East of England Singers| Christmas in Venice

St John's Church, Beeston
Saturday 12th December 2009
By Peter Palmer

The musicians of Renaissance Venice made full use of the echoing spaces of St Mark's Cathedral, performing specially composed scores of increasing magnificence. Accordingly, the East of England Singers were constantly dividing into different groups at Beeston Parish Church. The concert's opening motet from Venice had the singers exchanging phrases from the front and rear of the audience. Pieces written for Christmas were interspersed with other festive music like Monteverdi's Magnificat with two violins. This composition ended a first half featuring ethereal songs of angels and shepherds.

How Venetian choral texture achieved ever greater richness was illustrated through settings of the same pastoral text by Andrea Gabrieli and his nephew Giovanni, both of them music directors at St Mark's prior to Monteverdi. New Classical Brass punctuated the choruses with glittering items for trumpets and trombones. Isobel Bounford, violin, with Angela Foan, keyboard, contributed an Italian sonata from the era. And a recorder quartet from the choir added a set of variations by Frescobaldi. The evening ended with Salvator Noster, a Nativity motet by Giovanni Gabrieli. The triple choir and accompanying instruments made it a stirring experience under Angela Kay's energetic direction.