Category: Concerts

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Parts 1-3
Friday 1 December 2000, 8 pm
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Parts 4-6
Saturday 2 December, 2000, 8 pm
Sacred Heart Church, Grey St, St Kilda

Melbourne Early Music Festival in Association with Ensemble Gombert

Subscription Concerts 4 & 5

Nowadays the Christmas Oratorio is usually performed as a single monumental work, but with significant cuts to bring it within the limits of an evening’s entertainment. It originated, however, as a series of six cantatas for the Christmas season, the first three belonging to Christmas Day and the two days following, the fourth to the Feast of the Circumcision (1 January), the fifth to the following Sunday, and the sixth to the Feast of the Epiphany (6 January). Performance over two nights allows us to present the work in its entirety. In this joint production with the Melbourne Early Music Festival, Ensemble Gombert is joined by soloists and Concentus Australis.

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Jenny George	Peter Campbell	Andrew Fysh
Carol Veldhoven	Jennifer Mathers	Peter Neustupny	Thomas Drent
Maria Pisani	Barbara Tattam	Vaughan McAlley	Jonathan Wallis
Claerwen Jones		Stuart Tennant	John Weretka

–
Guest singers:
Kathryn Pisani, Sophie Pinkham, Jane Phillips, Katherine Norman, Rebecca Bennett – soprano
Susie Furphy, Niki Ebacioni – alto
David Gething, Frank Prain – tenor
Sam Furphy – bass

Soloists:
Helen Gagliano, soprano
Margaret Pearce, soprano
David V. Russell, alto
Alan Maddox, tenor
Stephen Grant, bass
[Carol Veldhoven, soprano
Deborah Summerbell, soprano
Claerwen Jones, soprano]

Concentus Australis
John O’Donnell, conductor

REVIEWS
Wednesday, 6 December 2000, The Age [Melbourne], page 7.
Spirited Farewell
Clive O’Connell

ON THE following night, John O’Donnell’s Ensemble Gombert and the Concentus Australis performed the
last three cantatas of the six that constitute Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. The night turned into an
uncomfortable experience, beginning with some lamentable horn work during the first chorus, Fallt mir
Danken, and concluding with clumsy trumpet trios during the final cantata.
Using single instruments for the string lines meant that their dynamic was too faint for an equable
choir-orchestra balance. As well, many sections were intonatively suspect, apart from Anna McDonald’s top
violin. The horns’ insecurity made for further serious distraction in the sublime Jesus, richte mein Beginnen
chorus; even the oboes strayed off true centre during certain arias.
The one unalloyed success of the night came from the Gombert singers – welcome relief as each chorale and
chorus brought definition and certainty of direction to the works’ progress. The male soloists did not show to
good effect; their soprano counterparts gave more accurate displays, taking care with dynamics and
displaying some consideration for phrasing.
Intense exposure to Bach performances during the Melbourne Festival – including some fine displays of period performance from the Windsbacher Knabenchor, Collegium Vocale Gent and the Bach Collegium
Japan – has raised expectations well above the level reached at this concert, where blemishes were frequent
and obvious.
One also thought kindly of the festival’s Bach series because those occasions did not interpolate intervals
after each individual cantata, as was done on Saturday. If one could have been assured of the security of
instrumental production and pitch, as well as the musicality and stamina of all soloists, having two breaks
might have been tolerable. As it was, the program’s length outweighed its few pleasures.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age

 

Monday, 4th of December 2000, The Herald Sun [Melbourne], page 94.
Gremlins play havoc with Bach’s Christmas music
Johanna Selleck

SURELY there were gremlins at work on Saturday night, playing mischievous havoc with Bach’s Christmas
Oratorio.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did.
After a scrambled opening, the performance crumbled like a house of cards.
Perhaps the humidity might have contributed to some of the severe intonation problems experienced by
Concentus Australis but the laxity of the ensemble was another matter.
The only section of the orchestra that escaped momentary lapses was the two flutes, Greg Dikmans and
Alison Catanach, whose performance on the Friday night was delightful.
The first three parts of the oratorio presented on Friday were uneventful, and even a little flat.
Ensemble Gombert did manage to project a radiant sound, often overpowering an inadequate string section.
The offerings from the soloists were frequently nervy and on the whole mediocre, with the exception of
Stephen Grant, whose solid bass was dependable and expressive on both nights.
Margaret Pearce (soprano) was also in fine voice on Friday evening.
Grant and Pearce combined with perky oboe d’amores in Herr, dein Mitleid to produce a rare highlight.
Tenor Alan Maddox did not escape a certain thinness in the upper register, while alto David Russell was at
his best in Schlafe, mein Liebster where he captured a purity of sonority and air of calm that was suitably
tailored to the text.
On Saturday there was little that rose above the mire and most of the blame rests squarely with the orchestra
rather than the choir.
Ensemble Gombert have never, in my experience, been involved with anything less than exceptional — so one
fall from grace is not too much to pardon.

 

Saturday 29 July 2000 at 8.15pm
Sunday 309 July 2000 at 6.16pm
Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University.

Bach 250 Commemoration
Melbourne Early Music Festival in association with Monash University

PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concertos 6, 4 & 1 and Magnificat in D Minor (Saturday)
Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concertos 5,3 & 2 and Ascension Oratorio (Sunday)

Soprano Deborah Summerbell Carol Veldhoven Claerwen Jones Rebecca Bennett Jane Phillips Katherine Norman Maria Pisani Kathryn Pisani Sophie Pinkham Felicity Emselle Judith Martyn-Ellis

Alto Margaret Arnold Jennifer George Christina Jonas Jennifer Mathers Barbara Tattam Niki Ebacioni

Tenor Vaughan McAlley Peter Neustupny Peter Campbell Stuart Tennant Frank Prain Joel Gladman

Bass Thomas Drent Philip Nicholls Sam Furphy Andrew Fysh John Weretka Jonathan Wallis

–
Soloists:
Helen Gagliano – soprano
Margaret Pearce – soprano
David V. Russell – alto
Simon Biazeck – tenor (Magnificat)
Martin Muir – tenor (Ascension Oratorio)
Michael Leighton Jones – bass
Concentus Australis
John O’Donnell – conductor

REVIEW
Tuesday, 1 August 2000, The Age [Melbourne], p. 4.
Fitting Tribute to Bach
Joel Crotty

THE 19th century was the right time for the revival of interest in Johann Sebastian Bach. It was the period in
which the great man theory ruled supreme, and Bach was positioned as one of the elite in music.
Throughout the 1800s, musical societies and choirs were formed to study and perform his scores. The
fledgling discipline of musicology grappled with the task of editing his manuscripts. Bach, in effect, became
the personification of the late baroque period.
The Bach cult diminished somewhat in the 20th century. The great man theory was dismissed by music
commentators as being too narrow and, with the rise of feminism, too sexist. As broader scholastic work was
carried out on the baroque era, Bach became contextualised rather than deified.
Moreover, Bach was slowly lowered from his pedestal as recording companies swamped the market with
other baroque “gems”. Bach’s music was now competing for attention with hyped-up tidbits such as
Pachelbel’s Canon. However, this year, the market-driven competition has momentarily ceased as we
celebrate the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death. The Bach cult has resurfaced.
The festival held last weekend was a cult-like activity that had a purity of purpose as it went way beyond
normal programming frameworks. The director, John O’Donnell, is to be commended for the way he
organised and delivered this Bach celebration.
He programmed some of the composer’s most endearing pieces, such as the Mass in B minor, the
Brandenburgs, the Peasant Cantata, the Coffee Cantata, and the Magnificat. And O’Donnell somehow found
the stamina to perform in most of the concerts.
To his credit, O’Donnell gathered most of Australia’s finest early music instrumental specialists, including
Cynthia O’Brien (violin), Greg Dikmans (flute), Antony Chesterman (oboe), Emma Davislim-Black (oboe),
Glenys March (harpsichord), Jacqueline Ogeil (harpsichord), Miriam Morris (viola da gamba), Ruth
Wilkinson (viola da gamba and recorder) and Darryl Poulson (horn).
This group formed the backbone to Concentus Australis – an ensemble that provided the instrumental support
for the vocal works.
A voice that reappeared constantly throughout the concerts was that of the soprano Helen Gagliano. She has
been a member of O’Donnell’s Ensemble Gombert for a number of years but this was the first time I had
heard her as a soloist. Her voice, while not particularly strong, produces a wonderful array of tone colors, and
her musicianship highlights a background of solid training.
The Mass in B minor opened the festival and had a large audience at St Patrick’s Cathedral. In the vocal
department, the performance featured Gagliano, Margaret Pearce (soprano), David Vivian Russell (counter
tenor), Simon Biazeck (tenor), Stephen Grant (bass) and an expanded Ensemble Gombert. The work was
rendered in a most disciplined fashion so that the emotional content was not awkwardly expressed.
The subsequent concerts at Monash University’s Robert Blackwood Hall were unfortunately not
well-attended. In fact, due to the intimate nature of the pieces, they would have been better staged at the
School of Music’s Auditorium.
Overall, the First and Fourth Brandenburg Concertos were aired with a great deal of energy, especially from
violinist Anna McDonald during the fourth; while Cynthia O’Brien’s violino piccolo increased the level of
interest during the first. However, the viola players in the sixth concerto were unable to resolve pitch
problems.
The upper strings occasionally had intonation concerns during the harpsichord concertos and the hall revealed
issues of ensemble balance. Due to the need for player solidarity, the keyboards faced away from the
audience, which gave the impression we were viewing four ornate coffins.

Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

Friday, 28 July 2000, 8.45 pm (marking the time and date of Bach’s death)
St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne

Bach 250 Commemoration
Melbourne Early Music Festival in association with Monash University

PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian Bach Mass in B minor

Soprano Deborah Summerbell Carol Veldhoven Claerwen Jones Rebecca Bennett Jane Phillips Katherine Norman Maria Pisani Kathryn Pisani Sophie Pinkham Felicity Emselle Judith Martyn-Ellis

Alto Margaret Arnold Jennifer George Christina Jonas Jennifer Mathers Barbara Tattam Niki Ebacioni

Tenor Vaughan McAlley Peter Neustupny Peter Campbell Stuart Tennant Frank Prain Joel Gladman

Bass Thomas Drent Philip Nicholls Sam Furphy Andrew Fysh John Weretka Jonathan Wallis

–
Soloists:
Helen Gagliano – soprano
Margaret Pearce – soprano
David V. Russell – alto
Simon Biazeck – tenor
Stephen Grant – bass
Concentus Australis
John O’Donnell – conductor

REVIEW
Tuesday, 1 August 2000, The Age [Melbourne], p. 4.
Fitting Tribute to Bach
Joel Crotty

THE 19th century was the right time for the revival of interest in Johann Sebastian Bach. It was the period in
which the great man theory ruled supreme, and Bach was positioned as one of the elite in music.
Throughout the 1800s, musical societies and choirs were formed to study and perform his scores. The
fledgling discipline of musicology grappled with the task of editing his manuscripts. Bach, in effect, became
the personification of the late baroque period.
The Bach cult diminished somewhat in the 20th century. The great man theory was dismissed by music
commentators as being too narrow and, with the rise of feminism, too sexist. As broader scholastic work was
carried out on the baroque era, Bach became contextualised rather than deified.
Moreover, Bach was slowly lowered from his pedestal as recording companies swamped the market with
other baroque “gems”. Bach’s music was now competing for attention with hyped-up tidbits such as
Pachelbel’s Canon. However, this year, the market-driven competition has momentarily ceased as we
celebrate the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death. The Bach cult has resurfaced.
The festival held last weekend was a cult-like activity that had a purity of purpose as it went way beyond
normal programming frameworks. The director, John O’Donnell, is to be commended for the way he
organised and delivered this Bach celebration.
He programmed some of the composer’s most endearing pieces, such as the Mass in B minor, the
Brandenburgs, the Peasant Cantata, the Coffee Cantata, and the Magnificat. And O’Donnell somehow found
the stamina to perform in most of the concerts.
To his credit, O’Donnell gathered most of Australia’s finest early music instrumental specialists, including
Cynthia O’Brien (violin), Greg Dikmans (flute), Antony Chesterman (oboe), Emma Davislim-Black (oboe),
Glenys March (harpsichord), Jacqueline Ogeil (harpsichord), Miriam Morris (viola da gamba), Ruth
Wilkinson (viola da gamba and recorder) and Darryl Poulson (horn).
This group formed the backbone to Concentus Australis – an ensemble that provided the instrumental support
for the vocal works.
A voice that reappeared constantly throughout the concerts was that of the soprano Helen Gagliano. She has
been a member of O’Donnell’s Ensemble Gombert for a number of years but this was the first time I had
heard her as a soloist. Her voice, while not particularly strong, produces a wonderful array of tone colors, and
her musicianship highlights a background of solid training.
The Mass in B minor opened the festival and had a large audience at St Patrick’s Cathedral. In the vocal
department, the performance featured Gagliano, Margaret Pearce (soprano), David Vivian Russell (counter
tenor), Simon Biazeck (tenor), Stephen Grant (bass) and an expanded Ensemble Gombert. The work was
rendered in a most disciplined fashion so that the emotional content was not awkwardly expressed.
The subsequent concerts at Monash University’s Robert Blackwood Hall were unfortunately not
well-attended. In fact, due to the intimate nature of the pieces, they would have been better staged at the
School of Music’s Auditorium.
Overall, the First and Fourth Brandenburg Concertos were aired with a great deal of energy, especially from
violinist Anna McDonald during the fourth; while Cynthia O’Brien’s violino piccolo increased the level of
interest during the first. However, the viola players in the sixth concerto were unable to resolve pitch
problems.
The upper strings occasionally had intonation concerns during the harpsichord concertos and the hall revealed
issues of ensemble balance. Due to the need for player solidarity, the keyboards faced away from the
audience, which gave the impression we were viewing four ornate coffins.

Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

Sunday, 14 May 2000, 2pm.
Gold Treasury Museum, Spring St, Melbourne.

PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian Bach Komm, Jesus, komm
Johann Sebastian Bach Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf
Johann Sebastian Bach Jesu, meine Freude
Johann Sebastian Bach Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden
Johann Sebastian Bach Fürchte dich nicht
Johann Sebastian Bach Ich lasse dich nicht
Johann Sebastian Bach Singet dem Herrm ein neues Lied

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Jenny George	Vaughan McAlley	Andrew Fysh
Carol Veldhoven	Margaret Arnold	Peter Neustupny	Philip Nicholls
Margaret Pisani	Jennifer Mathers	Peter Campbell	Jonathan Wallis
Claerwen Jones	Barbara Tattam	Stuart Tennant	John Weretka
Maria Pisani
Helen Gagliano

REVIEW

Tuesday, 16 May 2000, The Age [Melbourne], page 5.
Many voices make a rich recital
Clive O’Connell

IN A busy weekend, John O’Donnell and his Ensemble Gombert presented their latest subscription recital at
the Xavier Chapel, assisted by about 25 supernumeries for a program of large-scale choral works. Not that
the works were over-long, but several of them called for an exceptional number of participants.
Perhaps the best known sample of this type of music, the 40-part Spem in alium motet by Tallis, finished off
the evening, its thunder a little palliated by a preceding companion piece, Alessandro Striggio’s Ecce beatam
lucem – also for 40 individual singers and featuring passages of magnificently full-bodied choral sound.
The opening and less dense works were canonic in nature, sophisticated rounds for various combinations like
Ockeghem’s simple but effective Deo gratias for 36 voices and Josquin’s Qui habitat in adjutorio Altissimi for
24 lines. But the most dramatic and exciting work was Antoine Brumel’s Mass Et ecce terrae motus for 12
voices.
Perhaps it was the relative clarity of the piece or its accelerating contrasts of tempo and activity, but the Mass
made for very fine singing, energetic in accomplishment and a sterling sample of this group’s finely honed
musicality at its best.
The next day, the Gomberts were heard at closer quarters, singing the five double-choir Bach motets in one of
the larger rooms at the Gold Treasury Museum.
Where Saturday night had been sonorous and slow-moving, the second recital brought the listener to intimate
terms with some of the most polyphonically rich music ever written for voices. It was an enlightening
experience, as compelling as the finer moments in the polychoral recital but invested with the tension that
comes from hearing at close range works that demand extreme precision, the choir only a few metres from
everyone in the room.
The more energetic the music – like the openings and conclusions to Der Geist hilft and the infectious, jovial
Singet dem Herrn – the more one’s admiration for the Gomberts grew. There are few choirs that would have
coped as creditably with the performance conditions.
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age