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INTRODUCTION

In a time of religious extremism, two catholic musicians lived in fear of persecution. Through the trust of the protestant Queen Elizabeth I they became England’s greatest composers. The award-winning ORA Singers celebrates the music and courage of William Byrd and Thomas Tallis, placing their works alongside modern reflections including a world premiere by Xavier Dayer.

CONCERT PROGRAMME

William Byrd - Ave Verum
Thomas Tallis - Te lucis ante terminum
Plainchant - Pater Noster
René Clausen – Pater Noster
Thomas Tallis/Richard Allain - Videte miraculum
Thomas Tallis - Sancte Deus
Xavier Dayer - Commission based on Thomas Tallis’ Sancte Deus +
Thomas Tallis - O nata lux
Harry Escott - O light of light
William Byrd - Infelix ego
Ēriks Ešenvalds - Infelix ego
Roderick Williams - Ave Verum Re-imagined

• Denotes a world premiere performance
• Denotes an ORA Singers commission

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INTRODUCTION

In 1570 British composer Thomas Tallis, wrote one of the most iconic works for the human voice. Spem in Alium is a monumental work composed for 40 separate singers. To celebrate the 450th anniversary of this work, Tate Modern and the ORA Singers presents a unique socially-distanced livestream from the Turbine Hall. ‘Spem’ translates as ‘Hope’- hope for our future, and hope for the art form.

Featuring Tallis 40-part masterpiece alongside the world premiere of a specially commissioned 40-part work by Sir James MacMillan. Join us for this unique event; our first gathering together since lockdown...

CONCERT PROGRAMME

Thomas Tallis - The Forty-Part Motet: Spem in alium
William Byrd - Ave Verum Corpus
Roderick Williams - Ave Verum Corpus Re-imagined
James MacMillan - The Forty-Part Motet: Vidi aquam

NOTES ON THE COMMISSIONED WORKS

James MacMillan (b. 1959) Vidi aquam

I was asked to write a forty-part motet, a companion piece for the famous Tallis setting of Spem In alium, for the ORA Singers. I chose the Easter sprinkling song Vidi Aquam, and used the Tallis original as an inspiration in the way I utilised the eight five-voiced choirs, and how I moved the music from choir to choir, gradually building the sound up from one to forty voices, and making the music swing physically around the assembled singers. To begin with the style hearkens back to the sound of sixteenth century polyphony, but gradually shifts into different, more modern textures. The strict counterpoint eventually subsides into a more impressionistic, hazy world where we hear closed mouth sounds and a ‘smudging’ of harmonies and textures. Sometimes there is a deliberate polytonal mixing of adjacent chords, highlighting the delayed echo effects that choirs can create in large, resonant buildings.

Like Tallis I use the full forty voices only sparingly so as to emphasise certain high points in the text, like the ecstatic ‘alleluias’ or at the words ‘et omnes.’ I have attempted a painterly approach with all these voices, trying to use them like an orchestra on occasions to build rich and ethereal colours. The final, full-voiced ‘alleluia’ is extended, and involves an unexpected harmonic shift in the last few bars.

Roderick Williams, Ave Verum Corpus Re-Imagined (a reflection on Byrd’s Ave verum corpus)

William Byrd’s Ave verum corpus is a piece that I have known since my days as a treble chorister and I grew up in awe of its carefully measured harmony and effortless counterpoint. Like any choral singer, I have my favourite moments within the piece – the scrunching false relations, the question and answer exclamations, the mournful coda – and so I sought to write a piece that would focus specifically on these highlights and expand upon them. Its composition is an act of homage to a masterful composer.

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INTRODUCTION

ORA Singers presents a virtual concert pairing choral masterpieces from the Renaissance with specially commissioned reflections that re-imagine those great works. Relax and dive into the beauty of choral music that has inspired, and still inspires, across the centuries. Filmed and Edited by Knight Classical at St. Peter’s Church, Vauxhall (London).

CONCERT PROGRAMME

Antoine Brumel (c.1460 – 1512/13)- Sicut lilium inter spinas
John Barber (b. 1980)- Sicut lilium
Thomas Tallis (c.1505 – 1585)- Videte miraculum
Richard Allain (b. 1965)- Videte miraculum
William Byrd (1543 – 1623)- Ave verum corpus
Roderick Williams (b.1965)- Ave verum corpus, re-imagined

NOTES ON THE COMMISSIONED WORKS

John Barber (b.1980)- Sicut Lilium

I was honoured to be asked to write a short piece for ORA Singers' Song of Songs recording. The plan was to create a short new setting of 'Sicut lilium' so that the album could begin and end with the same text - the Brumel setting at the beginning and mine at the end. Daunting - since the Brumel is a miniature gem of a piece. Aside from the simplicity and beauty of the writing, it felt so spiritually confident and hopeful. In my version I focussed on the image of the lily amongst the thorns - to me it suggests that you can't have faith without doubt and you can't have love without the possibility of losing it.

Richard Allain (b. 1965)- Videte Miraculum

I found the task of writing a reflection on Tallis's masterpiece a daunting one: even putting aside Tallis's undisputed genius, writing eleven minutes of a cappella music is quite a task for a composer, not to mention the demands it would place on the singers. My inspiration for the falling figure heard in the first few bars is derived from a suspension at the opening of the original, only I have extended it by sharing it antiphonally between parts, diffused into harmonic clusters in the first section although it appears more consonant in the last. The idea for the second section is derived from the original plainsong, with its prominent interval of a fourth, which I have used in the rocking accompaniment figure. The whole piece is built, as is Tallis's, on a cantus firmus - a melody that runs throughout the work creating its tonal and structural framework. In the first and last sections the cantus firmus is shared among the lower voices; in the second, it is heard liberated in the high soprano line. Plainsong separates the three main sections of the work. The harmonic language of the piece reflects the modality of the original, and includes use of false relations, a typically piquant feature of Tallis's own harmonic language. Elements of polychoral writing also pay homage to Tallis. My intention was to create waves of sound that aid contemplation of the text, so that the piece might either be performed in a liturgical setting, or simply connect with the listener purely as a meditation on the original's imagery of redemption, the celestial, and eternity itself.

Roderick Williams, Ave Verum Corpus Re-Imagined (a reflection on Byrd’s Ave verum corpus)

William Byrd’s Ave verum corpus is a piece that I have known since my days as a treble chorister and I grew up in awe of its carefully measured harmony and effortless counterpoint. Like any choral singer, I have my favourite moments within the piece – the scrunching false relations, the question and answer exclamations, the mournful coda – and so I sought to write a piece that would focus specifically on these highlights and expand upon them. Its composition is an act of homage to a masterful composer.