Sunday 30 March 1997
St Mary’s Star of the Sea, Victoria St, West Melbourne
Melbourne International Festival of Organ and Harpsichord
PROGRAM
Johannes Ockeghem Requiem
Johannes Brahms Opus 29, Opus 74 and Opus 110 motets
Singers unknown
REVIEWS
Wednesday 2 April The Age [Melbourne], page 5. (extract)
Early music sharing top billing in festival
Clive O’Connell
JOHN O’DONNELL’S Ensemble Gombert took the altar at St Mary’s Star of the Sea for a concert of even
more massive proportions than is its scholarly practice. This year is the 500th anniversary of the death of
Johannes Ockeghem, so the Gomberts sang the composer’s Requiem – the first polyphonic setting of this
Mass form – and three Marian motets.
This year is also the centenary of Brahms’s death and the ensemble moved into unexpected territory by
singing the Opus 29, Opus 74 and Opus 110 motets.
The texture verged on the thin side when the group had to split into eight parts for Opus 110’s Ich aber bin
elend and the eccentric Wenn wir in hochsten Noten sind. As well, the self-effacing quality in the sopranos
proved worrying in several of the massive blasts of orthodox harmonisation in these works.
But, with the 15th-century Flemish works, the Ensemble Gombert was in fine fettle.
In the Requiem, which uses no sopranos, the texture is lean. O’Donnell made no effort to “dress up” the
work’s bones but let his singers outline the sinews of Ockeghem’s intense, pure and exposed structure, made
all the richer when it blossomed into four-part harmony.
The festival continues at various locations – most near the city or at Melbourne University – until Saturday
night
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age
Friday 4 April, The Australian [Sydney], page 12. (extract)
Melbourne International Festival of Organ and Harpsichord
Jeremy Vincent
[…] With its subtitled Early Music banner, the festival is able to include performances unrelated to either organ or harpsichord.The first of these was the appearance of Melbourne-based a capella choir Ensemble Gombert. These 16 voices directed by John O’Donnell delved into the 15th-century mastery of Johannes Ockegham before time-travelling to 19th-century Brahms. It was difficult to understand the choir’s delivery of Ockegham’s Latin text, though his strangely incomplete setting of the Requiem (lacking Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Communion) was a novel experience held up strongly by the women’s voices. Brahms fared better, the clarity beautifully judged and
the meld of the voices in seven motets wonderfully interwoven through its unfussed musical journey. Full of character and respect, this was a splendid tribute in all areas. […]