Striggio Prom

As predicted half the choristers in London were in the audience for Tuesday's Late Night Prom when the Tallis Scholars and the BBC Singers performed Striggio's 40-part motet, Tallis's 40-part motet and the newly discovered Striggio Mass.

The concert opened with the Striggio motet which sounded, frankly, rather soggy. I listened again on the BBC web-site and things sounded a lot better. Though the Albert Hall sounds a good idea for this type of music I'm sure that a smaller venue would be better. Still, it was good to hear the piece. Its less polyphonic than the Tallis, more polychoral in the Venetian manner.

The performers realised the cool-beauty of the Tallis though it was not as moving as some performances that I've heard. And rather oddly, occasional voices tended to stand out in a way that was not quite desirable. They sang the piece in the usual low pitch. Inevitable given the balance of forces for the other pieces, but frankly I prefer the Tallis sung high.

The best performance in the first half was Lassus's motet and magnificat, both for two 5-part choirs. The results show Lassus's mastery of the form and his confidently handling of many parts. This worked stunningly well in the Albert Hall with a clarity not possessed by the other pieces.

The Striggio mass is written for 4 basic choirs, with parts ranging from 18 to 40 part. Then for the final Agnus Dei the singers are joined by 20 more to create a 60 part texture. As with the motet the textures were mainly poly-choral chori spezzati type. The results seem to have more clarity than the Striggio motet and the mass is undoubtedly beautiful and impressive. The final Agnus Dei created a simple waterfall of sound. I'd love to hear it in a more sympathetic acoustic or perhaps somewhere were the singers could be placed in the round.