Saturday, 24 February 2001, 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew
Subscription Concert 1
Renaissance composers frequently re-fashioned the musical material of motets or chansons into settings of Mass or Magnificat. A composer might make such a parody of his own music, as is the case with Gombert’s eight-voice Credo, modelled on his motet Lugebat David Absalon, or that of another composer, as is the case with the works of Lassus and Monteverdi presented in this program, each based on a piece by Gombert. That these two later composers, each considered the outstanding master of his generation, should pay homage to Gombert in this way is an indication of the esteem in which our omposer was regarded during the fifty years after his death.
PROGRAM
Nicolas Gombert Regina caeli laetare (à 12)
Nicolas Gombert Lugebat David Absalon
Nicolas Gombert Credo
Nicolas Gombert Mort et fortune
Orlande de Lassus Magnificat tertii toni quinque vocum Mort et fortune
Nicolas Gombert In illo tempore
Claudio Monteverdi Missa da Capella a sei voci, fatta sopra il motetto In illo tempore del Gomberti
| SOPRANO | ALTO | TENOR | BASS |
| Deborah Summerbell | Jenny George | Peter Campbell | John Weretka |
| Carol Veldhoven | Jennifer Mathers | Vaughan McAlley | Andrew Fysh |
| Margaret Pearce | Margaret Arnold | Stuart Tennant | Sam Furphy |
| Claerwen Jones | Barbara Tattam | Jerzy Kozlowski | |
| Maria Pisani | |||
| Helen Gagliano |
–
REVIEWS
Tuesday, 27 February 2001, The Age [Melbourne], page 5, Today.
The dreamy and the delightful
Clive O’Connell
ON SATURDAY, the Ensemble Gombert began its annual subscription series in the freshly painted Xavier
Chapel. The concert came upon us rather suddenly, which might explain the unusually light audience
numbers.
Director John O’Donnell, in another program notable for inner references, began with four works by the group’s namesake, starting with the ever-fresh, powerful Regina caeli in 12 parts and ending with the chanson
Mort et fortune, which provided the basis for the first half’s major offering, a Magnificat by Lassus.
Similarly, in the second part of the night, the ensemble opened with Gombert’s motet In illo tempore,
followed by Monteverdi’s Missa di Capella for six voices, based on that piece’s material.
The whole made for an extraordinary study in how two Renaissance masters used Gombert’s melodic patterns
as springboards for their own works, the references more easily apparent in the Lassus work, probably
because of the chanson’s easily assimilable melodic lines and harmonic movement.
Apart from the ingenuity of the night’s music, Saturday found the Gomberts in fine fettle. Some of the voices
– Deborah Summerbell, Carol Veldhoven, Margaret Arnold, Andrew Fysh and Jerzy Kozlowski – have been
with the ensemble since its beginnings. O’Donnell recruits wisely and the resulting textural clarity and polish
of delivery comprise one of this city’s musical delights.
You experience an extraordinary power and resonance in the work of these 17 singers, on Saturday best
illustrated in the Magnificat – a model of the composer’s mellifluous and intentionally rich combination of
timbres – the Mass coming a close second with its dramatic partitioning of voices and the energy of its inspiration.
The Ensemble Gombert is back with a vengeance, its music-making talents a high delight to such a degree
that the conclusion to this splendid recital left all of us wanting more.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age
Monday, 26 February 2001, Herald-Sun [Melbourne], page 87.
Group strikes with clarity
Johanna Selleck
ENSEMBLE Gombert opened its subscription series with a homage to its namesake.
The program consisted of works by Lassus and Monteverdi which were based upon Gombert, as well as the
genuine article.
For sheer beauty of sound this group is unmatched.
The first rippling “r” of Gombert’s Regina caeli laetare was like a thunderbolt, a testimony to the ability of
these individuals to work as one mind, attacking each entry with calculated accuracy and clarity.
The offerings from Gombert also included the motet Lugebat David Absalon and the eight-voice Credo — a
powerfully impressive work.
Gombert uses closely-knit points of imitation which impart a depth and uniformity to the texture, with
individual lines weaving like silky ribbons.
He deliberately avoids devices that interrupt the flow.
On Saturday the effect was of a living, breathing tapestry of sound.
The works by Lassus and Monteverdi were preceded by the relevant pieces by Gombert on which they were
based.
Lassus’ Magnificat terti toni Mort et fortune sets alternating verses in plainchant as was his usual practice.
This gave the tenors the chance to shine with a firm and unflustered delivery, contained beneath a veil of
serenity.
Monterverdi’s Missa In illo tempore pays tribute to his predecessor by reworking the main motives on which
Gombert constructed points of imitation.
It was pure joy to let these extraordinary emanations surround and wash over you, then drift heavenwards
where every sound seems to hang suspended before melting, imperceptibly, into the ether.