Sunday 22 September 1996
Sacred Heart Church, St Kilda
Melbourne Early Music Festival
PROGRAM
Giovanni Gabrieli Nunc dimittis
Giovanni Gabrieli Buccinate in neomenia tuba
Giovanni Gabrieli Jubilate Deo
Michael Praetorius Resonet in laudibus
Michael Praetorius Hosianna in der Hohe
Michael Praetorius Christus der uns selig macht
Michael Praetorius Gott der Vater wohn uns bei
Michael Praetorius Hodie completi sunt
| Soprano | Alto | Tenor | Bass |
| Deborah Summerbell | Katherine Wells | Philip Legge | Adrian Phillips |
| Carol Veldhoven | Margaret Arnold | Andrew Green | Andrew Williams |
| Lisette Wesseling | Jennifer Mathers | Matthew Flood | Andrew Fysh |
| Fiona Seers | Lynette Richardson | Timothy O’Connor | Jerzy Kozlowski |
–
Fonte Musicale
Nigel Paul, director
John O’Donnell, conductor
REVIEW
Tuesday, 24 September 1996, The Age [Melbourne], page 5.
Fitting finale to weekend of early music
Clive O’Connell
John O’Donnell directed his Ensemble Gombert and Nigel Paul’s Fonte Musicale – Melbourne’s only
professional group of sackbutts and cornetti – in the Sunday night concert, Venice Revered.
While several pieces yielded a splendidly full sound – such as Giovanni Gabrieli’s 14-part Nunc dimittis and
the 19-voice Buccinate in neomenia tuba, the program ending with a 12-line Dum surgit tumulo by Praetorius
– there were just as many pleasures to be found in Hassler’s Intrada a 6 from the Fonte alone, and two a
cappella motets – Resonet in laudibus and Christus der uns selig macht, both by Praetorius and the latter dividing the forces with powerful imaginativeness, especially isolatng sopranos Deborah Summerbell and Carol Veldhoven, who operated at a stratospheric level (for choral singers) during most of the piece’s length.
You could have wished for greater polish in articulation during the first half’s instrumental pieces – Lappi’s La
Diamante and Gabrieli’s transparently textured Canzon Terza – but the Fonte’s reading of a typically tuneful
and energetic Praetorius suite came off very pleasingly.
This weekend is an initiative that deserves nourishing, both to add to the city’s breadth of audience experience
and to provide more opportunities for local early music performers to enjoy public exposition.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age