The Sixteen bring British vocal music to Australia

By Zoltán Szabó, 11 March 2019

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“It had an almost dance-like cheerful lilt, not normally expected from a sacred composition”

Reviewed at City Recital Hall, Sydney on 9 March 2019

Tallis, Tunes for Archbishop Parker's psalter

Tallis, Salvator mundi

Morley, April is in my mistress' face

Gibbons, The Silver Swan

Byrd, This sweet and merry month of May

Sheppard, In manus tuas

Tippett, A Child of our Time: Five negro spirituals

Tallis, O nata lux

Tallis, O sacrum convivium

MacMillan, The Strathclyde Motets: Mitte manum tuam

Byrd, Laudibus in sanctis

Britten, Gloriana, Op.53: Choral Dances

Works by Tallis

Byrd, Ave verum corpus (Encore)

The Sixteen

Bach and Gluck resound in Bath Abbey with The Sixteen

Roy Westbrook, 21st February

Large ecclesiastical buildings, with their hard surfaces and long high naves, are challenging for complex music like Bach’s.

****1

Angel of Peace: The Sixteen’s annual choral pilgrimage

Leighton Jones, 4th April

Harry Christophers and The Sixteen refresh their choral pilgrimage with works old and new, that show innovative programming at its imaginative best.

*****

Heavenly sounds from The Sixteen with Harry Christophers in Dublin

Andrew Larkin, 20th June

The Sixteen offer glorious tones, smooth polyphonic lines and vivid word paintings at the National Concert Hall.

****1

Uneven Mozart and Haydn from The Sixteen at Cadogan Hall

Mark Valencia, 16th February

The Sixteen’s work is spoilt by a shortage of violins and some uneven solo contributions. Such imperfections only serve to highlight the excellence of the very best.

***11

The Sixteen and Julian Joseph: a one-sided conversation

David Karlin, 27th January

The latest instalment of Kings Place's “Sound Unwrapped” series delivers wonderful musicianship in both jazz and early music, but not the promised “continuous fusion of styles”.

***11

Exalted Messiah: The Sixteen and Harry Christophers

Roy Westbrook, 6th December

How do you conduct the same over-familiar work for the 200th time, and make it sound quite new?

*****

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Zoltán Szabó

Zoltán Szabó is a cellist and musicologist. Having migrated from his native Hungary to Australia in 1985, he worked with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in Sydney until 1991, when he became Principal Cello with Opera Australia. In 2017, he was awarded with a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD). Currently, he is teaching music history and musicology at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.