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Fairfield United Church
April 13, 2008
The unaccompanied vocal music of the sixteenth century is that era's equivalent of the 19th century symphony - rich, varied, and emotive. Drawing primarily on sacred texts, the composers of the period poured everything into their grand compositions, creating some of the finest works of Western art. The English composers of the period were among the finest in Europe, among them John Taverner (1490-1545), Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), and Thomas Morley (1557-1602).
Sunday's concert by vox humana, directed by Tamara Schwartzentruber, opened with four short pieces by Morley, the first featuring the whole group (twelve singers, reduced to eleven by the illness that befell one of the tenors), and the remaining three sung as one-to-a-part quartets. That the ensemble "warmed up" with pieces this challenging indicates something of the calibre of the group.
The first portion of the concert then moved to Tallis' "The Lamentations of Jeremiah", a piece in five parts of astounding polyphony. In spite of the obvious complexity, the piece is austere, almost severe, reflecting the deep emotional content of the text. The relatively small group created a full, robust sound that served the music well.
After the interval, the choir sang Taverner's "Mater Christi", a relatively short motet that gave the singers a chance to stretch before the most challenging piece of the evening - Benjamin Britten's "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam", a setting of texts by Gerard Manley Hopkins. The piece was not performed during the composer's lifetime (1913-1976), perhaps due to its complexity. Compared to the 16th century pieces performed earlier in the evening, it moves to more sophisticated (and one assumes, harder to sing) harmonies, far more complex rhythm, greater harmonic range that pushes the singers to their limits, and by far the greatest dynamic range.
In all pieces, vox humana performed exceptionally. In spite of reduced numbers, the group was well-balanced, with all the voices easily discernable in the blend. The singers moved together beautifully through the complex polyphony, their voices resonant in the space of the church.
This was a marvelous concert - vox humana deserves a bigger audience than the modest collection of friends and family that populated the pews on Sunday evening.
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