Friday, 5 December 2014, 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew
Subscription Concert 4
A Jacobean celebration with viols and organ
With guest artists: Consort Eclectus
| Program | |
|---|---|
| Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623) |
Gloria in excelsis Deo |
| Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) |
This is the record of John |
| Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656) |
Behold, I bring you glad tidings |
| John Bull (1562/3-1628) |
Christe Redemptor omnium (organ solo) |
| William Byrd (c.1540-1623) |
This day Christ was born (A Carol for Christmas Day) |
| John Amner (1579-1641) |
O ye little flock |
| John Amner | Lo, how from heav’n like stars |
| Orlando Gibbons | A Fancy [for a double organ] |
| William Byrd | O God that drives the cheerful Sun (A Carol for New-Year’s Day) |
| John Bull | Almighty God, which by the leading of a star |
| Orlando Gibbons | See, see, the Word is incarnate |
Performance of anthems with viols has been on our wish list for some years. Now that it is to become a reality it is impossible not to anticipate our Christmas to Candlemas season a bit in order to include that favourite Advent anthem, Gibbons’ This is the record of John. For that matter the other Gibbons piece, See, see the Word is incarnate also transcends the temporal limits, subsequently taking us through Passion, Resurrection and Ascension, but it begins with the Incarnation. This is truly a rare opportunity to hear many of these works.
SINGERS
| Soprano Deborah Summerbell Katherine Lieschke Katherine Norman Maria Pisani Claerwen Jones Kathryn Pisani |
Alto Belinda Wong Yi Wen Chin Niki Ebacioni Rebecca Collins |
Tenor Peter Campbell Tim Van Nooten Vaughan McAlley Stuart Tennant |
Bass Andrew Murray Mike Ormerod Michael Strasser |
REVIEW
Sunday, 8 December 2014, The Age [Melbourne], p.31
A Jacobean Celebration review: Elegant music-making from Christmas to Candlemas
Clive O’Connell
A JACOBEAN CELEBRATION ★★★★
Ensemble Gombert
Xavier College Chapel
December 5
This edition of the ensemble’s customary Christmas to Candlemas miscellany engaged the forces of Consort Electus, a viol quintet comprising most of the city’s expert performers – Laura Vaughan and Laura Moore, Victoria Watts, Miriam Morris and Ruth Wilkinson. Conductor John O’Donnell employed the consort in most of the program’s contents, interspersed with his own organ solos by John Bull and Orlando Gibbons.
The wealth of musical brilliance available to the court of James I and his great cathedral choirs was extraordinary, evidenced on Friday evening in well-known anthems and verse-settings by Weelkes and Gibbons, like the latter’s This is the record of John full of dramatic vitality and ardour.
High satisfaction came in Thomas Tomkins Behold, I bring you glad tidings juxtaposing a clear soprano solo against a hefty 10-part choral fabric. Some curiosities unearthed by O’Donnell were a pair of anthems by John Amner of Ely Cathedral, settings that alternated duets and trios with the full chorus to splendid effect, bringing to the Gospel interaction of angels and shepherds a music both elevated and earthy.
Once again, the Gombert singers succeeded in stressing the transcendental character of the coming season’s nature; the night’s only carols – both by William Byrd and far removed in language from the well-worn imagery of snow, holly and holy nights – celebrated the simple Nativity event in restrained affirmation and welcomed the New Year with hope and affirming confidence. Not for everybody, perhaps, but this elegant music-making serves as an enriching musical experience.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age