Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 10, 1993 TAG: 9312100124
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Sixteen stopped in Roanoke during its first North American tour and presented a Christmas concert that had the nearly full church stamping and yelling in admiration. The group, one of the finest English choral revival ensembles, turned in a performance that ranged from traditional English carols to major works by Thomas Tallis and Jean Mouton and earned a standing ovation and sustained applause.
Followers of the English choral scene may have been forgiven for wondering just who The Sixteen are, given the fact that many of the names on Thursday night's roster also are seen in groups like the Tallis Scholars and the Taverner Choir. But even though most of the English choral revival groups draw from the same pool of professional singers, founding director Harry Christophers gets his own unique sound from them.
They sounded great in St. Andrew's. The huge stone church with its wooden pews is possibly the best acoustic space in Western Virginia for 16th-century choral music, which made up much of this concert. Slow-moving harmonies seem to come alive and hang in the air for minutes at a time.
Of course, it worked both ways. The words of fleet anthems such as Peter Maxwell Davies "Haylle, Comly and Clene" were lost in an indecipherable acoustic mush. But most of what Christophers chose for the Roanoke program worked in St. Andrew's.
The two highlights of the program were Thomas Tallis's magnificent "Videte Miraculum" and the "Nesciens Mater" of Jean Mouton.
The Sixteen don't have merely good intonation; they're virtually perfect. After a barely audible harmonica tootle for tuning, the choir attacked the Tallis flawlessly. The piece featured a plainchant melody flowing slowly from the tenors as soaring polyphony from trebles and mean sopranos embroidered a great harmonic tapestry above it.
The rest of the program ranged from the syncopated medieval "Gaudete" with tambourine and drum, to Gustav Holst's familiar setting of the Anglican Christmas classic "In the Bleak Midwinter" to Peter Fricker's angular "A Babe Is Born."
After a standing ovation the group encored with "Silent Night" and "Ding Dong! Merrily on High" to put a festive cap on the evening.
Seth Williamson produces feature news stories and a classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke.
by CNB