Year: 1999

Christmas to Candlemas (1999)

Tuesday 14 December 1999, 8pm
Wednesday 15 December 1999, 8 pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew

Subscription Concert 5

PROGRAM

Tomás Luis de Victoria  O magnum mysterium
Tomás Luis de Victoria Quem vidistis, pastores?
Heinrich Isaac Puer natus est nobis
Nicolas Gombert Hodie nobis caelorum
Clemens non Papa Vox in Rama
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina O admirabile commercium
John Sheppard Reges Tharsis et insulae
Orlande de Lassus Omnes de Saba venient
Tomás Luis de Victoria Senex puerum portabat
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Nunc dimittis (à 12)
William Byrd Mass for Five Voices with Propers In festo Purificationis:
William Byrd Susceptimus Deus
William Byrd Senex puerum portabat
William Byrd Diffusa est gratia
William Byrd Responsum accepit Simeon

Note: This was not the program advertised in the Subscription brochure, which was all Victoria

SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS
Deborah Summerbell Jennifer George Peter Campbell Andrew Fysh
Carol Veldhoven Margaret Arnold Frank Prain Tom Henry
Margaret Pearce Barbara Tattam Vaughan McAlley Jerzy Kozlowski
Claerwen Jones Stuart Tennant
Maria Pisani
Helen Gagliano

–
REVIEW

Friday, 17 December 1999, The Age [Melbourne], page 6
The usual Christmas fare
Clive O’Connell

IN AN evening of Christmas music for the sophisticated, John O’Donnell’s Ensemble Gombert presented
another “Christmas to Candlemas” program, concluding yet another year’s recital cycle.
Here again was the usual compendium of seasonal music by famous Renaissance writers – Palestrina, Byrd,
Victoria, Lassus – with excursions into more arcane names like Isaac, Sheppard, Clemens non Papa and the
group’s namesake.
Some of the first half’s motets we have heard in previous years, such as Gombert’s Hodie nobis caelorum,
Victoria’s touching Senex puerum portabat and the massive motet for double choir by Lassus, Omnes de Saba
venient.
The group’s vocal mix has gained somewhat in depth and character since I last heard the ensemble in this
chapel. Both sopranos and altos maintain an authoritative clarity and sparkling, clear color rarely achieved by
other groups, and so startling when there is the slightest crack in this group’s vocal veneer.
While there are still three basses only, all have years of experience; even when the part is divided, their
voices provide a calm, non-blustery support for the rest of the forces.
The tenor quartet has a pair of well-matched voices and two that struggle to achieve security and ease of
articulation.
In the evening’s most vocally diffuse offering – Palestrina’s 12-part Nunc dimittis – one could pick out most of
the individual lines at various stages, but the tenors were the least discernible and definite.
Nevertheless, the program’s second half, comprising Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices interspersed with the
composer’s own Propers for the Feast of the Purification, showed the Gomberts at close to their best. The
voices rarely came under stress and the subtleties that grace each line at various points (notably the “Agnus
Dei”, a highpoint in Tudor music) were delivered without overstatement or unnecessary color.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy The Age

Three High Renaissance Requiems (1999)

Tuesday, 9 November 1999, 8 pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew

Subscription Concert 4

Settings of the Requiem tend to be high points in composersÕ outputs. Often the setting has been written in memory of a particular person dear to the composer, which may explain the high level of inspiration. The three settings on this program are works that we have performed to acclaim over the past few years. It will be a very rich experience indeed to perform and hear them all in one concert.

PROGRAM

Johannes Ockeghem Missa pro defunctis
Pierre de la Rue Missa pro defunctis
Jean Richafort Missa pro defunctis

SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS
Deborah Summerbell Jenny George Peter Campbell Andrew Fysh
Carol Veldhoven Margaret Arnold Peter Neustupny Philip Nicholls
Margaret Pearce Jennifer Mathers Vaughan McAlley Jerzy Kozlowski
Claerwen Jones Barbara Tattam Stuart Tennant
Maria Pisani
Helen Gagliano

–
REVIEW
Friday, 12 November 1999 – The Age [Melbourne], page 4
Food of love satisfies the mind and soul
Joel Crotty

[…] While the Gryphon Gallery has a vibrant acoustic and rowdy neighbors, the quiet exterior and airy interior of
Xavier College’s chapel makes it a perfect space for Ensemble Gombert’s choral concerts. As usual, the
Gombert’s music director and conductor, John O’Donnell, came up with a fascinating concept of comparing
of three requiems composed by three composers across three different generations, straddling the 15th and
16th centuries. It was a bewitching trip across the Renaissance frontier.
Ockeghem’s Missa pro defunctis demonstrated his propensity for dark-toned colors and his ability to allow
the counterpoint to majestically flow without being unduly hampered by cadential points. The 11 voices
(sopranos were omitted) blended well in the different configurations. Full credit must go to the three basses –
Andrew Fysh, Philip Nicholls and Jerzy Kozlowski – who were uniformly excellent during the event. Pierre de la Rue, from the middle generation, was represented by his Missa pro fidelibus defunctis . The
complexities of the work rarely seemed to faze the 16 choristers, and the Sanctus was rendered in such a
stunning fashion that it was the highlight of the evening. But by the time youngest member of the trio –
Richafort – was presented to the audience, the group was starting to show signs of fatigue.
Nonetheless, Ensemble Gombert nourished the soul and, on the previous night, the Southbank Contemporary
Music Ensemble invigorated the mind.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

Lassus and his Heritage (1999)

Tuesday, 14 September 1999, 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew

Subscription Concert 3

Lassus, not Palestrina, was considered by his contemporaries to be the outstanding composer of his generation. He was certainly the most versatile, and he was extraordinarily prolific. A child of his time, he did not hesitate to build on material from works by his forerunners and contemporaries. This program presents some of the results of such homage, in each case preceded by the model.

PROGRAM

Josquin Desprez Huc me sydereo descendere iussit Olympo
Clemens non Papa Fremuit spiritu Jesus
Nicolas Gombert Mort et fortune
Jachet da Mantua Domine secundum actum meum
Orlande de Lassus Huc me sydereo descendere iussit Olympo
Orlande de Lassus Fremuit spiritu Jesus
Orlande de Lassus Magnificat tertii toni super Mort et fortune
Orlande de Lassus Missa Domine secundum actum meum

SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS
Deborah Summerbell Margaret Arnold Peter Campbell Andrew Fyrsh
Carol Veldhoven Jenny George Frank Prain Thomas Drent
Margaret Pearce Barbara Tattam Vaughan McAlley Philip Nicholls
Claerwen Jones Jennifer Mathers Stuart Tennant Jerzy Kozlowski
Maria Pisani

–
REVIEW

Friday, 17 September 1999, Herald-Sun [Melbourne], page 90.
Ensemble’s angelic voices simply heavenly
Johanna Selleck

ENSEMBLE Gombert are planning a big birthday party for next year – and so they should.
For almost 10 years they have enriched the cultural life of Melbourne, thrilling audiences with their purity of
sound and ability to make phrase endings melt imperceptibly into thin air.
Their voices resonate around the Xavier College Chapel like a mysterious emanation from some
unidentifiable source.
The 17 or so men and women who comprise the ensemble emit the most angelic sounds with the barest
visible exertion. The result is natural and unforced, a flowing stream. This concert explored work by the
master of Renaissance polyphony, Orlande de Lassus.
The four programmed works by Lassus were juxtaposed with examples by some contemporaries who had
either set the same texts or provided direct models for his own works.
Huc me sydereo descendere iussit Olympo by Josquin Desprez was followed by Lassus’ setting of the same,
then Fremuit spiritu Jesus, by Clemens non Papa was compared with Lassus.
As always with Ensemble Gombert, the outer parts were unswerving, while the inner parts meshed
beautifully.
Either side of interval came Gombert’s Chanson mort et fortune and Lassus’ Magnificat tertii toni super mort
et fortune, which derives from it, and Lassus’ Missa Domine secundum actum meum prefaced by the motet
by Jachet da Mantua which served as the model.
Lassus’ setting of the mass enhances the text to a level of supreme, seraphic beauty.
Ensemble Gombert demonstrated their ability to tap into the mystical side of this music and immerse the
listener. It was an experience not to be missed.

Joy and Sorrow in Baroque Germany (1999)

Friday, 3 September 1999, 8 pm
Sacred Heart Church, Grey St, St Kilda

Melbourne Early Music Festival

PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 5
Johann Sebastian Bach Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (Cantata 51)
Johann Sebastian Bach Fürchte dich nicht
Heinrich Schütz Musicalische Exequien

SINGERS

Soprano
Deborah Summerbell
Carol Veldhoven
Margaret Pearce
Claerwen Jones
Maria Pisani
Helen Gagliano		 Alto
Jennifer George
Margaret Arnold
Jennifer Mathers
Barbara Tattam		 Tenor
Peter Campbell
Vaughan McAlley
Peter Neustupny
Stuart Tennant		 Bass
Jerzy Kozlowski
Andrew Fysh
Philip Nicholls
Thomas Drent

Margaret Pearce – soprano
Concentus Australis
John O’Donnell – conductor

REVIEW

Monday, 6 September 1999, The Age [Melbourne], page 5.
An interesting sample of early music
Clive O’Connell

This three-day festival, which has made its home at one of the more spacious St Kilda churches, began
effectively enough with a solid program of “late” early music, although there were slight traces of some
shortcomings that became more noticeable during the second day.
The music began with J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D.
With a quartet of strings for an orchestra, this minimalist version featured two soloists who are familiar
figures on the local scene: flautist Greg Dikmans and harpsichordist John O’Donnell. Both have been heard
several times in this work, and their reading remains rapid-fire, unsentimental and bracing.
The violin line was played by Cynthia O’Brien, home from Austria to lead her own Capella Corelli and, in
this case, to lend a lucid authority to this signature-work of the Baroque. O’Brien’s finely spun but assertive
sound made a highly appropriate foil for Dikmans’ calm, full-bodied flute, even if the whole work is
dominated by the virtuosic keyboard writing.
The church is an impressive building, with plenty of air to fill with sound and suited to choral music in
particular. With the Bach concerto, the acoustic impact was faint; sitting half-way up the church, you seemed
to be a long way aurally from the performers.
The Ensemble Gombert made a more telling impact with Bach’s Furchte dich nicht motet and the
Musicalische Exequien by Schutz. Even though the choral texture tended to be bottom-heavy in this building,
a clean attack and confidence bore witness to the singers’ skill and O’Donnell’s directorial vigilance.
On Saturday, students from the Early Music Studio at Melbourne University worked gainfully through works
by Machaut, Schein, Schutz and Monteverdi. The Early Voices Ensemble of about 10 sang with zest in
various combinations, suffering from an over-assertive tenor line.
These young musicians made a fair contribution to the festival, if one that was rough around the edges.
At the centre of the festival is an evening Mass, involving a complete setting of the proper and common for
voices and/or instruments. This year, the historical reference point was 15th-century Florence; members of
Les Six sang Dufay’s Ecce ancilla Dei setting to the accompaniment of Fonte Musicale’s sackbutts.
Musicologist John Stinson’s preparatory lecture on Florentine musical practice and personalities of the time
whetted one’s appetite, but the reality made for uneasy listening. This sample of this field of music-making
left me mildly grateful but not enthusiastic about the general standard of performance.

Gombert and his Contemporaries (1999)

Tuesday, 25 May 1999, 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew

Subscription Concert 2

The relationship between words and music is a fascinating area for study and contemplation, nowhere more than in the sixteenth century. This program presents motets by four of Gombert’s contempories, each followed by Gombert’s setting of the same text. Additionally we have Richafort’s popular setting of Philomena praevia and Gombert superb five-part mass based upon it.

PROGRAM

Clemens non Papa O magnum mysterium
Jachet da Mantua Aspice Domine quia facta est
Philippe Verdelot Sancta Maria succurre
Crisóbal de Morales Regina caeli, laetare
Jean Richafort Philomena praevia
Nicolas Gombert O magnum mysterium
Nicolas Gombert Aspice Domine quia facta est
Nicolas Gombert Sancta Maria succurre
Nicolas Gombert Regina caeli, laetare
Nicolas Gombert Missa Philomena praevia

SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS
Deborah Summerbell Jenny George Peter Campbell Tom Henry
Carol Veldhoven Margaret Arnold Peter Neustupny Philip Nicholls
Margaret Pearce Jennifer Mathers Stuart Tennant Thomas Drent
Claerwen Jones Barbara Tattam Frank Prain Andrew Fysh
Maria Pisani Vaughan McAlley
Helen Gagliano

Glories of English Polyphony (1999)

Saturday, 17 April 1999, 8 pm
St John’s Anglican Church, Sorrento
Sorrento Subscription Concerts (Oz Classique Concerts)

Tuesday, 20 April 1999, 8 pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew.
Subscription Concert 1

PROGRAM

Robert Wylkinson Salve regina
John Taverner Missa Corona spinea
Thomas Tallis Miserere nostri, Domine
Christopher Tye Omnes gentes plaudite
Robert White Miserere nostri, Domine
Osbert Parsley Conserva me, Domine
William Byrd Quomoda cantabimus?

SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS
Deborah Summerbell Jenny George Peter Campbell James Scott
Carol Veldhoven Margaret Arnold Peter Neustupny Philip Nicholls
Margaret Pearce Jennifer Mathers Stuart Tennant Andrew Fysh
Claerwen Jones Barbara Tattam Frank Prain Grantley McDonald
Maria Pisani Jerzy Kozlowski
Helen Gagliano

–
REVIEWS

Friday, 23 April 1999, The Herald Sun [Melbourne], page 78.
Striking a chord
Johanna Selleck

AFTER last year’s perusal of choral treasures from Renaissance Italy, Melbourne’s very own vocal treasure
Ensemble Gombert opened their l999 season in Tudor England.
In Tuesday evening’s celebration of the “glories of English polyphony”, the choir filled the Xavier College
Chapel with that ethereal, floating resonance that is their hallmark.
The elaborate melismas in both Robert Wylkynson’s Salve regina and John Tavener’s Missa Corona spinea
were like luminous golden threads weaving through a rich tapestry of sound.
Ensemble Gombert unravelled them with sensitivity and shapeliness.
The same works present a shining variety of textures and vocal combinations, however the sparser moments
entail hidden traps, often leaving the individual parts unsympathetically exposed.
Occasionally the upper voices did not achieve the pure, uncontaminated amalgam that they so often do.
At times the mix would also have benefited from a more solid presence from the tenors.
After interval Thomas Tallis’ seven-part canon Miserere nostri, Domine and Christopher Tye’s five-part motet
Omnes gentes plaudie achieved a crystalline clarity.
The points of imitation were pronounced definitively and likewise in William Byrd’s eight-part motet
Quomodo cantabimus the canonic writing was tightly construed and well balanced.
The program included Conserva me, Domine by the innocuously named Osbert Parsley, and Robert White’s
splendid yet sombre Miserere mei, Deus.
Ensemble Gombert display that rare ability to extract the purest essence from the music they perform, and
strike a common chord (psychologically speaking) in all of us.
This is timeless music, which speaks directly to the soul of humanity.
For this reason, and for the uncompromising, consistently high standard that they deliver, Ensemble Gombert
has built up a loyal and devoted following.
There are four more concerts to go in the series, including “Gombert and his contemporaries”, “Lassus and
his heritage” and “Three high Renaissance requiems”.