, it was the 12-part complexity of Nunc dimittis that was the highlight of the night. And it was the work they also encored.
O’Donnell rearranged the voices on the stage to create a fresh blend and successfully enlivened the
soundscape. Moreover, this revised acoustic base revealed a solid accuracy in the delivery of the musical
lines. It was an example of the glorious purity that Gombert’s 17 voices were capable of obtaining on the
night.
However, the tight ensemble bond seemed to periodically desert them during Missa Hodie Christus natus est.
This difficult finale to the concert realised a few pitching problems and tentative attacks. The Credo, in
particular, seemed to test them in the maintenance of a unified front.
Ensemble Gombert’s 1999 season will be held once again in the Xavier College Chapel. In that space we will
encounter music from English and Franco-Flemish composers such as Byrd and Lassus. After a year with the
Italians, the next series will be positively multicultural.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

 

Friday 18 December 1998, The Age [Melbourne], page 81.
Choral singing’s Renaissance
Johanna Selleck

MELBOURNE has had a “golden age” for unaccompanied choral singing since
Ensemble Gombert began their subscription series four years ago.
The group specialises in Franco-Flemish music of the High Renaissance, but their 1998 season has taken
followers through the rich, colorful Italian Renaissance.
Their final concert for the year was devoted to Palestrina and the sacred works he composed for major feast
days between Christmas and Candlemas (February 2).
Like manna from heaven, Palestrina’s music provided the Catholic church with the perfect antidote to the
“lascivious” music of the time. To inspire the congregation to serious spiritual contemplation, they sought to
purge it from unnecessary complexity and display.
As Ensemble Gombert demonstrated in motets such as O Admirabile Commercium, Palestrina’s music fitted
the bill perfectly.
The clarity and purity of style were tastefully exposed, with a balance between mystical elements and a sense
of grandeur.
A rare moment of insecurity occurred briefly in the upper parts of the motet Innocentes pro Christe.
Otherwise the delivery was confident and precise.
In the Missa Hodie Christus natus est, one of Palestrina’s four parody masses for double choir, the ensemble
traced the wonderfully proportioned contours while maintaining the plasticity of line. The full gamut of
emotions from joy to peaceful meditation was revealed.
Highlight of the first half was undoubtedly the splendid 12-part Nunc Dimittis. Gombert maintained a lucid
transparency of texture, despite the complexity of parts.
The final Amen echoed resplendently in every alcove of the Xavier College Chapel, making it the ideal
choice for final encore.
The group’s ability to achieve such full-bodied sonorities is one of the most enjoyable aspects of their
performances.

Tuesday 15 September 1998
St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne

Melbourne Early Music Festival
With Concentus Australis

PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian Bach St John Passion

Gerald English, Evangelist
Margaret Pearce, Soprano
David V Russell, Alto
Adrian Dwyer, Tenor
Michael Leighton Jones, Bass
Stephen Grant, Jesus

Choir members unknown

REVIEW

Friday 18 September, The Herald Sun [Melbourne], page 38.
Bach an inspired first night choice
Johanna Selleck

ST Patrick’s Cathedral echoed to the immortal strains of Bach’s St John Passion on Tuesday.
Though this work was the master’s earliest essay in the genre, it was written at the height of his artistic
powers.
An inspired and all-encompassing expression of deepest humanity, it provided exactly the sort of direct and
vivid statement that was needed to make an impact on the opening night of the Early Music Festival.
The team of soloists, the orchestra of Concentus Australis and the choir of Ensemble Gombert gelled under
the expert direction of John O’Donnell. In particular, the graphic realism of Bach’s setting was captured by
Gerald English’s animated, incisive delivery as the Evangelist.
His narration was powerfully offset by Stephen Grant’s mellow portrayal of Jesus, and by some excellent
characterisations on the part of soprano Margaret Pearce, alto David Russell, tenor Adrian Dwyer and bass
Michael Leighton Jones.
Bach employs distinctive instrumental groupings to color the mood of individual arias. Flutes are made to
melt sensuously into the soaring soprano lines, or the tenor voice is cushioned by sombre, softly spoken
strings and organ.
These moments were captured sensitively by Concentus Australis on period instruments. The silken
sonorities of the baroque instruments blend with a subtlety not possible on modern equivalents.
While the orchestra maintained an air of rapt solemnity and pathos, the choir battled to make their presence
felt in the resonant cathedral acoustic which disseminated the sound all too effectively.
Consequently, the dramatic choruses lacked solidity and definition, not because of lack of choral expertise,
but the need for larger forces, given the surroundings.
The festival continues until Sunday with a diverse program that is sure to please connoisseur and ordinary
listener alike.

Friday 18 September, The Australian [Sydney], page 17. (extract)
Unlikely duo lifts the class
Jeremy Vincent

This year’s Melbourne Early Music Festival kicked off with a carefully delivered performance of Bach’s St John Passion in St Patrick’s Cathedral. O’Donnell’s diligent approach to his art mustered a decidedly sedate and proper reading, featuring Concentus Australis, the Ensemble Gombert choir and a group of fine soloists.
The venue was rather too large for an ideal balance. All credit, then, to the conductor for taming the
musicians enough to allow the choir plenty of show. The soloists were generally in good form, although a couple struggled to communicate their lower notes, especially as the acoustic tended to turn the continuo into almost a growling accompaniment.

 

Tuesday 9 June 1998
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Rd, Kew

Subscription Concert 3

PROGRAM

Guillaume Dufay(c. 1400-1474)
Nuper rosarum flores
Mirandas parit haec urbs florentina
Salve flos Tuscae gentis Florentia
Heinrich Isaac  (c. 1450-1517) 
Quis dabit capito meo aquam?
Missa Salva nos
Philippe Verdelot (c. 1470/80-c. 1530/40)
Laetamini in Domino
Congregati sunt
Recordare, Domine
In te, Domine, speravi
Alessandro Striggio  (1535-1592)  Ecce beatam lucem a 40

SINGERS

Soprano Deborah Summerbell Carol Veldhoven Maria Pisani Helen Gagliano

Alto Bernadette Ballard Jennifer Mathers Margaret Arnold Barbara Tattam

Tenor Frank Prain Peter Neustupny Phillip Legge Stuart Tennant

Bass Philip Nicholls Tom Henry Thomas Drent Jerzy Kozlowski

Additional singers for the Striggio:
Soprano: Nina Pereira, Sally Watt, Jane Phillips, Claerwen Jones, Margaret Pearce
Alto: Niki Ebacioni, Helena Simpson, Fiona Furphy, Christopher Field
Tenor: Joel Gladman, Vaughan McAlley, Matthew Flood, Paul Norbury, Ben Owen, Simon Biazeck,
Bass: John Weretka, Richard Pyros, Johnathan Wallis, Adrian Barrett, Sam Furphy, Julian Liberto, Alexander Macrae, Charles Pinkham

REVIEWS
Tuesday 16 June 1998, The Age [Melbourne], page 18.
The joys of travel
Joel Crotty

Cultural tourism has become big business in Australia. Tour operators are developing packages for people
with large disposable incomes to travel to the Old World’s opera houses and concert halls and hear music by
the great masters.
A far cheaper, though no less a rewarding, experience has been Ensemble Gombert’s current season under the
umbrella title of An Italian Year. So far, we have explored the Renaissance courts of Venosa, via the music of
Gesualdo, and Ferrera, with reference to scores primarily by Josquin Desprez.
At Tuesday’s concert, we travelled to Florence and witnessed the grand style of Dufay, Isaac, Verdelot and
Alessandro Striggio. The brief trip through 125 years of Florentine musical history was vivid.
The concert opened and closed with what could be termed architectural music, but from vastly different
approaches. In musicological circles, Dufay’s Nuper rosarum flores is probably one of the most discussed
works from the Renaissance. With incredible imagination, the composer conceived a score based on
isorhythmic proportions that corresponded precisely to the structure of the cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore.
The choir produced a rich sound that belied, at every level, the score’s mathematical formulations.
At the other end of the evening was Alessandro Striggio’s Ecco beatum lucem for 40 parts. As the ensemble’s
artistic director John O’Donnell points out in the notes, there are only a couple of extant scores from the
Renaissance encompassing such mammoth sonic mapping. The 16 voices of Gombert were joined by a
further 24 choristers, forming a large circle in keeping with the original performance practice for this piece.
Parading in this manner forces the sound inwards, then up and out. The clarity is thus less discernible from
the outside and mistakes easier to conceal. While a few dubious happenings were clearly evident, the
performers, on the whole, maintained a cohesion that, under the circumstances of numerous independent
lines, was commendable. O’Donnell was obviously happy with the rendition, for he rotated the singers 180
degrees and gave us a repeat performance. Striggio’s spectacle was an interesting aside, but hardly great
music. None the less, this compositional byway would rarely receive an airing here if not for Ensemble
Gombert.
More important to the quality (as opposed to the quantity) of the concert was Isaacs’ Quis dabit capito meo
aquam? and Missa La Spagna. These works highlighted Isaac’s masterly understanding of word-painting and
contrapuntal layering.
In Quis dabit, written as a lament on the death of Lorenzo de Medici, the choir was able to transmit all the
emotional content with a deft sensibility. The same level of exquisite attention to detail was not always
forthcoming in the mass.
However, for the most part, they presented the work with refined balance and beautifully clear phrasing,
particularly in the compact Credo. Unlike most cultural tourists, we left the site not with photographs, but
with snatches of music we will periodically recall until the ensemble’s Italian expedition recommences in
November.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

Friday 12 June 1998, The Herald Sun [Melbourne], page 86.
Past is given voice
Xenai Hanusiak

THE Melbourne musical community is fortunate to have a music scholar of the calibre of John O’Donnell.
His chamber choir, the Ensemble Gombert, represents the results of his considerable and dedicated
musicological qualifications.
The ensemble specialises in authentic performance practice, in particular the music of the Renaissance and
early baroque.
The third concert of the 1998 subscription series, An Italian Year, focused on music composed for Florence.
In this very satisfying program we heard secular and religious works by the Frenchman Dufay, two
Netherlanders, Isaac and Verdelot, and the lesser known Italian composer Striggio.
In all offerings the Ensemble Gombert expertly performed the works with the stylistic accuracy we have
come to expect.
In a set of Dufay motets the flowing, song-like quality was evident.
Furthermore, there remained throughout a seamlessness in timbre.
The leading voice was supported by the two supporting instrumental voices with controlling influence.
In Missa salva nos by Heinrich Isaac, the choir brought out the harmonic richness of the score and maintained
a rhythmic verve.
Each inner section of the Ensemble Gombert is beginning to develop a distinctive quality: the sopranos
remain sweet and lucid, bringing an almost childlike quality to the ensemble, the altos caress the note with a
consistently musical approach, and the basses underpin the ensemble with a similar warmth.
The tenors, who in the present line-up possibly represent the youngest members, produce a reedy quality.
As a special treat, the Ensemble Gombert was joined by 24 extra singers to perform the rarely heard Ecce
beatam lucem by Striggio, scored for 40 vocal lines. The enlarged ensemble sang the work in a full circle.
The piece was received with so much enthusiasm it was performed twice.
It was refreshing to watch the young recruits sing with so much obvious excitement.
It is also satisfying to know they have a choir such as the Ensemble Gombert to aspire to.

Tuesday, 12 May 1998 at 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew

Subscription Concert 2

PROGRAM

Jacob Obrecht Mille quingentis
Johannes Martini Salve regina
Josquin Desprez Virgo salutiferi
Josquin Desprez Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie
Josquin Desprez Huc me sydereo
Jacob Obrecht Quis numerare queat
Josquin Desprez Miserere mei, Deus

 

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Helena Simpson	Peter Neustupny	Philip Nicholls
Carol Veldhoven	Jennifer Mathers	Stuart Tennant	Tom Henry
Maria Pisani	Margaret Arnold	Philip Legge	Thomas Drent
Helen Gagliano	Barbara Tattam

–

REVIEW

[nd] May 1998, The Age [Melbourne], [np].
A vocal vista on Italy
Joel Crotty

Ensemble Gombert, under the direction of John O’Donnell, continued their “Italian Year” with a thoughtful
program of music at the Court of Ercole I of Ferrera.
Unlike their previous concert of heavy-going Gesualdo, this event was broader in scope and focused on the
talents of Martini, Obrecht and Josquin Desprez. At various times between 1473 and 1505, these
Franco-Flemish composers served Ferrera’s royal household and their efforts helped the town flourish as a
centre for cultural activity.
In their own professional way, Ensemble Gombert was able to open a window on an Italian vista, revealing
historical perfection in musical craftsmanship and felicitousness in contemporary performance.
While the pieces by Martini and Obrecht proved interesting, they were merely interludes to the mighty power
of Josquin. Four of his works were presented at this concert – Virgo salutiferi, Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie,
Huc me sydereo descendere iussit Olympo and Miserere mei, Deus.
All these pieces are mammoth undertakings for any choir, as Josquin demands the most minute detail be
given as much acknowledgment as the super-structures. It was only in the Virgo salutiferi that the choristers
presented a few moments of uneven presentation.
Conversely, the miserere was wonderfully outlined. Even though some vocal lethargy was starting to appear
in this finale item, it did not particularly inhibit their soulful understanding of the dramatic content which
Josquin had set in place. We followed in awe as the choir journeyed through the octave on the words “Have
mercy upon me, O God”.
This phrase divided or sub-divided the text and provided graphic repetition, which O’Donnell insisted be
delivered with controlled reverence.
Although Josquin was at his expressive best in the motet form, he was still able to deliver emotionally-laden
emphases in the structurally-centred mass. He lived during at time when there seemed to be a free-for-all in
stylistic experiment, and at the forefront of which was Josquin.
His Missa Hercules is an example of throwing caution to the wind, in as much as he composed his own
cantus firmus, thereby declining the time-honored tradition of borrowing pre-existing material.
It is possible he wrote the mass long before he was employed by the Duke, and as such it could be argued that
he was trying to impress the Court with his credentials. While this is speculative, other aspects appear more
certain, such as the near perfect performance of this mass by the Gomberts.
They produced great clarity, even in the most contrapuntal moments, and coupled this with balance and
restraint. Yet the careful projection of definition did not at any stage inhibit choral color, which was
absolutely radiant, not only in the mass but throughout the concert.
It was pleasing to see the return of program notes, which failed to materialise at their last event. O’Donnell
strives for excellence in musicianship which is underpinned by scholarly research. This mixture of vocal
poise and academic purpose has made the group one of the leading choirs in Melbourne, and if they could
tour widely they could rightly claim to be a national treasure.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

 

Tuesday, 31 March 1998
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Rd, Kew

Subscription Concert 1

PROGRAM

Carlo Gesualdo, Principe di Venosa Responsoria (1611)
Feria Quinta: 9 Responsoria
Interval (10 minutes)
Feria Sexta: 9 Responsoria
Interval ( 10 minutes)
Sabbato Sancto: 9 Responsoria

SINGERS

Soprano Deborah Summerbell Carol Veldhoven Nina Pereira Claerwen Jones Maria Pisani Helen Gagliano

Alto Helena Simpson Jennifer Mathers Bernadette Ballard

Tenor Frank Prain Peter Neustupny Andrew Green Stuart Tennant Philip Legge

Bass Tom Henry Thomas Drent Andrew Fysh

REVIEWS

Monday 6 April 1998 The Age [Melbourne], page 17.
Musical stamina put to the test
Joel Crotty

Ensemble Gombert’s 1998 season will be an all-Italian affair, in one way or another. In keeping with the
interesting programming of previous years, conductor John O’Donnell has come up with a series focusing on
the musical activities of a court, a town and a composer.
The Xavier College Chapel was filled for Gesualdo’s Responsaria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae
spectantia, of 1611, which was the choir’s first concert of the series.
The music is not only long in title but also in duration. It is a mammoth undertaking for both the choristers to
perform and for an audience to absorb. The complete Responsoria follows the lessons for Maundy Thursday,
Good Friday and Holy Saturday – a total of nine segments a day.
These 36 lessons do not collectively constitute a dramatic Easter storyline, but rather they are meditative;
hence, there is little potential for musical development. Therefore, the music is about momentary nuance
rather than broad splashes of color.
Some members of the audience found the required level of concentration too much by the end of the Good
Friday cycle and left. But it is the madrigalian way Gesualdo sets individual words and phrases that
highlights his gift for musical imagery. Coupled with these fleeting word-paintings is the composer’s chaotic
chromaticism, his sudden shifts in density and rhythm, and the awkward melodic lines, all of which makes
the Responsoria one of the composer’s most expressive scores.
Ensemble Gombert projected the music’s expressivity in a refined manner. The darkly hued sounds were
never lightened but rather shades of black became the fundamental perspective. Furthermore, clean lines were
evident – even in the wide-ranging melismas – and the phrasing was concisely controlled.
The constant need to re-blend and re-balance was, for the most part, seamlessly carried out, together with
tempi that never seemed out-of-place. It was only near the end of this epic journey that the singers became a
little tired.
The superbly resonant qualities of the basses – Tom Henry, Thomas Drent and Andrew Fysh – proved highly
effective in supporting roles and when called upon to be at the forefront of exposing the composer’s vivid
imagination. Only the altos, squeezed as they were between the larger soprano and tenor forces, seemed
unable to reveal a personality.
But this was a minor concern compared with the frustrating lack of program notes. The Gombert concerts are
thoughtfully constructed, almost with an eye on being didactic. However, on this occasion, John O’Donnell
chose to deliver a few words on the structure of the Responsoria in lieu of printed notes. It was a missed opportunity to impart knowledge and, therefore, better place the performance in its historical perspective.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

Friday 3 April 1998 The Herald Sun [Melbourne], page 93.
Musical stamina put to the test
Johanna Selleck

CARLO Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, was a man capable of the cruellest act of savagery, and also of the
loftiest expression of religious sentiment.
It is difficult to reconcile the cold-blooded murderer who stabbed his wife and her lover to death with the
composer of such inspired sacred music.
The way in which his music juxtaposes elements of the terrifying with the sublime is an accurate reflection of
the tortured soul of this complex individual.
Ensemble Gombert delivered the kind of scholarly, focused reading of the Responsoria that has become one
of the hallmarks of this exceptional choir.
Given that Gesualdo’s Responsoria is the product of the spirit of the Counter-Reformation, textual lucidity is
paramount.
Gombert’s clarity of diction and attack ensured that this was rarely compromised, despite the mammoth task
of presenting all of the 27 Responsoria in one sitting.
Divided into three groups of nine Responsoria, the story of the Passion is recounted, as told in the Lessons for
the hour of Matins on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Gesualdo’s genius was such that he was not hindered by the rigid schematic layout of Response and Versus,
but was able to create a work of poignant beauty via daring harmonies, variations in textural density and
imaginative rhythmic contrasts.
The dramatic potential of the work was convincingly realised in the choir’s performance.
For example, Gesualdo’s clever fugue on the words vos fugam capietis was thrown into sharp relief by the
powerful delivery.
Where the composer paints the text in musical gestures the choir enhanced them with subtle timbral and
dynamic adjustments, as on the words Darkness covered the Earth.
Here the vocal sonorities – the basses in particular – transformed magically into dark, sombre, earthy colors,
making a stunning contrast to the ethereal quality attained on the ensuing words, He gave up the ghost.
Gombert’s ability to achieve such complex variety while maintaining a richly homogenous foundation of
sound is one of the most impressive and enjoyable aspects of their performances.