Summer, Song and Strawberries - The Baroque Collective Singers

Baroque Collective Singers
John Hancorn, director

Sunday 2 July, 6.30pm

St Michael's Church, 158 High Street, Lewes BN7 1XU

The Baroque Collective Singers perform a cappella music for a summer evening, including Tudor madrigals - Wilbye's plangent 'Draw On, Sweet Night', neglected genius Weelkes's 'Hark all ye lovely saints' and, for light relief and some 'fa la las', John Bennet's 'All Creatures Now' - and French and English part songs.

The programme also features stunning choral music by Eric Whitacre, Britten, Janequin and Hindemith - plus prosecco and strawberries!


Details on Facebook here.

Tickets here.

The Baroque Collective Singers

John Hancorn

The Tallis Scholars - première recording of Sainte-Chapelle by Eric Whitacre

The Tallis Scholars have lost no time in recording Eric Whitacre's new piece written for them, Saint-Chapelle, which I heard them première at their 40th anniversary concert at St Paul's (see my review here).  They recorded it in the chapel at Merton College, Oxford, and it has been released as a digital download - their first digital only download, available from iTunes here.  It is also their first first recording of a living composer since they commissioned and premièred John Tavener's Ikon of Light in 1984.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to hear this piece again so soon after that first performance at St Paul's.  Often, when hearing a new piece for the first time in a concert performance, it is hard to get the full sense of the work as a whole.  My first impression was of writing extremely well suited to the pure, blended sound of the Tallis Scholars, and this is definitely confirmed by hearing this recording.  

Whitacre asked his long-time friend and collaborator, Charles Anthony Silvestri to construct a text around the idea of stained glass windows which Whitacre saw in a 13th century chapel in Paris.  The 'story' Silvestri created centred around the idea of a young girl hearing angels singing from the stained glass.  The text is minimal in terms of telling the story, in Latin, but the words 'Sanctus' and 'Hosanna in excelsis' return, and provide the climax points to create the image of the angels singing to the girl from within the brightly lit windows.  Whitacre's trademark scrunchy harmonies and clusters are here, but this actually stands out for me as one of his most effective pieces, along with When David Heard and Cloudburst.

It opens with a chant-like section for male voices, before all voices sing the first 'Sanctus', with staggered entries constructing the layered harmonies.  This creates a particularly luminous effect, and really does conjure a sense of the light shining through fragments of glass.  The Tallis Scholars also produce such a beautifully blended and warm sound, again adding to this sense of light flooding into space, particularly on the word 'Hosanna'.  

This is definitely a piece that deserves to join the established Whitacre repertoire, and I would certainly love to have the opportunity to sing it at some point.  I also hope The Tallis Scholars continue this exploration of contemporary repertoire, in addition to their ongoing championing of Renaissance composers.  Next up must surely be a recording of Gabriel Jackson's Ave Dei partis filia, their other commission that they premièred at the 40th anniversary concert.  In concert, this actually had a greater impact on me than the Whitacre, so I await a recording of this with expectation.

Finally, The Tallis Scholars are also offering a free download of the Agnus Dei from Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli, available from iTunes just until 1 April 2013, in honour of the papal inauguration - download it here.

The Tallis Scholars - 40th Anniversary Concert

Photo © Clive Barda

It was a real privilege to be in the audience for the launch concert of The Tallis Scholars' 40th anniversary celebrations at St Paul's Cathedral on Thursday 7 March 2013.  I was expecting something special, but this concert must be up there with one of the best live music experiences I can remember.

On the programme were some expected 'hits' - Allegri's Miserere, Tallis' Spem in alium.  However, The Tallis Scholars certainly didn't just rely on the 'old favourites' here.  They could have done, and I'm sure the audience would have been happy.  But they used the occasion to show their versatility, and to show how alive and well choral composition is in the 21st century.  Three contemporary composers were present for the premieres (two world and one London) of their works, and all three pieces received warm receptions from the audience.

The concert began appropriately with Tallis - the beautiful yet complex Loquebantur variis linguis, followed by the brief but equally intricate Miserere.  What struck me most in both these pieces was how they drew the audience in, creating a sense of intimacy with some incredible pianissimo singing, particularly in the Miserere - quite an achievement in the cavernous St Paul's acoustic.  They then leapt forward in time, and in Arvo Pärt's Nunc Dimittis they now made full use of the massive resonant acoustic, and when Pärt's atmostpheric harmonies suddenly burst forth on the word 'Lumen', St Paul's was suddenly full of luminous warmth.

Gabriel Jackson & Eric Whitacre 

The first of the evening's premieres followed - Gabriel Jackson's Ave Dei partis filia.  In a highly effective piece, Jackson is clearly paying homage to the early English composers, yet his use of rhythm is strikingly contemporary.  This created some challenges for the Tallis Scholars, and they worked incredibly hard to ensure that the lively rhythms were clearly articulated.  I would be interested to know if this precision travelled right to the back of St Paul's, but certainly where I was the effect was arresting.  I look forward to hearing this piece again soon.

They closed the first half with Byrd's substantial Tribue, Domine dating from the composer's early career.   The second half of the concert began with Allegri's Miserere - for this, the solo quartet sang hidden somewhere - I think from the Whispering Gallery, but I'm not 100% sure!  As ever, the top Cs were spot on, ringing out throughout the cathedral.  Then it was Eric Whitacre's turn - his new piece, Sainte-Chapelle, was inspired by the stained glass in a 13th century chapel in Paris.  Here, the rhythmic interest centred around the repetition of the word 'Sanctus', and The text, by Whitacre's oft used collaborator, Charles Anthony Silvestri, creates the image of a young girl hearing the angels singing 'Sanctus' - and Whitacre uses the repetition of this word for the rhythmic focus of the piece.  In between, the scrunchy clusters and dissonances typical of Whitacre's music matched perfectly with The Tallis Scholars warm blended sound.

For the last two works, the core group were joined by more singers to perform two works for 40 voices. They began with a performance of Robin Walker's I have thee by the hand, O man.  This was commissioned 10 years ago by the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester as a companion piece to Tallis' Spem in alium, and 10 years on, it has now received its London premiere.  It is a lengthy piece, and unlike the Tallis, where the music sweeps through the eight choirs of five voices, Walker uses the choirs in a variety of ways.  It is an incredibly challenging piece, and there were one or two moments where some of the younger singers looked a little like rabbits in the headlights.  However, it is a great piece that deserves more exposure, and provided a great build-up to the final work of the programme, Tallis' Spem in alium.  It is always a challenge with this piece to achieve a unity of strength and sound across 40 individual voices, and here one or two soprano voices perhaps lacked the power of the more experienced TS members.  However, the meeting of all 40 voices on 'Respice' was electric, and this was a triumphant end to a fabulous concert.

As an encore, Peter Phillips brought us back down to earth with the core members performing Mouton's Salva nos, Domine.  This was actually a perfectly subdued and sublime ending after the drama of the Walker & Tallis, reminding us how much lesser-known repertoire The Tallis Scholars and Peter Phillips have brought to our ears over their 40 years so far - long may this continue!

Photo © Clive Barda

This review can also be found on the GScene website here.

You can also watch Eric Whitacre talking about Sainte-Chapelle here.  A recording of The Tallis Scholars singing the piece was released on 17 March 2013 - download it here.

The Tallis Scholars - 40th Anniversary

This month I want to highlight some rather special artists who are celebrating their 40^th anniversary this year – The Tallis Scholars, founded in 1973 by conductor Peter Phillips.  They are launching their celebratory world tour with a concert at St Paul’s Cathedral on 7 March – if you can make it, I recommend you do not miss this one.  They will be performed loved works such as Tallis’ 40-part motet Spem in Alium, and Allegri’s Misere, as well as premieres of works by Gabriel Jackson, Eric Whitacre, and the London premiere of Robin Walker’s I have thee by the hand, O man, a 40-part homage to Tallis’ piece.  I’ll be there, and a review will follow.  They’ve also released a great 2-CD volume called ‘Renaissance Radio’, including highlights of recordings from their vast back catalogue.  And they’ve put together a great programme.  There’s lots of Tallis, obviously, and Palestrina, Victoria and Sheppard are here too.  They kick off the first disc with Allegri’s MIsere – but perhaps not as you know it.  The version we are familiar with, so the story goes, is based on Mozart’s transcription of the ornaments as performed in the Sistene Chapel in Rome.  After many years of performing the work, with over 300 concert performances under her belt, soprano Deborah Roberts (yes, our own Co-Director of Brighton Early Music Festival) added her own startling and striking embellishments, providing a wonderful twist to an old favourite.  It’s hard to pick out favourites from this collection of 47 tracks – but apart from the Allegri, I’d have to include Mouton’s beautiful Salva nos, Domine (you can find a review of their full Mouton CD here), Brumel’s Agnus Dei II from his amazing ‘Earthquake Mass’, and Cornysh’s Ave Maria for men’s voices from the Eton Choirbook.  The recordings span 26 years, and the roll call of singers runs to 60 plus, including many singers who have gone on since to solo careers (such as Mark Padmore, Charles Daniels and Michael Chance).  If this wonderful ensemble is new to you, I highly recommend you start with this CD, get to the St Paul’s concert if you can, and then explore their massive back catalogue of wonderful recordings of Renassiance music and more.

Various. Rennaisance Radio. The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips. 2013. Compact Disc (2). Gimell. CDGIM 212.

(An edited version of this review will also appear in GScene magazine, March 2013)