Saturday, 3 June 2000, 8 pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew
Subscription Series Concert 3
Marian music accounts for a large percentage of the output of most Renaissance composers. Favourite texts are the Propers associated with the principal Marian feasts, the four great Compline antiphons (Alma Redemptoris mater, Ave regina caelorum, Regina caeli laetare and Salve regina) and various devotional pieces.
PROGRAM
Josquin Desprez Ave Maria
Josquin Desprez Inviolata, integra et casta es, Maria
Josquin Desprez Virgo salutiferi
Josquin Desprez Salve regina (à 4)
Josquin Desprez O virgo prudentissima
Josquin Desprez Regina caeli laetare
Josquin Desprez Benedicta es, caelorum regina
Josquin Desprez Alma redemptoris/Ave regina caelorum
Josquin Desprez Illibata Dei virgo nutrix
Josquin Desprez Stabat mater
Josquin Desprez O virgo virginum
Josquin Desprez Salve regina (à 5)
Josquin Desprez Praeter rerum seriem
| SOPRANO | ALTO | TENOR | BASS |
| Deborah Summerbell | Jenny George | Vaughan McAlley | John Weretka |
| Carol Veldhoven | Jennifer Mathers | Peter Neustupny | Jonathan Wallis |
| Claerwen Jones | Margaret Arnold | Peter Campbell | Andrew Fysh |
| Maria Pisani | Barbara Tattam | Stuart Tennant | |
| Helen Gagliano | |||
–
REVIEW
Tuesday, 6 June 2000, The Age [Melbourne], p 4.
Local composers’ ensemble oomph
Joel Crotty
ENSEMBLE Gombert radically changed its choral program from featuring eight Renaissance composers to
just one – Josquin Desprez.
It was a pity the concert was scaled down. One of the endearing features of this group is its performance of lesser-known Renaissance composers.
It is to be hoped that the scores of Constanzo Festa, Phillippe Verdelo and Andreas de Silva, which were
pushed aside, will be performed next year.
Nevertheless, a night of Josquin Desprez’s Marian motets was not a bad thing. For it gave us the opportunity
to reinforce within our minds the creative depth of this composer.
The choristers were able to project a blended sound and, as such, the tone-colors were continuously being
sympathetically remixed. Their sophisticated sound wash was still very much apparent in the numerous duet
passages.
Even the points of imitation were, in most cases, delivered accurately and without force. And because the
constituent phrases were delivered in a smooth rather than a disjointed manner, the presentations were all
suitably defined.
But there were some indecisive moments when phrases tapered off and pitch precision was on occasion
messy.
The tenors at times struggled to present a powerful influence on the proceedings. This was due, in part, to the
writing lingering in the higher registers.
John O’Donnell, Ensemble Gombert’s director, edited all 13 motets. And while he might have been
adventurous in musicological terms, they are a welcome addition to the edited literature.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age