Saturday, 7 April 2001, 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew
Subscription Concert 2
The compositional output of the prolific Lassus includes many cycles: for example, the Prophetiae Sibyllarum, the Sacrae lectiones novem ex propheta Iob, the Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales, and two sets of Hieremiae prophetae lamentationes. Just days before his death Lassus completed a setting of the twenty-one ottava stanzas of Tansillo’s Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of Saint Peter), a work described by scholar James Haar as ‘one of the most remarkable artistic testaments in the history of music’. In our program this work is complemented by five of Byrd’s so-called ‘Babylonian exile’ motets; works apparently written for the comfort of Catholics in Protestant England.
PROGRAM
Orlande de Lassus Lagrime di San Pietro
William Byrd Ne irascaris, Domine
William Byrd Deus, venerunt gentes
William Byrd Quomodo cantabimus
Note: Additional Byrd motets ‘Tribulationes civitatus’ and ‘Vide, Domine, afflictionen nostram’ advertised in subscription brochure but not sung.
| SOPRANO | ALTO | TENOR | BASS |
| Deborah Summerbell | Jenny George | Peter Campbell | John Weretka |
| Carol Veldhoven | Niki Ebacioni | Tim Van Nooten | Thomas Drent |
| Margaret Pearce | Margaret Arnold | Vaughan McAlley | Sam Furphy |
| Claerwen Jones | Barbara Tattam | Stuart Tennant | Andrew Fysh |
| Maria Pisani | |||
| Helen Gagliano |
–
REVIEW
Wednesday, 11 April 2001, The Age [Melbourne], page 6, Today.
Moveable feast
Clive O’Connell
TAKING major position on Ensemble Gombert’s latest recital, the Tears of StPeter by Orlando di Lasso, is an
hour-long series of 21 spiritual madrigals that outline the throes of repentance suffered by the first Pope after
his renunciation of any connection with Christ before the later stages of the Way of the Cross and the Crucifixion.
The sequence makes a heavy demand on any choir, and one can think of few in this country that would have
borne up under the strain, apart from John O’Donnell’s group.
Their work in this substantial exercise remained rhythmically precise, the division of lines evenly
accomplished, and the realisation of the composers’ penitential intentions given prime importance.
These Lagrime, written in the last months of Lassus’ life, act as a sort of summa, a treasury of the composer’s
expressive powers and style. While there are few moments of brazen originality, the whole comprises a kind
of emotional continuum that begins by setting the scene of Peter’s betrayal and concludes with Christ’s
bemoaning the ingratitude of man, albeit in muted, restrained language.
In a briefer second half, the ensemble sang three motets by Byrd: Ne irascaris, Deus venerunt gentes and a
masterpiece of invention, “Quomodo cantabimus?” The melodically felicitous paragraphs of Lassus had
progressed with undiminished grace through the night’s first part, but in these three laments by the English
composer for the falling of Jerusalem, the Gombert group moved into a realm of musical spirituality of high
order.
One might have questioned the neatness of several entries, including a few from the usually flawless
sopranos, but the total weave of this Elizabethan fabric – albeit of a cloth woven by a recusant – was intensely
moving; a further indication of the group’s integrity of performance, despite some changes in personnel.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age