The Sixteen bring An Immortal Legacy to Spitalfields Festival

By Katy S. Austin, 11 June 2012

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Reviewed at Christ Church, Spitalfields, London on 9 June 2012

Tallis, Tunes for Archbishop Parker's psalter

Tallis, Salvator mundi

Tallis, O nata lux

Tallis, O sacrum convivium

Tallis, Loquebantur variis linguis

Gibbons, The Silver Swan

MacMillan, The Strathclyde Motets: Sedebit Dominus Rex

MacMillan, The Strathclyde Motets: Mitte manum tuam

Tippett, A Child of our Time: Five negro spirituals

Morley, April is in my mistress' face

Byrd, Laudibus in sanctis

Byrd, This sweet and merry month of May

Byrd, Though Amaryllis dance in green

Britten, Gloriana: Courtly Dances, Op.53b

The Sixteen

Harry Christophers, Conductor

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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Katy S. Austin

Katy sings soprano, plays violin, cycles about and listens to music. She's a graduate of both Bristol and City Universities and has been known to write libretti.