Palestrina Plus
VOICES
Tutor: Peter Syrus
Didsbury Baptist Church, Manchester
Reviewer: Chris Martin
When you walk into Didsbury Baptist Church, especially if you know you’re about to sing some wonderful Renaissance music, you can almost ‘see’ the good acoustic. It is a wonderful space; well-equipped with easy access to coffee, tea, nice but naughty biscuits and last but not least, cakes made by the leader himself, and it easily encompassed the increased numbers who flocked to this workshop focused on Palestrina and led by Peter Syrus. The man himself presented us with a folder of the music we were about to sing (a nice touch) along with his handout on the life of Palestrina as intricately and revealingly composed with words as any of Palestrina’s handouts were with notes. And then we were ready. No. We had to be in the right seat and next to the right person. Peter’s grasp of all the vocal combinations ahead needed to be a sure one and he orchestrated the shifting of bottoms expertly. That everyone was at last in their ordained place was confirmed by a rather timid sort of Mexican wave as we raised only one of our arms on the call of our part. And then we were ready!
The day was structured around the comparison of the musical settings of various texts used extensively at this period, at least one of each set being by Palestrina. On the whole, this device worked very well and there were several standout examples of how instructive the approach was. Funnily enough, in two of them, Palestrina didn’t come out on top! One, his motet ‘Loquebantur variis linguis’ seemed quite ordinary when compared with that from Don Fernando de las Infantas (admittedly writing a decade or two later) who used the ingenious idea of turning the multiple tongues of the title into multiple well-chosen keys sung simultaneously by different sections of the choir. Clever and successful.
Of course, choosing composers to stand together with the same text isn’t necessarily, or even primarily, setting them up for gold or silver on the podium; it’s about highlighting equally effective differences. Palestrina’s ‘Hodie Christus natus est’ presents a setting with 2 choirs trying to joyously out-‘Noé’ each other (throw the é away was Peter’s demand, which we once wonderfully managed as effectively as the professionals – the professionals manage it more than once though!). Andrea Gabrieli’s version of the same is a much more mystery-laden motet, involving a single choir in seven voices (including Peter’s treasured Baritone part), creating richer textures and inviting gentler writing – even of the Alleluia. A good pairing, highlighting very profound differences in approaches to Christmas.
On the other hand, the pairings highlighted similarities too. Palestrina’s vs Bianciardi’s settings of ‘Exultate Deo adjutori nostro’ were both excitingly polyphonic in their opening ‘Singing to God’ sections while moving towards block harmonies when singing about ‘drums’, ‘harps’ and ‘viols’. Bianciardi perhaps was not only banging his drum more overtly, but was also so playful on the viol that we could, at that point, have been excused if we thought we were singing a madrigal. Two good and similar pieces, with the later composer slightly more unfettered.
The evening plainsong hymn ‘Christe, qui lux es et dies’, in settings by Palestrina of course, and Robert White, is the second pairing of the day where the ‘master’ is pipped at the post. Robert White’s setting, full of lovely repeated phrases, adventurous and piquant harmonies with delicious semitones and false relations, seemed more expressive of the upcoming hours of darkness – and was more fun to sing – than Palestrina’s rather underwhelming setting.
With ‘Super flumina Babylonis’,a vehicle for expressive composing if ever there was one, Palestrina’s SATB setting doesn’t let us down. With its semitones and flattened sixths, he shows he can play Robert White at his own game, and he adds a transparency and simplicity in this piece which is so effective and appropriate. The hanging up of harps (‘suspendimus organo’) is imaginatively described through several repetitions of a minor descending phrase – ending in the dominant. It sounds unresolved perhaps, but maybe Palestrina is expressing the hope that a resolution will come – so important in times of despair. In his 5 voice version (SAATB), only verse 1 of the psalm is used, so we miss out on the hanging of the harps; what’s more, we only get 4 bars of ‘weeping’. It therefore lacks the emotional impact of the 4 part version. Victoria’s setting is very different from both the above: he not only uses 4 verses of the psalm, but sets the words for 8 voices in 2 unequal choirs. The ‘suspendimus organo’ verse is extremely simply set with repeated blocks of sound echoing between the two choirs, but Victoria’s main interest lies in his setting of the final verse (‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’), which makes up half of this substantial piece. There is a lot to be said about it, but all I will mention for now is the wonderful impact of the two choirs at last starting a phrase together at the beginning of this extended section. Spine-tingling.
Last of all ‘Tu es Petrus’. Morales, writing slightly earlier than Palestrina, uses a 6-note plainsong intonation for Tu es Petrus, which is repeated in various parts and at various pitches at least every 3 bars throughout this quite long piece – and 9 overlapping times in the first 12 bars! Peter (St.) doesn’t get the chance to even think of betrayal! This clever unifying device and the consistent textures means that it has to be sung very carefully and sensitively to become interesting for the singer and listener. I’m not sure we managed that, but given time of course, we would have done. The pièce de résistance of our day was the SSATBB setting by the day’s namesake. Peter (Syrus) was ecstatic just talking about it. He made the point that it wasn’t just the different textures used, or the wonderful singability of the vocal lines, but the very important use of an extra baritone part giving it richness and turning it into one of the masterpieces of the period. Almost to emphasise its uniqueness, we all mixed ourselves up and positioned ourselves next to a different part (slightly nerve-wracking for some) in a vast semicircle and sang our hearts out with this glorious piece to bring to an end this exciting and educational day.
Peter Syrus’s editions of all this hugely worthwhile music were a joy to sing from – informative, clear and complete in all the detail you might want. His cakes were delicious and his comments about the pieces (many incorporated into this review) were always interesting. Occasional shouts from the back of ‘speak up’ maybe reflected the age of our auditory apparati, but nothing should detract too much from this well-organised, well-catered and well-compiled day. Thank you, Palestrina and pals, and thank you, Peter!
Chris Martin
First published in November 2024 Newsletter
