Tag: Festivals

Sunday 22 September 1996
Sacred Heart Church, St Kilda

Melbourne Early Music Festival

PROGRAM

Giovanni Gabrieli Nunc dimittis
Giovanni Gabrieli Buccinate in neomenia tuba
Giovanni Gabrieli Jubilate Deo
Michael Praetorius Resonet in laudibus
Michael Praetorius Hosianna in der Hohe
Michael Praetorius Christus der uns selig macht
Michael Praetorius Gott der Vater wohn uns bei
Michael Praetorius Hodie completi sunt

–
Fonte Musicale
Nigel Paul, director
John O’Donnell, conductor

REVIEW

Tuesday, 24 September 1996, The Age [Melbourne], page 5.
Fitting finale to weekend of early music
Clive O’Connell

John O’Donnell directed his Ensemble Gombert and Nigel Paul’s Fonte Musicale – Melbourne’s only
professional group of sackbutts and cornetti – in the Sunday night concert, Venice Revered.
While several pieces yielded a splendidly full sound – such as Giovanni Gabrieli’s 14-part Nunc dimittis and
the 19-voice Buccinate in neomenia tuba, the program ending with a 12-line Dum surgit tumulo by Praetorius
– there were just as many pleasures to be found in Hassler’s Intrada a 6 from the Fonte alone, and two a
cappella motets – Resonet in laudibus and Christus der uns selig macht, both by Praetorius and the latter dividing the forces with powerful imaginativeness, especially isolatng sopranos Deborah Summerbell and Carol Veldhoven, who operated at a stratospheric level (for choral singers) during most of the piece’s length.
You could have wished for greater polish in articulation during the first half’s instrumental pieces – Lappi’s La
Diamante and Gabrieli’s transparently textured Canzon Terza – but the Fonte’s reading of a typically tuneful
and energetic Praetorius suite came off very pleasingly.
This weekend is an initiative that deserves nourishing, both to add to the city’s breadth of audience experience
and to provide more opportunities for local early music performers to enjoy public exposition.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age

Saturday 11 November 1995
Sunday 12 November 1995
Foyer, 101 Collins Street, Melbourne

Collins Street Grand Music Promenade

PROGRAM

Claudio Monteverdi Vespers of 1610
Singers unknown
Tenor: Gerald English

REVIEW

Tuesday, 14 December 1995, The Age [Melbourne], page 16. (extract)
A program as game as it is grand
Clive O’Connell

[…] This was hard to discern at 101 Collins Street when John O’Donnell, his Ensemble Gombert and Fonte
Musicale plugged away at Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. Apart from the chillingly clear tenor of Gerald
English, much of this performance sounded muddy because of the playing space. On top of that, O’Donnell
undertook too much, moving between organ and harpsichord while trying to lead every part of this long
work.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age