Category: Concerts

Tuesday 9 June 1998
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Rd, Kew

Subscription Concert 3

PROGRAM

Guillaume Dufay(c. 1400-1474)
Nuper rosarum flores
Mirandas parit haec urbs florentina
Salve flos Tuscae gentis Florentia
Heinrich Isaac  (c. 1450-1517) 
Quis dabit capito meo aquam?
Missa Salva nos
Philippe Verdelot (c. 1470/80-c. 1530/40)
Laetamini in Domino
Congregati sunt
Recordare, Domine
In te, Domine, speravi
Alessandro Striggio  (1535-1592)  Ecce beatam lucem a 40

SINGERS

Soprano Deborah Summerbell Carol Veldhoven Maria Pisani Helen Gagliano

Alto Bernadette Ballard Jennifer Mathers Margaret Arnold Barbara Tattam

Tenor Frank Prain Peter Neustupny Phillip Legge Stuart Tennant

Bass Philip Nicholls Tom Henry Thomas Drent Jerzy Kozlowski

Additional singers for the Striggio:
Soprano: Nina Pereira, Sally Watt, Jane Phillips, Claerwen Jones, Margaret Pearce
Alto: Niki Ebacioni, Helena Simpson, Fiona Furphy, Christopher Field
Tenor: Joel Gladman, Vaughan McAlley, Matthew Flood, Paul Norbury, Ben Owen, Simon Biazeck,
Bass: John Weretka, Richard Pyros, Johnathan Wallis, Adrian Barrett, Sam Furphy, Julian Liberto, Alexander Macrae, Charles Pinkham

REVIEWS
Tuesday 16 June 1998, The Age [Melbourne], page 18.
The joys of travel
Joel Crotty

Cultural tourism has become big business in Australia. Tour operators are developing packages for people
with large disposable incomes to travel to the Old World’s opera houses and concert halls and hear music by
the great masters.
A far cheaper, though no less a rewarding, experience has been Ensemble Gombert’s current season under the
umbrella title of An Italian Year. So far, we have explored the Renaissance courts of Venosa, via the music of
Gesualdo, and Ferrera, with reference to scores primarily by Josquin Desprez.
At Tuesday’s concert, we travelled to Florence and witnessed the grand style of Dufay, Isaac, Verdelot and
Alessandro Striggio. The brief trip through 125 years of Florentine musical history was vivid.
The concert opened and closed with what could be termed architectural music, but from vastly different
approaches. In musicological circles, Dufay’s Nuper rosarum flores is probably one of the most discussed
works from the Renaissance. With incredible imagination, the composer conceived a score based on
isorhythmic proportions that corresponded precisely to the structure of the cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore.
The choir produced a rich sound that belied, at every level, the score’s mathematical formulations.
At the other end of the evening was Alessandro Striggio’s Ecco beatum lucem for 40 parts. As the ensemble’s
artistic director John O’Donnell points out in the notes, there are only a couple of extant scores from the
Renaissance encompassing such mammoth sonic mapping. The 16 voices of Gombert were joined by a
further 24 choristers, forming a large circle in keeping with the original performance practice for this piece.
Parading in this manner forces the sound inwards, then up and out. The clarity is thus less discernible from
the outside and mistakes easier to conceal. While a few dubious happenings were clearly evident, the
performers, on the whole, maintained a cohesion that, under the circumstances of numerous independent
lines, was commendable. O’Donnell was obviously happy with the rendition, for he rotated the singers 180
degrees and gave us a repeat performance. Striggio’s spectacle was an interesting aside, but hardly great
music. None the less, this compositional byway would rarely receive an airing here if not for Ensemble
Gombert.
More important to the quality (as opposed to the quantity) of the concert was Isaacs’ Quis dabit capito meo
aquam? and Missa La Spagna. These works highlighted Isaac’s masterly understanding of word-painting and
contrapuntal layering.
In Quis dabit, written as a lament on the death of Lorenzo de Medici, the choir was able to transmit all the
emotional content with a deft sensibility. The same level of exquisite attention to detail was not always
forthcoming in the mass.
However, for the most part, they presented the work with refined balance and beautifully clear phrasing,
particularly in the compact Credo. Unlike most cultural tourists, we left the site not with photographs, but
with snatches of music we will periodically recall until the ensemble’s Italian expedition recommences in
November.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

Friday 12 June 1998, The Herald Sun [Melbourne], page 86.
Past is given voice
Xenai Hanusiak

THE Melbourne musical community is fortunate to have a music scholar of the calibre of John O’Donnell.
His chamber choir, the Ensemble Gombert, represents the results of his considerable and dedicated
musicological qualifications.
The ensemble specialises in authentic performance practice, in particular the music of the Renaissance and
early baroque.
The third concert of the 1998 subscription series, An Italian Year, focused on music composed for Florence.
In this very satisfying program we heard secular and religious works by the Frenchman Dufay, two
Netherlanders, Isaac and Verdelot, and the lesser known Italian composer Striggio.
In all offerings the Ensemble Gombert expertly performed the works with the stylistic accuracy we have
come to expect.
In a set of Dufay motets the flowing, song-like quality was evident.
Furthermore, there remained throughout a seamlessness in timbre.
The leading voice was supported by the two supporting instrumental voices with controlling influence.
In Missa salva nos by Heinrich Isaac, the choir brought out the harmonic richness of the score and maintained
a rhythmic verve.
Each inner section of the Ensemble Gombert is beginning to develop a distinctive quality: the sopranos
remain sweet and lucid, bringing an almost childlike quality to the ensemble, the altos caress the note with a
consistently musical approach, and the basses underpin the ensemble with a similar warmth.
The tenors, who in the present line-up possibly represent the youngest members, produce a reedy quality.
As a special treat, the Ensemble Gombert was joined by 24 extra singers to perform the rarely heard Ecce
beatam lucem by Striggio, scored for 40 vocal lines. The enlarged ensemble sang the work in a full circle.
The piece was received with so much enthusiasm it was performed twice.
It was refreshing to watch the young recruits sing with so much obvious excitement.
It is also satisfying to know they have a choir such as the Ensemble Gombert to aspire to.

Tuesday, 12 May 1998 at 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew

Subscription Concert 2

PROGRAM

Jacob Obrecht Mille quingentis
Johannes Martini Salve regina
Josquin Desprez Virgo salutiferi
Josquin Desprez Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie
Josquin Desprez Huc me sydereo
Jacob Obrecht Quis numerare queat
Josquin Desprez Miserere mei, Deus

 

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Helena Simpson	Peter Neustupny	Philip Nicholls
Carol Veldhoven	Jennifer Mathers	Stuart Tennant	Tom Henry
Maria Pisani	Margaret Arnold	Philip Legge	Thomas Drent
Helen Gagliano	Barbara Tattam

–

REVIEW

[nd] May 1998, The Age [Melbourne], [np].
A vocal vista on Italy
Joel Crotty

Ensemble Gombert, under the direction of John O’Donnell, continued their “Italian Year” with a thoughtful
program of music at the Court of Ercole I of Ferrera.
Unlike their previous concert of heavy-going Gesualdo, this event was broader in scope and focused on the
talents of Martini, Obrecht and Josquin Desprez. At various times between 1473 and 1505, these
Franco-Flemish composers served Ferrera’s royal household and their efforts helped the town flourish as a
centre for cultural activity.
In their own professional way, Ensemble Gombert was able to open a window on an Italian vista, revealing
historical perfection in musical craftsmanship and felicitousness in contemporary performance.
While the pieces by Martini and Obrecht proved interesting, they were merely interludes to the mighty power
of Josquin. Four of his works were presented at this concert – Virgo salutiferi, Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie,
Huc me sydereo descendere iussit Olympo and Miserere mei, Deus.
All these pieces are mammoth undertakings for any choir, as Josquin demands the most minute detail be
given as much acknowledgment as the super-structures. It was only in the Virgo salutiferi that the choristers
presented a few moments of uneven presentation.
Conversely, the miserere was wonderfully outlined. Even though some vocal lethargy was starting to appear
in this finale item, it did not particularly inhibit their soulful understanding of the dramatic content which
Josquin had set in place. We followed in awe as the choir journeyed through the octave on the words “Have
mercy upon me, O God”.
This phrase divided or sub-divided the text and provided graphic repetition, which O’Donnell insisted be
delivered with controlled reverence.
Although Josquin was at his expressive best in the motet form, he was still able to deliver emotionally-laden
emphases in the structurally-centred mass. He lived during at time when there seemed to be a free-for-all in
stylistic experiment, and at the forefront of which was Josquin.
His Missa Hercules is an example of throwing caution to the wind, in as much as he composed his own
cantus firmus, thereby declining the time-honored tradition of borrowing pre-existing material.
It is possible he wrote the mass long before he was employed by the Duke, and as such it could be argued that
he was trying to impress the Court with his credentials. While this is speculative, other aspects appear more
certain, such as the near perfect performance of this mass by the Gomberts.
They produced great clarity, even in the most contrapuntal moments, and coupled this with balance and
restraint. Yet the careful projection of definition did not at any stage inhibit choral color, which was
absolutely radiant, not only in the mass but throughout the concert.
It was pleasing to see the return of program notes, which failed to materialise at their last event. O’Donnell
strives for excellence in musicianship which is underpinned by scholarly research. This mixture of vocal
poise and academic purpose has made the group one of the leading choirs in Melbourne, and if they could
tour widely they could rightly claim to be a national treasure.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

 

Tuesday, 31 March 1998
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Rd, Kew

Subscription Concert 1

PROGRAM

Carlo Gesualdo, Principe di Venosa Responsoria (1611)
Feria Quinta: 9 Responsoria
Interval (10 minutes)
Feria Sexta: 9 Responsoria
Interval ( 10 minutes)
Sabbato Sancto: 9 Responsoria

SINGERS

Soprano Deborah Summerbell Carol Veldhoven Nina Pereira Claerwen Jones Maria Pisani Helen Gagliano

Alto Helena Simpson Jennifer Mathers Bernadette Ballard

Tenor Frank Prain Peter Neustupny Andrew Green Stuart Tennant Philip Legge

Bass Tom Henry Thomas Drent Andrew Fysh

REVIEWS

Monday 6 April 1998 The Age [Melbourne], page 17.
Musical stamina put to the test
Joel Crotty

Ensemble Gombert’s 1998 season will be an all-Italian affair, in one way or another. In keeping with the
interesting programming of previous years, conductor John O’Donnell has come up with a series focusing on
the musical activities of a court, a town and a composer.
The Xavier College Chapel was filled for Gesualdo’s Responsaria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae
spectantia, of 1611, which was the choir’s first concert of the series.
The music is not only long in title but also in duration. It is a mammoth undertaking for both the choristers to
perform and for an audience to absorb. The complete Responsoria follows the lessons for Maundy Thursday,
Good Friday and Holy Saturday – a total of nine segments a day.
These 36 lessons do not collectively constitute a dramatic Easter storyline, but rather they are meditative;
hence, there is little potential for musical development. Therefore, the music is about momentary nuance
rather than broad splashes of color.
Some members of the audience found the required level of concentration too much by the end of the Good
Friday cycle and left. But it is the madrigalian way Gesualdo sets individual words and phrases that
highlights his gift for musical imagery. Coupled with these fleeting word-paintings is the composer’s chaotic
chromaticism, his sudden shifts in density and rhythm, and the awkward melodic lines, all of which makes
the Responsoria one of the composer’s most expressive scores.
Ensemble Gombert projected the music’s expressivity in a refined manner. The darkly hued sounds were
never lightened but rather shades of black became the fundamental perspective. Furthermore, clean lines were
evident – even in the wide-ranging melismas – and the phrasing was concisely controlled.
The constant need to re-blend and re-balance was, for the most part, seamlessly carried out, together with
tempi that never seemed out-of-place. It was only near the end of this epic journey that the singers became a
little tired.
The superbly resonant qualities of the basses – Tom Henry, Thomas Drent and Andrew Fysh – proved highly
effective in supporting roles and when called upon to be at the forefront of exposing the composer’s vivid
imagination. Only the altos, squeezed as they were between the larger soprano and tenor forces, seemed
unable to reveal a personality.
But this was a minor concern compared with the frustrating lack of program notes. The Gombert concerts are
thoughtfully constructed, almost with an eye on being didactic. However, on this occasion, John O’Donnell
chose to deliver a few words on the structure of the Responsoria in lieu of printed notes. It was a missed opportunity to impart knowledge and, therefore, better place the performance in its historical perspective.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

Friday 3 April 1998 The Herald Sun [Melbourne], page 93.
Musical stamina put to the test
Johanna Selleck

CARLO Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, was a man capable of the cruellest act of savagery, and also of the
loftiest expression of religious sentiment.
It is difficult to reconcile the cold-blooded murderer who stabbed his wife and her lover to death with the
composer of such inspired sacred music.
The way in which his music juxtaposes elements of the terrifying with the sublime is an accurate reflection of
the tortured soul of this complex individual.
Ensemble Gombert delivered the kind of scholarly, focused reading of the Responsoria that has become one
of the hallmarks of this exceptional choir.
Given that Gesualdo’s Responsoria is the product of the spirit of the Counter-Reformation, textual lucidity is
paramount.
Gombert’s clarity of diction and attack ensured that this was rarely compromised, despite the mammoth task
of presenting all of the 27 Responsoria in one sitting.
Divided into three groups of nine Responsoria, the story of the Passion is recounted, as told in the Lessons for
the hour of Matins on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Gesualdo’s genius was such that he was not hindered by the rigid schematic layout of Response and Versus,
but was able to create a work of poignant beauty via daring harmonies, variations in textural density and
imaginative rhythmic contrasts.
The dramatic potential of the work was convincingly realised in the choir’s performance.
For example, Gesualdo’s clever fugue on the words vos fugam capietis was thrown into sharp relief by the
powerful delivery.
Where the composer paints the text in musical gestures the choir enhanced them with subtle timbral and
dynamic adjustments, as on the words Darkness covered the Earth.
Here the vocal sonorities – the basses in particular – transformed magically into dark, sombre, earthy colors,
making a stunning contrast to the ethereal quality attained on the ensuing words, He gave up the ghost.
Gombert’s ability to achieve such complex variety while maintaining a richly homogenous foundation of
sound is one of the most impressive and enjoyable aspects of their performances.

Tuesday 16 December 1997 at 8pm
Wednesday 17 December 1997 at 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew

Subscription Series Concert No 5

PROGRAM
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina O magnum mysterium a 5
Tomás Luis de Victoria Quem vidistis, pastores a 6
Orlande de Lassus Videntes stellam a 5
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck Hodie Christus natus est a 5
Francis Poulenc Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël
Josquin Desprez Praeter rerum seriem a 6
Cipriano de Rore Missa Praeter rerum seriem a 7

 

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Helena Simpson	Peter Neustupny	Andrew Williams
Carol Veldhoven	Kate Brian	Stuart Tennant	Tom Henry
Maria Pisani	Bernadette Ballard	Andrew Green	Thomas Drent
Helen Gagliano	Andrea Blansjaar	Philip Legge	Jerzy Kozlowski

REVIEWS

Friday 19th of December 1997, The Age [Melbourne], page 4.
Ensemble ends the year on a high note
Joel Crotty

AROUND this time each year the Christmas carols are lurking everywhere – in school halls, street corners
and shopping complexes. In concert halls, Handel’s Messiah becomes a December fixture with interest
primarily centred around how many people stand up during the hallelujah chorus rather than for the oratorio
itself.
So when there is a program that has Christmas as a departure point for some rigorous intellectualism, it
becomes a musical Everest on a plateau of squawking insipidness.
The concert in question was Ensemble Gombert’s final event for the year. Not only did director John
O’Donnell find some fascinating musical links spanning generations and centuries, but was supported in his
efforts by some fine ensemble work from his group.
The first half of the program featured some of the musical giants of the 16th century: Palestrina, Victoria and
Lassus. Performing their work in one concert requires the singers to negotiate huge stylistic shifts.
A more impersonal approach is needed for Palestrina’s abstracted sense of design. The choir performed
Palestrina’s O magnum mysterium with an appropriate level of restraint. They did not imbue the lines with
unnecessary emotion, preferring to reveal the score’s wonderfully contrapuntal symmetry with smooth
flowing intent.
Conversely, scores by Victoria and Lassus are highly charged essays with impassioned use of chromatics to
create strong tonal coloring. In both Victoria’s Quem vidistis, pastores? and Lassus’s Videntus stellam, many
of the dramatic nuances were revealed with the required level of subtlety. On occasion, however, the
complexity of the Lassus created some problems with clarity.
For light relief, Sweelinck’s joyous Hodie Christus natus est was rendered with a deftness the score deserved.
These four, highly individual settings of traditional texts acted as a fascinating contrast to Poulenc’s Quatre
motets pour le temps de Noel, which concluded the first half of the concert.
Poulenc more or less used the same words as his predecessors and musically never strayed too far from the
textual meanings. His settings of O magnum . . . and Videntes . . . did disclose, however, a soprano line that
seemed too shallow to let loose the declarations the music required. None the less, the unusual twists and
turns scattered throughout the work were, as a rule, handled with care.
After the interval, O’Donnell rearranged the choir by dividing the soprano, alto and basses sections into
smaller components. This manoeuvre worked particularly well, as a greater blend of sound was the obvious
outcome. The reorganisation suited Josquin Desprez’s Praeter rerum seriem and the group, without a
noticeable weakness, presented the inner strength of the music with resolve.
A generation later, another Franco-Flemish composer, de Rore, composed a mass based on the Deprez motet.
This seven-part mass has a dense structure that can be a perilous journey in performance if the individual
lines are not allowed to breathe. Up to a point this occurred, with the basses and altos being the strong
foundations that enabled the other sections to maintain solidarity.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

 

Friday 19th of December 1997, The Herald Sun [Melbourne], page 82.
Gombert scales festive heights
Johanna Selleck

ENSEMBLE Gombert joined in Melbourne’s yuletide celebrations with a concert entitled Christmas to
Candlemas.
The selection of renaissance motets and a mass made an exuberant and uplifting conclusion to this year’s
concert series.
In accord with 16th century choral practice, Gombert state in their performance notes that they aspire to the
sound of a “properly built organ”.
At times, they come so close to this ideal that the effect is uncanny.
So smoothly blended and finely tuned is the meld of voices that it glows with an inner resonance only ever
achieved by a careful combination of organ stops. Because of this the music soars to sublime heights without
the aid of externally imposed devices such as dynamics.
The color created by the ensemble makes cadence points radiate a spiritual significance that is quite divorced
from any artificially conceived sense of climax or repose.
In this way, the ensemble brought to life the four motets by Palestrina, Victoria, Lassus and Sweelinck which
opened the program.
Following this, in Poulenc’s Quatre Motets Pour Le Temps De Noel (which is based on the same four
motets), the unique renaissance sonorities were diluted and transformed by Poulenc’s highly idiomatic
language. His use of dynamic tapering, contrasts and dramatic climaxes betray a very different approach to
his predecessors, and one which drew a strong response from the choir.
For Poulenc, two of the most important aspects of his religious writing were fervor and humility.
Both of these qualities found expression in this evening’s performance.
Josquin Desprez’s Praeter Rerum Seriem and Cipriano de Rore’s Missa Praeter Rerum Seriem (based on the
same motet) met with a competent performance after interval, though not generally as inspired or stimulating
as the first half.
The tenors and basses formed a reliable bulwark here, while the pairs of sopranos and altos were less evenly
matched in strength.
The second group of each pair appeared more tentative and less rigorous in maintaining the vocal line,
resulting in a noticeable imbalance

Tuesday 11 November 1997 at 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Kew

Subscription Series Concert No 4

PROGRAM

Heinrich Isaac Gaudeamus omnes
Josquin Desprez Missa Gaudeamus
John Taverner Audivi vocem de caelo
John Sheppard Audivi vocem de caelo
Thomas Tallis Audivi vocem de caelo
William Byrd In festo omnuim sanctorum
William Byrd Gaudeamus omnes
William Byrd Timete Dominum
William Byrd Iustorum animae
William Byrd Beati mundo corde

Soprano	Alto	Tenor	Bass
Deborah Summerbell	Helena Simpson	Peter Nesutupny	Andrew Williams
Carol Veldhoven	Kate Brian	Stuart Tennant	Tom Henry
Maria Pisani	Margaret Arnold	Philip Legge	Jerzy Kozlowski
Helen Gagliano	Bernadette Ballard

REVIEW

Friday 14 November 1997, The Age [Melbourne], page 5.
Exploring range of choral color
Joel Crotty

ENSEMBLE GOMBERT’S penultimate concert for 1997, featuring music by Isaac, Josquin, Taverner,
Sheppard, Tallis and Byrd, was a particularly solid exploration of styles and techniques.
They ranged from the armory of procedures located in the scores of Josquin and Byrd to the more delicate
counterpoints by the other composers. More importantly, the different referential points for each score were
superbly itemised and individualised by the choir under the subtle guidance of John O’Donnell.
The main focus of the evening was Josquin’s mighty Missa Gaudeamus. In this work, one can understand
why, within his lifetime, Josquin was revered by his peers. The penetrating choral colors were evident in
Ensemble Gombert’s rendition.
However, the minutiae of contrapuntal nuance was less successful. O’Donnell divided up the inner voices,
which, due to the vagaries of 16th-century compositional practice, was a valid option, but occasionally these
voices seemed to lose touch with the outer parts.
What anchored the work was the forceful conviction of the basses, who radiated a sonorous warmth.
Of the sections, it was the Sanctus which revealed the choristers’ absolute control of the brilliant writing.
There was never a moment in this part which wavered towards uncertainty in delivery.
Similarly, the altos were strong supporters for the sopranos in the Audivi vocem de caleo settings for high
voices by Taverner, Sheppard and Tallis. It was an interesting comparative exercise, though not one of the
trio stood out. The altos’ luxuriant sound occasionally broke up into strands, while the sopranos had a blended
mix but were particularly thin. This combination, of weak/dominant, unified/disparate, worked, for some
strange reason.
Furthermore, it was sensible programming on O’Donnell’s part to schedule some pieces that resonated with
less intensive emotive fervor than either the Josquin or Byrd’s In festo omnium sanctorum which closed the
concert.
If Josquin’s output represents the high-water mark of the Continental Renaissance, then Byrd’s music is the
bridge between the Tudor polyphonists (as represented in the concert by Taverner, Sheppard and Tallis) and
England’s golden age of music during the early-17th century.
The choristers performed Byrd’s Propers with the right amount of verve, which was occasionally rocked by
some slightly unfocused phrasing.
Joel Crotty/Courtesy of The Age

Saturday  20 September 1997
Hawthorn Town Hall, Burwood Road, Hawthorn

The Academy of Melbourne concert series

PROGRAM

Christopher Willcock Night Thoughts
Franz Schubert Mass in G, D.167
Franz Schubert Ninth Symphony, D.944

Singers unknown

 

REVIEW

Tuesday 23 September 1997, The Age [Melbourne], page 5. (extract)
Love long and prosper
Tony Way

[…]
MANY MSO players are to be found playing in the Academy of Melbourne, whose recent concert paid
homage to Schubert. Night Thoughts, a newly commissioned piece from Christopher Willcock, opened the
program. Scored for three trombones and mixed choir, its attractive and sustained lyricism would have
benefited from a more resonant room.
A “chamber” performance of Schubert’s Mass in G, D.167, followed. The 15 voices of Ensemble Gombert
had the virtue of clear and well-tuned delivery, but I would question the practice of drawing soloists from the
chorus. The Academy applied its customary enthusiasm both to the Mass and the Ninth Symphony, D.944.
In the symphony, Brett Kelly’s muscular rhythmic sense came to the fore, especially in the second and third
movements, allowing the orchestra and the listeners to make sense of Schubert’s long utterances. Kelly also
shaped the opening of the work to good effect, ensuring clarity of inner parts and effective dynamics. I
wonder whether the unobtrusive arrival of Markus Stenz during the symphony may have added a little extra
sparkle to the finale.
Tony Way/Courtesy of The Age

Tuesday, 27 May 1997 at 8pm
Xavier College Chapel, Barkers Road, Kew

Subscription Series Concert No 3

PROGRAM

Thomas Tallis Incipit lamentatio
Robert Parsons Ave Maria
William Byrd Quomodo cantabimus?
Thomas Morley De profundis
Thomas Weelkes Gloria in excelsis Deo
Orlando Gibbons O clap your hands
Thomas Tomkins O God, the proud are risen against me
Henry Purcell Thou knowest, Lord
Samuel Wesley In exitu Israel
Charles Villiers Stanford Magnificat for double Chorus
Ralph Vaughan Williams Three Shakespeare Songs
1. Full fathom five
2. The cloud-capped towers
3. Over hill, over dale
Benjamin Britten Hymn to Saint Cecilia

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Deborah Summerbell	Helena Simpson	Peter Neustupny	Adrian Phillips
Carol Veldhoven	Jacqueline Howard	Michael Stevens	Andrew Williams
Maria Pisani	Margaret Arnold	Philip Legge	Jerzy Kozlowski
Fiona Seers		Andrew Green

 

REVIEWS
Tuesday 3 June 1997, The Age [Melbourne], page 5.
Unsettling choral virtuosity
Clive O’Connell

NOT COMPLETELY deserting its usual Renaissance ground, the Ensemble Gombert’s recent concert
covered four centuries of English music, much of it for liturgical use. John O’Donnell’s group emphasised
Elizabethan and Jacobean works – Tallis, Parsons, Byrd, Morley, Weelkes, Gibbons, Tomkins, and Purcell
through the popular anthem Thou knowest, Lord.
These were sung with the Gombert’s habitual polish. Even when the parts thinned out because of composers’
demands for many lines, a slight spikiness informed the choral mix as individual voices took on more
prominence.
This exposure, nevertheless, served to demonstrate the group’s even balance. The productive gap between
Purcell and Wesley is about a century, but the level of inspiration is somewhat greater. While In exitu Israel
(without organ accompaniment) has a piquant heartiness, it is comparatively lightweight.
Stanford’s Magnificat for double chorus rang some warm post-Brahmsian changes, but the real ear-opener
was with Three Shakespeare Songs by Vaughan Williams, rarely sung small-scale works: Full Fathom Five,
The cloud-capp’d towers (a recycling of material from the 6th Symphony), and Over hill, over dale. All are
testing for a choir, sometimes just in simple pitching of notes, but their effects are magical.
Finally, O’Donnell took his forces through a direct, unsentimental, headlong version of Britten’s Hymn to St
Cecilia. This was a case of stripping away any gloss or fat, going for the emotional meat in Auden’s verses:
an extraordinary, somehow unsettling exhibition of choral virtuosity. […]
Clive O’Connell/Courtesy of The Age

Friday 30 June, The Herald Sun [Melbourne], page 72.
Gombert in classic voice
Johanna Selleck

ENSEMBLE Gombert’s concert covered four centuries of a cappella English music, resulting in some
fascinating stylistic comparisons. The diverse program provided glimpses into the music’s chronological
development from the Tudor period to contemporary times.
The first half focused on sacred music produced by a succession of composers, most of whom were famous
“gentleman of the Chapel Royal”. The concert began with the mournful Incipit Lamentatio by Thomas Tallis,
and works by Parsons, Byrd, Morley and Weelkes followed. All were performed with the poise and assurance
that we have come to expect from this ensemble.
These composers were expert at reconciling the demands of the text with those of the music, despite often
complex polyphony. This feature is highlighted by the ensemble’s ability to maintain such crystalline
sonorities.
Purcell’s Thou Knowest, Lord introduced a change of mood along with a more homophonic style, and, to
complete the first half, Samuel Wesley’s In Exitu Israel was positively rousing.
For music of the 16th century, Ensemble Gombert aims to draw upon performance practices of the time in
attempting to sound “like a properly built organ” with a fairly constant, homogenous tone.
The golden age of a cappella music requires exactly such a carefully cultivated sound, whereas the modern
works programmed after interval required a very different approach.
The Stanford’s Magnificat was full of drama and contrasts that would have been inappropriate earlier, as
would the timbral variations required in the final two works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin
Britten.
Vaughan Williams’ Three Shakespeare Songs opens to the sound of bells tolling on the most piquant
harmonies, and the effect was captured beautifully.
Hymn to St Cecilia by Benjamin Britten has enormous scope for color and dynamic variation, from the soft
choral unisons and the light, almost flippant, reiterations in the scherzo to the quasi-instrumental vocal
cadenzas.
Most of these opportunities were explored imaginatively, though a more adventurous interpretation would
have enhanced the performance even further.