Category: Concerts

Saturday, 4 March 2006, 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew

Subscription Concert 1
ABC Classic FM Direct Broadcast

In recent years Ensemble Gombert has presented several of the major a cappella works of the 20th century, notably the Australian première of Pärt’s Canon of Repentance in 2005. We open our 2006 season with an exploration of a cappella music from a variety of traditions. The program includes miniatures by Stravinsky, Holst, Duruflé and Messiaen as well as works of larger dimensions, including Rubbra’s double-choir Te Deum, of which we gave the first Australian performance in 1992. We believe that Distler’s Totentanz will be receiving its Australian première in this concert.

PROGRAM

Igor Stravinsky Pater noster
Olivier Messiaen O sacrum convivium
Francis Poulenc Messe en Sol Majeur
Maurice Duruflé Quatre motets sur des thèmes grégoriens
Hugo Distler Totentanz
Arvo Pärt Magnificat
Gustav Holst Nunc dimittis
Herbert Howells Take him, earth, for cherishing
Edmund Rubbra Te Deum

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Jennifer Mathers	Peter Campbell	Alexander Roose
Carol Veldhoven	Belinda Wong	Tim Van Nooten	Philip Nicholls
Fiona Seers	Niki Ebacioni	Vaughan McAlley	Tom Reid
Kathryn Pisani	Rebecca Woods	Stuart Tennant	Tim Daly
Maria Pisani
Claerwen Jones

For the Distler
Der Tod (Death): John O’Donnell
Der Kaiser (The Emperor): Alexander Roose
Der Bischof (The Bishop): Tim Daly
Der Edelmann (The Nobleman): Philip Nicholls
Der Arzt (The Physician): Jennifer Mathers
Der Kaufmann (The Merchant): Tim van Nooten
Der Landsknecht (The Mercenary): Niki Ebacioni
Der Schiffer (The Sailor): Belinda Wong
Der Klausner (The Hermit): Vaughan McAlley
Der Bauer (The Farmer): Tom Reid
Die Jungfrau (The Young Woman): Claerwen Jones
Der Greis (The Old Man): Stuart Tennant
Das Kind (The Child): Carol Veldhoven

REVIEWS

Tuesday, 7 March 2006, The Age [Melbourne], page 20.
Janson shows passion; Distler haunted by death
Clive O’Connell

[…]
CONFINING themselves to 20th-century music, the Ensemble Gombert put in a mighty effort on Saturday evening, beginning with the emotionally static Pater noster by Stravinsky and concluding two hours later by revisiting Rubbra’s stately Te Deum, which the group premiered here in 1992.
John O’Donnell took his singers through a Messiaen motet, an uneven reading of Poulenc’s Mass in G, then finished the night’s French section with the Four Motets on Gregorian Themes by Durufle, pages that speak
of a warm Christian devotion and contrasting neatly with Arvo Part’s frieze-panel setting of the Magnificat -one of the night’s simply expressed successes.
The program’s interest came in the Totentanz by Hugo Distler, a German composer who was unable to cope with the pressures of life in Berlin under the Nazi regime. This work alternates choral sections with spoken
dialogue in which Death commands various figures to enter into his dance.
While Distler’s music mines a number of veins, including medieval and Renaissance/Baroque techniques and passages of unexpected harmonic novelty, his language sings in a clear and not over-adventurous voice,
nearly all the sung aphorisms concluding in a rich, well-spaced common chord.
With the Gombert singers taking on the lines of the work’s characters and O’Donnell reading Death, alongside some persuasive and atmospheric singing we also heard some uneasy spoken German.
Still, the occasion gave a welcome Australian exposure to Distler’s masterwork – the moving relic of an honest artist living through an awful time.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age

Friday, 10 March 2006, Herald-Sun [Melbourne], page 90.
ENSEMBLE GOMBERT
Xenia Hanusiak

MELBOURNE’S Ensemble Gombert is noted for its mastery of early music repertoire.
The choir has built its reputation on being able to conjugate the flowing nuances of plainsong on the one hand and the complexities of polyphonic music on the other.
No wonder that when it comes to 20th-century repertoire, they have a headstart.
Recent popular composers such as Part, Gorecki and other minimalists have taken up plainsong and in turn drawn attention.
Plainsong has a humble religious attachment to austerity, and the seemingly unending musical phrase arouses a feeling of timelessness — a simplicity attractive to the overloaded modern listener.
On the other side of the scale, Gombert’s polyphonic practice keeps the choir ready for the heady chromaticism of composers such as Messiaen.
So, with this armoury in position, Gombert traversed the stylistic gamut in their opening concert this year, Sacred Gems of the 20th Century.
The repertoire was not only diverse but also exhausting for the listener. Stravinsky, Messiaen, Poulenc, Duruflé, Distler, Part, Holst, Howells and Rubbra were a lot to take in on one sitting.
Of particular interest was a theatrical gem by little-known composer Hugo Distler, who took his own life at age 34. One of these is the Totentanz (Dance of Death). In this work, 14 musical sayings interpolate conversations with Death.
Death (recited by John O’Donnell) knocks at the door of an emperor, a bishop, a nobleman, a physician, a merchant, a farmer, a mercenary, a sailor, a virgin, an old man and a child (recited by Gombert members).
With exemplary German pronunciation, this beautifully executed work was a revelation.
Elsewhere, Gombert reached dynamic ecstasy in the climaxes of Part’s Magnificat and Rubbra’s Te Deum, created eerie, glassy textures in Messiaen’s O Sacrum convivium and removed austerity in Stravinsky’s Pater noster.
Though I was aurally overloaded, the concert created an interesting journey into this repertoire.

Saturday, 10 December, 2005, 8pm
St Ambrose Church, Woodend
Saturday, 17 December 2005, 8 pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew

Subscription Concert 5

For over four centuries Palestrina’s music has been singled out by the Roman Catholic Church as the polyphonic ideal. Between works for Christmas and Candlemas are motets for the feasts of the three days following Christmas— St Stephen, St John and the Holy Innocents—as well as the Circumcision (1 January), Epiphany (6 January) and Conversion of St Paul (25 January). The major work is the joyful Missa Hodie Christus natus est for double choir.

PROGRAM

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina O magnum mysterium
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Lapidabant Stephanum
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Hic est discipulus ille
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Laudate pueri
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina O admirabile commercium
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Videntes stellam Magi
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Magnus sanctus Paulus
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Senex puerum portabat
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Nunc dimittis
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Hodie Christus natus est (à 8)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina  Missa Hodie Christus natus est (à 8)

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Belinda Wong	Peter Campbell	Alexander Roose
Carol Veldhoven	Rebecca Woods	Tim Van Nooten	Philip Nicholls
Fiona Seers	Niki Ebacioni	Frank Prain	Tom Reid
Maria Pisani	Jennifer Mathers	Stuart Tennant	Tim Daly
Claerwen Jones
Kathryn Pisani

–
REVIEWS

Wednesday, 21 December 2005, The Age [Melbourne], page 18
Gomberts balanced; RMP voices convincing
Clive O’Connell

ENDING the year with their usual Christmas to Candlemas recital, John O’Donnell and his Ensemble Gombert concentrated on one composer: the prolific Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. In a neatly devised sequence, the group sang music that the composer wrote for major feasts in the post-Christmas calendar, then performed Palestrina’s motet Hodie Christus natus est and the substantial mass in eight parts that he wrote using that specific piece as source material.
Not one to aim for startling harmonic slides or dramatic word-paintings, the composer’s works move with an inevitability and majesty that comes as close as church music can to expressing the impermeable monolithic nature of the Renaissance Catholic Church. As the Gomberts present motets like Laudate pueri, the glowing Videntes stellam for the Epiphany and Palestrina’s massive, grand Nunc dimittis, you get some inkling of the composer’s significance in the Counter-Reformation art world.
In line with the works themselves, O’Donnell and his singers pursued a carefully balanced mode of operations, the group’s individuals rarely heard except in the 12-part song of Simeon and the Mass, which reached some magnificent moments when small groups were set off against the rolling power of a larger body. Not exactly God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen as a quartet of young things in front of me obviously expected, but a splendid sonorous bath of rich and secure a cappella performances.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age

Wednesday, 21 December 2005, Herald-Sun [Melbourne], page 56.
ENSEMBLE GOMBERT
Xenia Hanusiak

ENSEMBLE Gombert had its finest hour at its last offering of the year. Focusing on 16th-century Italian
composer Palestrina, this festive concert performed his religious music from Christmas to Candlemas via a
narration of the Christmas story.
The 18-member chamber choir began with a golden rendition of a six-part motet, O magnum mysterium, a
celebration of Christ’s birth.
Within a few bars director John O’Donnell set up the joyous occasion, skilfully guiding his choristers with
smoothly flowing counterpoint and harmonic buoyancy.
Cohesion and master control were the order of the day, with a consistently beautiful choral texture overriding
the considerable musical challenges.
By the final motet, Senex puerum portabat, the singers regrouped into 12 parts. The motet was secure and
robust. Each melodic line was clear in articulation. The basses were consistently strong, the sopranos rang
with their trademark clarity and the tenors and altos were a sympathetic consort.
This Gombert roll call has been together for some time and their attention to the Renaissance repertoire is
paying handsome dividends. Melbourne has a world-class ensemble.

Saturday, 10 September 2005, 8 pm.
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew

Subscription Concert 4

Parody was a major sixteenth-century compositional technique, especially in the setting of the Mass. The composer would take as a model a chanson or motet and re-work the material as Kyrie, Gloria, etc. Certain pieces were repeatedly re-worked by a variety of composers: Richafort’s Quem dicunt homines, for example, served as the model for at least eight Masses, including settings by Mouton, Morales and Palestrina.

PROGRAM

Jean Richafort Quem dicunt homines
Jean Mouton Missa Quem dicunt homines
Jean Richafort Philomena praevia
Nicolas Gombert Missa Philomena praevia

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Belinda Wong	Peter Campbell	Alexander Roose
Carol Veldhoven	Niki Ebacioni	Tim Van Nooten	Tom Reid
Fiona Seers	Rebecca Woods	Vaughan McAlley	Jerzy Kozlowski
Claerwen Jones	Jenny George	Stuart Tennant
Maria Pisani
Kathryn Pisani

REVIEWS

Monday, 12 September 2005,The Age [Melbourne], page 16, Metro.
Ensemble handes Richafort with great poise
Joel Crotty

HISTORY is littered with composers whose fame appeared to be short-lived. Renaissance composer Jean
Richafort is a good example of a musician who was widely respected during his lifetime but quickly lapsed
into the footnotes. On Saturday, Ensemble Gombert revived Richafort’s music and gave a glimpse into the
world of a near-forgotten composer.
During the early 16th century, Richafort’s motet Quem dicunt homines was a Renaissance “hot hit”.
Composers from across Europe were attracted to the work’s rhythmic ebullience, and parodied it in their own
works. One such composer was Jean Mouton, who produced his Missa Quem dicunt homines . It is stark
work that demonstrates a composer more concerned with smooth-flowing transparency rather than deeply
configured polyphony.
While the choristers, under the direction of John O’Donnell, delivered both these works with their usual
degree of professionalism, the main musical focus occurred in the second half of the program. Richafort’s
beautifully expressive motet Philomena praevia was coupled with Gombert’s parody of it in the composer’s
Missa Philomena praevia. The performance revealed a choir that was able to handle the differing complexities of each work with poise.
The ensemble is heading to Europe next year for another tour, and from its performance of Gombert’s Mass
and Richafort’s Philomena motet, one hopes these works are being considered as repertoire items.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

Saturday, 16 July 2005, 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew

Subscription Concert 3

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was not only a great monarch but also a great patron of music. Gombert, Crecquillon, Clemens non Papa, Canis and Payen were among his court musicians. It is no surprise that many of the major events of his life are documented in the motet and chanson literature. The major work of the program, Gombert’s Missa Sur tous regretz, is understood, on the basis of a source labelling it ‘for the coronation’, to have been composed for Charles’ coronation in Bologna in 1530.

PROGRAM

Josquin Desprez Mille regretz
Nicolas Gombert Felix Austriae domus
Nicolas Gombert Qui colis Ausoniam
Thomas Crecquillon Carole, magnus erat
Cristóbal de Morales Jubilate Deo
Thomas Crecquillon Quis te victorem dicat
Jacobus Clemens non Papa Carole, magnus eras
Orlande de Lassus Heroum soboles
Nicolas Gombert Missa Sur tous regretz (Missa A la Incoronation)

Note: Gombert ‘Dicite in magni’, Cornelius Canis ‘Tota vita peregrinamur homines’, Nicolas Payen ‘Carole cur defles’ and Fernando de las Infantas ‘Parce mihi Domine’ advertised in subscription brochure but not performed.

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Belinda Wong	Peter Campbell	Alexander Roose
Carol Veldhoven	Rebecca Woods	Frank Prain	Matthew Champion
Kathryn Pisani	Niki Ebacioni	Vaughan McAlley	Tom Reid
Claerwen Jones	Barbara Tattam	Stuart Tennant	Tim Daly
Maria Pisani
Fiona Seers

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REVIEWS

Tuesday, 19 July 2005, The Age [Melbourne], page 6, Metro.
Tong Splendid; Gomberts Masterful
Clive O’Connell

[…] AT XAVIER Chapel on Saturday, the latest program from the Ensemble Gombert rotated around a cappella
choral music written for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He was well treated by composers, both those
in his employ and those commissioned from outside: conductor John O’Donnell led his excellent ensemble
through motets by Crecquillon, Morales, Clemens non Papa, Lassus and the group’s namesake.
After the stringent harmonic clashes of the older masters, in particular Gombert, the concluding Heroum
sobales by Lassus fell on the ear with unexpected sweetness.
For the evening’s second part, the musicians sang a solid Mass by Gombert, Sur tous regretz, which was
performed at the emperor’s coronation. The work exemplifies the composer’s individual combination of
orthodox vocal movement with striking harmonic clashes at cadential points and an unexpected treatment of
the text, in particular phrases that seem over-extended or end abruptly.
The singers presented an illuminating and masterful account of this Mass, the altos and basses muted in
volume, but giving the choral fabric a subtle yet formidable underpinning.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age