Is Allegri's Miserere really the most famous choral work of all time? Harry Christophers and the Sixteen offer a significantly altered version of this work, in a programme otherwise devoted to the religious music of Palestrina and Macmillan.
As part of the Muziekgebouw’s 2014 Choral Series, renowned chamber choir The Sixteen gave a passionate, committed performance of music by Palestrina, Allegri, and modern composer James MacMillan.
The Tallis Scholars have been one of the foremost Renaissance vocal ensemble since their inception forty years ago. This was the ensemble’s first visit to New Zealand (organised by Chamber Music New Zealand in partnership with the New Zealand Choral Federation and Dean Endowment Trust) and the performance quality made it worth every minute of the forty year wait.
Singing polyphonic music requires a specific sound. To be truly effective there must be a beautifully rounded and well blended choral sound, but at the same time the individual lines must be clearly decipherable within the overall texture. This is a balance that The Tallis Scholars seem to find effortless.
The programme notes for The Sixteen’s 2013 Choral Pilgrimage draw attention to how composers have been inspired by the grandeur and beauty of their places of worship and work. In this context, the setting for The Sixteen’s concert in Oxford was more than suitable. Completed in 1200, Christ Church Cathedral is a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic architecture.
It would seem that Easter has come early to Oslo. Friday marked the opening of the Oslo International Church Music Festival, a festival that this year is devoted to the ever-paschal theme of the passion. The opening concert was held in the Oslo Cathedral and was sung by the British vocal ensemble The Tallis Scholars.The concert focused on passion, in both senses of the word.
The Brandenburg Choral Festival is an enormous endeavour, with hundreds of concerts all over London, featuring all kinds of choral music and a diverse range of performers. Tonight we were in the beautiful church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the heart of the festival, for a late-night concert of stunning Tallis, Byrd and Allegri by candlelight.
