Category: Concerts

Saturday, 11 September 2010, 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew

Subscription Concert 4

The language of Palestrina so suited the ideals of the Counter- Reformation that his style became synonymous with Roman Catholic polyphony over the next four hundred years. ‘School of Palestrina’ could thus include composers writing in the ‘Roman’ or ‘Palestrina’ style over the succeeding centuries, but here we limit it to a few composers known to have been his students or at least working in close association with him. The principal work of the program is Soriano’s re-working of Palestrina’s great six-voice Missa Papae Marcelli for eight-voice double choir.

PROGRAM

Giovanni Maria Nanino Stabat Mater
Felice Anerio Lumen ad revelationem
Tomas Luis de Victoria Alma Redemptoris Mater
Tomas Luis de Victoria Ave Maria
Tomas Luis de Victoria Tu es Petrus
Francesco Soriano Missa de Papae Marcelli
Kyrie – Gloria – Credo – Sanctus – Agnus Dei

 

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Belinda Wong	Peter Campbell	Samuel Allchurch
Katherine Norman	Jennifer Mathers	Tim Van Nooten	Kieran Rowe
Carol Veldhoven	Rebecca Woods	Vaughan McAlley	Alistair Clark
Kathryn Pisani	Niki Ebacioni	Stuart Tennant	Thomas Drent
Claerwen Jones
Maria Pisani

REVIEW
Monday, 13 September 2010, The Age [Melbourne], page 16.
Old and new juxtaposed in fine ensemble show
Clive O’Connell

ON SATURDAY night, the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge repeated their touring program, notable for
juxtaposing old and new and highlighting director Stephen Layton’s passion for contemporary Baltic music.
Employing half the British body’s personnel, John O’Donnell’s Ensemble Gombert follows different paths,
concentrating on specific composers like Tomas Luis de Victoria, who provides all the content in the group’s
Christmas concert this year, or multi-polyphonic lines as in April’s offering event centred on Brumel’s
Earthquake Mass. Coinciding with the second Cambridge recital, the Gomberts sang music by writers taught
by Palestrina, influenced by him, or who rearranged the Renaissance master’s own work.

Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli was held up to his contemporaries as the exemplar of all that could be
achieved in Counter-Reformation music: transparent and unembellished, on textual message throughout,
elevating in emotional content, suggestive of unshakeable strength of faith in its Creed’s later stages.

Rather than singing the original six-part Mass, the Gomberts worked through an arrangement by Palestrina’s
one-time pupil, Francesco Soriano, for eight lines or two choirs, which made lavish use of antiphonal effects,
realised to excellent effect by a cleverly arranged division of the Gombert voices, one group having a bright
timbral edge while the other enjoyed a firm, carrying tenor-and-bass partnership. Gifted with finely trained
participants, the ensemble transformed this curiosity into a richly thick tapestry, almost overwhelming in
pivotal sections where every line merges in sonorously stunning affirmations of belief.

As well as the mass, this night’s other contributions featured a short version of Giovanni Nanino’s
chorale-like Stabat mater, a variety-packed Lumen ad revelationem by Anerio, and a trio of Victoria motets
where the two-choir Alma Redemptoris mater and Ave Maria prepared for the night’s major work.
For this fine body’s admirers, the only disappointment was that the night passed all too rapidly.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age

Saturday, 17 April 2010, 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew

Subscription Concert 2

The challenge of writing many polyphonic lines without forbidden consecutive unisons, fifths or octaves was something that Renaissance composers relished. Most were contented to develop the technique to a maximum of six or eight voices, but there were those who set themselves higher goals, among whom Antoine Brumel was possibly the first to write a whole Mass for twelve voices. The work is based on the Easter Lauds antiphon Et ecce terrae motus, and our program complements it with contemporaneous works for the Easter season.

PROGRAM

Antoine Busnoys Victimae paschali laudes
Heinrich Isaac De Resurrectione Domini
Introitus: Resurrexi
Graduale: Haec Dies
Alleluia: Pascha nostrum
Prosa: Laudes Salvatori voce
Communio: Pascha nostrum
Josquin Desprez In exitu Israel
Antoine Brumel Missa Et ecce terrae motus
Kyrie – Gloria – Credo – Sanctus
Nicolas Gombert Regina caeli laetare

DISCANTUS	CONTRATENOR	TENOR	BASSUS
Deborah Summerbell	Belinda Wong	Tim Van Nooten	Julien Robinson
Carol Veldhoven	Jennifer Mathers	Matthew Thomson	Thomas Drent
Kathryn Pisani	Rebecca Woods	Frank Prain	Alistair Clark
Kristy Biber	Peter Campbell	Stuart Tennant	Chris Potter
Maria Pisani	Niki Ebacioni	Daniel Thomson	Tim Daly
Katherine Norman	Paul Bentley		Nick Dinopolous

 

REVIEW

Tuesday, 20 April 2010, The Age [Melbourne], page 13.
Choir for connoisseurs rejoices in angelic praises
Clive O’Connell

THE latest program offered by the Ensemble Gombert, directed by John O’Donnell, divided cleanly into two
parts celebrating the Easter season. For Saturday evening’s first half, the singers worked through music for
four voices: Isaac’s De Resurrectione Domini that comprises settings of the propers for the Easter Sunday
Mass, bracketed by the Binchois motet Victimae paschali laudes and In exitu Israel attributed to Josquin
Desprez.

After interval, the choir expanded for the night’s sumptuous centrepiece, Brumel’s famous mass in 12 lines,
with a pendant motet for the same multiple layers, Regina coeli laetare, by the group’s patron composer.
A few changes in personnel find the group’s alto line taking in a pair of countertenors, Peter Campbell and
Paul Bentley, which gives the choral mix an added aggressive timbre, most immediately noticeable in parts of
the Isaac settings like the focal Prosa/Sequence with its polyphonic verses. In similar fashion, the four basses
in this part of the night were dominated by the reinforcing power of Tim Daly during the solid Josquin setting
of Psalms 114 and 115.

Brumel’s mass based on the plainchant Et ecce terrae motus received an impassioned reading, its opening
sections yielding powerful waves of sonority as chords changed texture with a vehement address. The score’s
longer sections — Credo and Sanctus/Benedictus — offer a wealth of textural variety, but where the
Gomberts excelled was in the massive blocks of interweaving chords, making a stunning impact in the
treatment of the words in excelsis with a sudden leap from a spare duet for soprano and countertenor lines to
an explosion of sonority: one of music’s finest depictions of the endless angelic praises that hurtle around
Heaven’s throne.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age

Correction:
The composer named Binchois should instead be named Busnoys

Saturday, 12 December 2009, 8 pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew

Subscription Concert 5

After two Venetian Christmas celebrations we return to our High Renaissance fare. Three years ago we performed Mouton’s Christmas motet Quaeramus cum pastoribus along with Morales’ Mass based upon it. This time we are singing another Mass based on the same motet, that by Mouton’s star pupil Adrian Willaert. The program is completed by a selection of motets by one of Gombert’s greatest contemporaries, the prolific but mysteriously named Clemens non Papa.

PROGRAM

Jean Mouton Nesciens mater
Jean Mouton Noe, noe, noe, psallite
Jean Mouton Illuminare, illuminare Jesusalem
Clemens non Papa O magnum mysterium
Clemens non Papa Pastores quidnam vidistis
Clemens non Papa Vox in Rama
Clemens non Papa Ab oriente venerunt magi
Clemens non Papa Videte miraculum
Jean Mouton Quaeramus cum pastoribus
Adrian Willaert Missa Quaeramus cum pastoribus

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Belinda Wong	Peter Campbell	Julien Robinson
Carol Veldhoven	Jennifer Mathers	Tim van Nooten	Chris Potter
Maria Pisani	Rebecca Woods	Vaughan McAlley	Tom Henry
Claerwen Jones	Niki Ebacioni	Stuart Tennant
Kathryn Pisani

 

REVIEW

Monday, 14 December 2009, The Age [Melbourne], page 14
Polyphonic Christmas splendour
Clive O’Connell

Melbournes finest choir took little time to weave an impressive fabric of a cappella polyphonic
splendour on Saturday evening. In a program that confined itself to Renaissance music written for Christmas
Day, the Feast of the Holy Innocents and the Epiphany, John O’Donnell’s 16 singers began with a work of
sumptuous amplitude, Jean Mouton’s 8-part Nesciens mater, in which they established a rolling richness of
deep colour that illustrated the paradox of the Nativity’s domestic simplicity expressed in music of
extraordinary complexity and eloquence.
Keeping to a simple format, the Gomberts followed three Mouton motets with four works in the same form
by Clemens non Papa.
Here also, the set’s opening established a radiant placidity as the familiar text of O magnum mysterium was
amplified to include acclamations of Christ’s birth scene, each half of the motet concluding with a powerfully
moving Nowell: moments when the composer’s expressive assurance found splendid realisation, thanks to
these gifted interpreters.
In the night’s second part, O’Donnell revisited Mouton with the still harmonically surprising Quaeramus cum
pastoribus, followed by Willaert’s Mass based on his teacher’s motet.
The Flemish composer’s lucid textures came in for dramatic treatment, O’Donnell and his choir bringing an
urgency of pulse to this work’s various parts with an occasional reduction to limpid two- and three-line
textures before the burnished glory of the final Agnus Dei gave a muted reflection of the program’s opening.
Once again, this group of well-matched voices enriched the festive season with musical performances of high
quality.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age

Tour Concert
Memorial Church, Stanford Univeristy, California, USA
22 September 2009

Josquin Desprez – Inviolata, integra, et casta es Maria
Jean Mouton – Quis dabit oculis nostris
Nicolas Gombert – Hodie nobis caelorum Rex
Thomas Tallis – Loquebantur variis linguis
Clemens non Papa – O magnum mysterium
Morten Lauridsen – O magnum mysterium
Elliott Carter – Musicians wrestle everywhere
Vaughan McAlley – In principio erat verbum
Peter Campbell – Sunrise on the Coast
J.S. Bach – Jesu, meine Freude

REVIEW

“Ensemble Gombert’s Crystalline Polyphony”
Joseph Sargent
San Francisco Classical Voice, 22 Sep. 2009

Some early music ensembles approach the performance of Renaissance polyphony as if it were fine crystal: beautiful, but delicate, a fragile object not to be unduly disturbed. Like crystal, the music can occasionally shimmer and reveal prisms of color when viewed through different angles, but it remains a static object, more a museum piece than a kinetic construct. This analogy aptly summarizes the experience of hearing Ensemble Gombert, a 14-voice chamber choir from Australia specializing in High Renaissance polyphony. Under the direction of John O’Donnell, the group’s performance Tuesday at Stanford University’s Memorial Church showcased some fine vocal qualities and several flashes of light, but often without truly taking flight.

O’Donnell cultivates a warm sound from his singers, refined and a little thin, with some dark hues especially in the women’s voices. It’s finely blended within the sections and generally well balanced, though a stronger alto presence would be welcome at times. At its best the group conveys a highly appealing purity of sound, but other times the effect is of immobility, a feature abetted by O’Donnell’s rigid conducting style.

The evening’s repertory choices fell mostly along two strands: Renaissance sacred polyphony and modern choral works. The differences in approach were often palpable, as evidenced by two pieces of different eras but bearing the same title. The Christmas motet O magnum mysterium (O great mystery) of Jacob Clemens non Papa was elegant, careful, and regular to the point of being foursquare. Repeated iterations of the text “Noe” revealed Ensemble Gombert’s capacity for detailed nuance and left you wanting for more of such gestures. Morten Lauridsen’s O magnum mysterium, in contrast, carried a dramatic arc from solemn opening phrases to a dramatic, thrilling close, marred only by some imprecise attacks along the way.

In Josquin Desprez’ Inviolata, integra, et casta es Maria (Inviolate, pure, and chaste art thou, O Mary) the group’s dark-tinged sound suitably matched the beseeching nature of the text, though a firmer sense of forward motion might have enlivened the plangent closing pleas “O benigna! O Regina! O Maria!” (O generous one! O Queen! O Mary!). A similar pallor lies over Jean Mouton’s Quis dabit oculis nostris (Who will give our eyes [a fountain of tears]), a lament upon the death of Queen Anne of Brittany. Here the ensemble displayed more-pleasing contrasts, from the pristine opening lines to graceful texture alternations between the upper and lower voices.

With the joyful message of Nicolas Gombert’s Hodie nobis caelorum Rex (This day hath the King of heaven [deigned to be born]) the ensemble gathered energy, proclaiming the words with greater vigor and confidently handling the shifting metrical figurations that close each of the work’s two sections. In Thomas Tallis’ responsory Loquebantur variis linguis ([The apostles] were speaking in different tongues), more could have been made of the contrast between the tenor’s fixed declamation of chant and the meandering polyphony surrounding it.

Elliott Carter’s Musicians wrestle everywhere, set to a poem by Emily Dickinson, is a higgledy-piggledy mixture of contrapuntal melodies, texture shifts, and stark declamations. The group ably negotiated the piece’s rapid-fire shifts and dissonant harmonies. Works by two of Ensemble Gombert’s own tenors further enlivened the program. Vaughan McAlley’s In principio erat verbum (In the beginning was the Word), composed in a Renaissance idiom, infused excitement through contrasting sections of counterpoint, solemn homophony, and a sprightly closing declaration of glory. Peter Campbell’s Sunrise on the Coast conveyed a more impressionist feel, the opening bursts of blowing wind yielding to a panoply of shifting styles and moods, with an interior fugue for good measure.

As a closer, J.S. Bach’s masterful funeral motet Jesu, meine Freude affords opportunities for all manner of expression: lively choruses, contemplative trios, stately chorales, and a brisk central double fugue. The ensemble easily handled each movement’s technical challenges and displayed a pleasing range of moods from quiet introspection to vigorous exhortation, which could have been further enhanced through greater dynamic and rhythmic energy.

Joseph Sargent holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Stanford University and teaches at the University of San Francisco.