Under the direction of their founder Peter Phillips, The Tallis Scholars returned to Melbourne to present concerts on Sunday the 5th and Monday the 6th of October with a different program for each. On the Sunday the Scholars sang works by Gombert, Crequillon, Nico Muhly, Clemens non Papa and Victoria, promising Gregorio Allegri’s “Miserere mei” and Josquin’s “Præter rerum serium” for the following Monday. So much richness to choose from!
With a reputation for being the finest choral group specialising in earlier composers the Scholars did not disappoint. Their singing was sublime, with as much passion as the music needed.
The works chosen for the first half of the Sunday concert all came from a 1564 publication entitled Thesaurus musicus, which features motets stretching back as far as Josquin and as contemporary as Lassus.
As a group of ten singers, many of the parts in each work were assigned to single voices. The Scholars leaned into the generous acoustic of the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall at the Melbourne Recital Centre. The blending of their voices was a testament to how closely they listen to each other.
The concert opened with a “Credo” for eight voices by Nicolas Gombert (1495 – 1557) showcasing Gombert’s extraordinary ability to weave together eight individual and complex voices with clarity and excitement. There were typical moments of crunchy false relations creating surprisingly dissonant, though fleeting, harmonic touches.
In this concert and indeed, in his career, Gombert was followed by Thomas Crequillon (1505 – 1557) his “Andrea Christi famulus” celebrating St Andrew, the patron Saint of the Order of the Golden Fleece who commissioned the work. Like the Gombert, this is a work for eight separate voices. It flows along creating a spacious, cathedral-like sound within itself. For the text “The Lord loved Andrew as a sweet fragrance”, the writing becomes momentarily restrained and precious before building back to a glorious final section, containing some very long held notes, requiring some clever breathing from the solo parts concerned.
American composer Nico Muhly was commissioned by The Tallis Scholars to write “A Glorious Creature” in 2023. The text is an extract from Thomas Traherne’s “Christian Ethicks or Divine Moralitie”, giving the composer scope to exploit the Scholars’ virtuosity in solo and ensemble singing. The overall sound is indeed glorious – and needs a few hearings to unpack what is happening. The effect is strong however, avoiding the “tasteful” dissonance of much recent, choral writing.
Clemens non Papa (1510 – 1555) wrote “Ego flos campi” for seven voices, the opening text being “I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valley”. To bring this alive, the singing was almost unbearably exquisite, especially when the women’s voices were alone. Their seamless blending was a hallmark of the concert. On occasion the four men’s voices formed their own “choir” to balance. So much purity of sound, modest word painting – and all over within minutes.
After interval, the Tallis Scholars returned to give us a Requiem Mass by Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 – 1611). Written in 1605, the full title is “Missa Pro Defunctis” (Mass for the Dead), to which Victoria added an extra motet, “Versa est in luctum”, as well as a lesson, making the resulting collection a complete set of funeral music.
The parts of the Mass open with a chanted “incipit” sung by the women. They sang as one with as beauteous a sound as one could wish for. The Victoria Mass is well known. It takes off from the “Requiem aeternum” incipit with no delay, building sound upon sound. The movements ebbed and flowed with a sense of majesty, appropriately, as it was written to celebrate the Dowager Empress Maria, sister of Philip II of Spain. The next best thing to experiencing The Tallis Scholars singing this work in concert is to hear their recording. Sometimes, performances of this standard can come across as if they are preserved in aspic, lacking spontaneity. Not so with The Tallis Scholars; they clearly listened and responded to each other, discreetly for sure, but ensuring an informed and deeply felt performance.
Adding to the magic and mystery of the concert was the inclusion of young, local musician, Lachlan McDonald, replacing one of the basses who fell ill just before the Scholars left for Australia. Those who know Lachlan had no doubts he could rise to the occasion, even with the extremely limited amount of rehearsal time he had. For the record, he was a perfect fit with the Scholars. More power to him on his journey with the Tallis Scholars around Australia.
Photo supplied.
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Nick Tolhurst reviewed “The Tallis Scholars, Concert 1”, presented at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, on October 5, 2025.
