Tallis Scholars
One of the things I really enjoy is watching people who are very skilled do something difficult, making it look simple and graceful. It doesn’t matter if it’s filleting fish, laying bricks, forging iron or singing polyphonyâI find it all fascinating. We went to see The Tallis Scholars at Symphony Hall last night, and quite apart from the sublime sound they made, I was fascinated by how effortless they made the difficult task of singing Renaissance music seem.
They are only 12 singers (at a maximumâfor some of the pieces, they used fewer people), and yet they sing intricate unaccompanied and un-amplified music in parts. I used to sing in amateur choirs, and it was always a disaster when I found myself on the outer edge of the other altos. I would start listening to the sopranos part, and find it really difficult to stick to mine.
They sang a number of pieces by John Sheppard which were exquisitely beautiful. You can lose yourself in the shifting harmonies, and then suddenly find that some of the voices are soaring away, and you get lifted up with them. We were in the second row of the stalls (the cheap seats, as it turned out), and the whole thing was thrilling and quite emotional1. I have a few recordings of the Tallis Scholars’ work, butâparticularly with choral worksâthere’s nothing quite like experiencing it live.
1 I think I’ve mentioned before that while I’m staunchly agnostic, I’m unusually interested and moved by all kinds of religious music: Renaissance polyphony, Gregorian chant, Russian Orthodox Christian sung liturgy, Qawwali/Sufi devotional music, and so on. If religion only involved music, I’d be pretty keen about it.
1
Renaissance music is beautiful, and especially so live as you say. I have sung simple Renaissance works with my A level music class, as well as having listened to them on CDs, but hearing them sung by real singers is much better. Though singing it yourself is pretty sweet if you're good enough. (Our class had to sing the really easy works, unfortunately.)-----
I'm singing next weekend at Symphony Hall, all being well. It's a 'Blockbuster Choruses from Scratch' concert, where you spend the day rehearsing and then give a little concert for dragged-along friends and relatives at the end of the day. I'm really looking forward to it. I don't think the end result will be half as good as the Tallis Scholars (not with me in the choir, anyway!), but it's going to be great fun.
by bsag @ 24/01/2005 9:02 pm • Permalink •
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