In his introductory talk before The Sixteen’s Choral Pilgrimage concert in Durham Cathedral, conductor Harry Christophers explained that the original idea of their Choral Pilgrimage series was to bring the glories of English church music back into the buildings for which the pieces had been written. It seemed fitting, therefore, that in this tenth anniversary year, the choir should have chosen a programme of works by Byrd, Sheppard and Tallis, three composers from the Tudor age, that age which set the style of worship in England down to today.
By choosing a programme of elaborate polyphonic works, in Latin, The Sixteen looked not to the new Protestant faith introduced under the Tudors, but to the Latin heritage of the English church, and the Catholic faith which inspired the building of our great cathedrals and churches.
The Catholic theme was set by a piece of perfect plainchant singing which opened the concert, sung from the high altar; the ancient hymn Veni Creator Spiritus (Come Holy Ghost). Plainchant singing is much harder to do well than the simplicity of the sound suggests, but of course The Sixteen were flawless, each voice blending perfectly and all singers moving together, as one, with absolute precision.
Two massive devotional works formed the core of the concert – John Sheppard’s Media vita in more sumus (In the midst of life we are in death) closed the first half, and the concert ended with William Byrd’s extraordinary Infelix Ego (Unhappy I), a motet set to words written by the Italian martyr Savonarola shortly before his death and after undergoing unbearable torture. Both of these intensely personal works were sung with a restrained emotion, which never became excessive. The high soprano notes in the Sancte Deus section that punctuated Media vita in more sumus rang down the nave, before the piece closed with an incredibly controlled diminuendo.