The Canberra Theatre – 7th October 2025. Reviewed
by BILL STEPHENS
Founded in 1973 by their director, Peter Phillips, The
Tallis Scholars have become world renowned as supreme exponents of the
Renaissance repertoire. Frequently described as one of the finest choirs in the
world, The Tallis Scholars are renowned for the power and beauty of their
sound.
Under the directions
of their founder, Peter Phillips, they tour widely giving around 80 concerts
each year. As he commented in his charming post-concert remarks to the capacity
audience, this was their 9th concert in Canberra, all the others
being given in Llewellyn Hall. This
concert was presented as part of the Canberra Theatre Centre’s 60th
Anniversary celebrations.
One didn’t have to be a devotee of Renaissance sacred music
to be enchanted by the beauty of the sound produced by this ten-voice choir, but
for any who weren’t, this concert would certainly have gone a long way towards
achieving a conversion.
From the opening notes of 16th century Catholic
priest, Juan de Padila’s glorious vesper, Deus in adiutorium which
commenced the program, the stunning accuracy of the acapella singing, the vocal
textures which made it possible to identify individual voices within the sound,
and the unique ethereal sound produced by the Scholars was mesmerising.
In his program notes, Phillips explained that his reason for
titling this program, “Chant” was to demonstrate the evolution of sacred music through
three different ways of presenting chant, from the ancient to the modern.
To this end, threaded through the program were four
compositions by 12th century German Benedictine Abbess, Hildegard
von Bingen. Others represented were 15th century Flemish composer Jacob Obrecht, 16th century French master of polyphonic
vocal music, Josquin des Prez, and 17th century Italian Catholic
priest, Gregorio Allegri.
There were also four
compositions by contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, including his Da
Pacem Domine written in response to the terrorist bombings in Madrid in
2004 and sung by the full choir.
Any suggestion of sameness was overcome by presenting the
various compositions with different combinations of the voices of the six women
and four men who make up the choir. Three
of the four Hildegard compositions were performed by a female quartet, and the
fourth by a trio, and each without conductor.
As with Padilla’s opening composition, Arvo Pärt's Arvo Pärt Tridion
was performed by the full choir conducted by Phillips. It included an
electrifying passage in which the sopranos reached a top Bb for an impassioned
prayer “that our souls may be saved”.
Gregoria Allegri’s Misere mei, Deus was staged
with Phillips conducting six of the singers onstage, with the tenor well to one
side leading the chant and the other five providing the responses, with four
offstage voices providing vocal decoration. Magical.
Changes in personnel were achieved elegantly when required,
with no individual singer allowed featured, so that the focus remained on the
music and the choir as a single entity.
Throughout the concert it was almost possible to hear the
purring from the blissed-out audience, which erupted into rapturous applause as
the last notes of Josquin des Prez's Praeter rerum faded.
Their reward, a glorious rendition in 8 parts of Robert
Pearsall’s Lay Me A Garland.
Images supplied.
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au
