Interact & Reviews / Reviews
Prom 8: The Tallis Scholars
- Date Tuesday 22 July 2008
- Time 10.00pm - c11.30pm
- Venue Royal Albert Hall
The Tallis Scholars and conductor Peter Phillips have established themselves as one of the UK's finest interpreters of Renaissance polyphonic music.
In this Late Night Prom they explore two 15th-century Masses based on the chanson 'Malheur me bat' (Misfortune has struck me), attributed to Jean de Ockeghem. The Flemish Jacob Obrecht - the 550th anniversary of whose birth we celebrate this year - was highly regarded in his day, eclipsed only by Josquin des Prez.
Josquin's 'Malheur me bat' setting captures something of the sorrow of Josquin's patron Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, who had been exiled from Milan, taking Josquin with him. The programme also includes a performance of the original, three-part 'Malheur me bat' song, with specially commissioned words.
- Obrecht Missa 'Malheur me bat' (40 mins)
- Ockeghem 'Malheur me bat' (with specially commissioned completion of poem) (c3')
- Josquin Des Prez Missa 'Malheur me bat' (40 mins)
There will be no interval
Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips conductor
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Jak
I think I have a new favourite band: the Tallis Scholars. The mass by Olbrecht which, when reacting with my brain, created all kinds of fantastic things.
The second one by Desprez was a bit more academic I think - less frilly and fun bits, but the quality of the music and the performance seemed stupendous (although I'm pretty new to pre-Bach music).
It made me think that music until Beethoven was basically much more happy! The reason being that until then music was religious not secular, which meant it was celebrating God, which meant it was essentially positive. Genuinely happy, and genuinely fantastic.
Then Ludwig had to get born, and Western civilisation has been hedonistically crumbling ever since. But seriously, that blew me away - I found it magnificent.