Riverside Church, New York; March 17, 2002
The Tallis Scholars come to New York about once a year, always bringing with them pre-17th century music one might not otherwise hear. This year their program consisted of music composed around the time of Mary Tudor, who ruled England from 1553 to 1558, between Henry VIII and Elizabeth. Some of England’s greatest composers were hard at work during this period; some were Catholic, like their (briefly reigning) Queen, others Protestant, but all of the music presented was in Latin.
Majestic, opulent Riverside Church – New York’s answer to Chartres – turned out to be an ideal venue for such grandeur (the program was a presentation of Music at St. Paul’s and Music at Riverside). Assisted by guest singers from the Vox Vocal Ensemble and the Woodley Ensemble, and all led by the Scholars’ Peter Philips, the program opened and closed with Thomas Tallis’s mighty Spem in alium, the 40 part motet which may or may not have been composed for Mary’s 40th birthday. Few ensembles attempt it – so intricate is its polyphony, so tricky its timing – but the performances of it were ideal and supplied a type of elaborate grillwork within which other, smaller, but not necessarily less challenging works were displayed.
Robert White’s Exaudiat te, Dominus pitted two-part, intimate singing against later three, four and five part (indeed, the tenors are silent for the first two minutes of the seven minute work), and it culminates in a glorious, 7-part, highly melismatic “Amen,” which rang out triumphantly. John Sheppard’s In manus tuas III is a mellow, three-part work with a few jarring dissonances, and it, too, was ideally performed. Last on the program’s first half was John Taverner’s Gaude plurimum, and here, the Scholars’ main problem could be spotted: This grand hymn of rejoicing, with its sections for two- and three-part choir alternating with those for five-part, should have leapt out at the audience. Instead, it was reserved and pious; perhaps sharper attacks or a slightly faster tempo would have brought it to life.
Aeternae laudis lilium by Robert Fayrfax, the earliest of the represented composers, opened the program’s second half, and its tuneful, simple, direct praise of the Virgin Mary, with nice interludes for the low male voices in its second half, was warmly performed. A brief Ave Maria by Robert Parsons followed, with the second soprano part particularly effective. No concert of music of this period is complete without William Byrd, and he was represented by two works: Ne irascaris is a quiet plea to God to curb his anger, and though it is a quiet piece, again one had the feeling that the Scholars were a bit too tightly buttoned. Byrd’s Miserere, on the other hand, received a dazzling performance, with its highly structured final moments the perfect road back to the second reading of Spem in Alium.
The few criticisms aside, it must be said that throughout, the Scholars’ tuning was impeccable, their sense of ensemble and commitment unique, their blend exquisite. They have always been somewhat cool, but this should be seen as an observation rather than a criticism. The concert was all it was supposed to be: pious, flamboyant, modest, sure of itself. And as exquisite as its surroundings.
Robert Levine
