Under the direction of Philip Herreweghe, acclaimed chamber choir Collegium Vocale Gent joined forces with period instrument ensemble Concerto Palatino for a concert which combined formal elegance and raw, piercing beauty. Selections from Schütz’ Psalmen Davids (1619) formed the bulk of the concert, thoughtfully programmed alongside works by Schütz’s teacher Gabrieli and colleague Praetorius. This vivid, colourful programme allowed the beautiful, clear voices of the choristers to be heard at their disciplined best.
The works in question, all composed between 1590 and 1620, displayed the polychoral style of the Venetian school, where choir, vocal soloists and instruments are divided into separate groups that sing in alternation with each other, sometimes using a call-and-response style, sometimes echo effects, and sometimes a complex multi-layering of sound and text, in which instruments and voices imitate or contrast with one another. The style also utilises clear contrasts between short sections within a larger formal architecture. This grand formal coherence was mirrored in the programme order itself, in which each half of the concert followed a strict pattern of psalms alternated with instrumental selections, each culminating in a different setting of the Magnificat.
The audience was thus situated at the heart of an ordered structure which was systematically built up around us. Fred Luiten, organiser of the series of early music concerts of which this was a part, pointed out that this kind of music is, in the Netherlands, usually performed in churches, and that it was something of an experiment to perform it in the Concertgebouw, but appropriate, since the Concertgebouw was itself a temple to music. In this concert the music itself became the intangible temple, creating a sonic architecture in which the audience could experience the reordering of our own mental state through sound and praise. The only disadvantage of the Concertgebouw for this style of music was the fact that the ensembles could not be placed around the audience, but had to remain on stage at the front. In the 16th and 17th centuries, much of this style of music was written for churches where the groups of singers and instrument could be strategically placed in galleries around the building, with the audience or congregation really in the centre of the sound.
Concerto Palatino, led by cornettist Bruce Dickey and trombonist Charles Toet, provided a versatile ensemble of cornetti, period trombones and violins and continuo group, including both theorbo and archlute. The stark sound of the historic brass instruments was gloriously valiant and bright, and the agility of the cornetti was outstanding. The violins and cornetti matched one another in extremes of flexibility and dynamic control, with some breathtaking pianissimo fioriture.