Saturday, 8 September 2007, 8pm.
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew
Subscription Concert 4
The Baroque, by and large, was not a period of a cappella writing: most choral works involved at least a continuo accompaniment. And it is possible that all works on this program were also performed in such a manner, at least on occasion. Taking our departure from the splendid six-voice Lassus motet upon which Praetorius based his Magnificat, we subsequently explore four little-known works of Schütz before revelling in a selection of Bach motets.
PROGRAM
Orlande de Lassus In te, Domine, speravi
Michael Praetorius Magnificat super In te Domine speravi
Heinrich Schütz Ich bin eine rufende Stimme
Heinrich Schütz Das Wort ward Fleisch und wohnet unter uns
Heinrich Schütz Das ist je gewißlich wahr
Heinrich Schütz Selig sing die Toten, die in dem Herren sterben
Johann Sebastian Bach Fürchte dich nicht
Johann Sebastian Bach Ich lasse dich nicht
Johann Sebastian Bach Komm, Jesu, komm
| SOPRANO | ALTO | TENOR | BASS |
| Deborah Summerbell | Jennifer Mathers | Peter Campbell | Julien Robinson |
| Carol Veldhoven | Belinda Wong | Tim Van Nooten | Peter Tregear |
| Fiona Seers | Niki Ebacioni | Vaughan McAlley | Tom Reid |
| Kathryn Pisani | Jenny George | Stuart Tennant | Tim Daly |
| Maria Pisani | |||
| Claerwen Jones |
REVIEWS
Tuesday, 11 September 2007, The Age [Melbourne], page 14.
Honeyed singing from city’s choirs
Clive O’Connell
TWO of the city’s premier choirs moved further into their annual subscription series at the weekend, both
showing their singers in fine, if not exactly flawless, order.
On Saturday night, the Ensemble Gombert began easily, moving through congenial Baroque choral music
before finishing with three a cappella challenges from J. S Bach; on Sunday, the Melbourne Chorale give a
lightly sprung account of the Mozart Requiem, helped in great part by sharply etched support from the
Australian National Academy of Music Orchestra.
At the Gombert event, the first part ran twice as long as the following Bach motets sequence, the prefatory
material coming from Orlando di Lasso, whose In te Domine speravi served as a springboard for the
following Magnificat by Praetorius.
This pairing yielded the night’s most honeyed singing, rich chords and full-spectrum harmonies flattering the
choir, which was put to slightly sterner work in four pieces by Schutz, where the development of material
becomes more organised and dense.
But the Bach works displayed the Gomberts’ dynamic powers, the opening Furchte dich nicht erupting onto
the scene with heightened effect and urgency after the sombre steadiness of the preceding program items.
The newly attributed Ich lasse dich nicht operates in a smaller field but gave clear definition to the
differences in texture between the double choirs, while the final Komm, Jesu, komm emphasised the linear
complexity and strength of the composer’s vocal writing.
Every choir finds Bach’s more tangled contrapuntal segments difficult to articulate with absolute ease, but
this group of experts gives as close to an ideal realisation of the composer’s hefty vocal concertato sequences
as we are likely to hear in this country. […]
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age
Wednesday, 12 September 2007, Herald-Sun [Melbourne], page 62.
ENSEMBLE GOMBERT
Anna McAlister
ENSEMBLE Gombert is all about academia and unashamedly high art: authentic a cappella performances
with no risk of dumbing down in the name of accessibility.
Gombert sings very much to the converted — an audience of 100 or so, mostly friends and choral cognoscenti.
Though groups like this are essential to the survival of the music they perform, it would be wonderful to hear
more variety of textures and repertoire. It’s a shame Gombert doesn’t appeal to a wider audience because it is
a spectacularly fine choir that everyone should hear.
Gombert’s German baroque a cappella concert was a series of motets from the 16th to 18th centuries.
In the first half, comprising works by Lassus, Praetorius and Schutz, both music and performance epitomised
restraint. There was minimal rubato and dynamic contrast, each line undulating slightly to assume a greater or
lesser share of an unchanging volume.
The 18-voice group sang with superb timbre, pitch and ensemble.
All the works culminated in a perfectly balanced chord, each voice audible yet blended.
In Praetorius’ Magnificat super In te Domine speravi the chant sections of unison male voices moved as a
single, warm-hued entity. But, by the standards of later musical periods, this repertoire is emotionally
impenetrable. It became the level of skill, rather than art, that impressed.
J.S. Bach’s Furchte dich nicht; ich lasse dich nicht and Komm, Jesu, komm brought a welcome touch of
warmth and humanity, perhaps because they are set to non-biblical texts.