By Nancy Plum

Choral music has been thriving in Princeton these past few weeks, from the University Chapel Choir’s Dies Irae performance to the University Chamber Choir’s presentation of Bach and this past week’s rare opportunity to hear the acclaimed Tallis Scholars. Founded in 1973 by its present director Peter Phillips, the 10-voice chorus has been called “the rock stars of Renaissance vocal music.” Currently on tour from their home base of London, the Scholars paid a visit to Richardson Auditorium last Thursday night as guests of the Princeton University Glee Club. Joined by the University Chamber Choir for a world premiere piece, the Tallis Scholars performed a concise program providing the audience with a lesson on pristine choral singing.

Conducted by Peter Phillips, each half of the concert centered on a separate theme, with the first six pieces alternating works of Italian, Franco-Flemish, and Spanish Renaissance composers with movements of Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Missa O magnum mysterium. Opening with Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli’s setting of the Christmas Eve O magnum mysterium Latin text, The Tallis Scholars set a tone of excellence for the evening with their trademark pure tuning and clean diction. One of the most influential composers of his time, Gabrieli represented the height of the Venetian School, as music was evolving from the Renaissance to the Baroque eras, and the Scholars successfully created a double-chorus effect with just 10 singers.

Victoria was the most well-known Spanish composer of the late Renaissance, with an extensive repertory of Latin sacred choral works. Victoria’s 1592 Missa O Magnum Mysterium was based on a Christmas Matins responsorial chant which the composer had already set in a motet. Choral music of the late 16th century was characterized by independent lines which seemed to unfold from the voices, filling the space with sound. The opening two movements of the Victoria Missa quickly settled into the trademark well-blended Tallis Scholars vocal palette, with the long melodic lines spinning out into the hall. Several movements were introduced by plainsong, and tenor Tom Castle took his time with the chant lines. Diction was crisp as Phillips led the ensemble in building volume consistently.

Throughout the Victoria mass, the four sopranos of The Tallis Scholars switched positions within the chorus, with Amy Haworth and Sumei Bao-Smith providing particularly laser-like top soprano lines. Tenor Steven Harrold consistently communicated with his fellow singers, leaning into the music as it traveled across the ensemble. The type of well-blended singing and purity of vowels heard from the Scholars takes years to develop, and Thursday’s performance of Victoria’s Missa O Magnum Mysterium showed that precision is one of the hallmarks of the Tallis Scholars choral experience.

The Princeton University Chamber Choir, prepared by Gabriel Crouch, joined the Scholars to create 30 voices for the world premiere of British composer Matthew Martin’s Felix namque. A setting of verses honoring the Virgin Mary, Martin’s motet showed a similar rich texture as the 16th-century pieces, and with the Tallis Scholars singers mixed into the Chamber Choir, the dynamics had a great deal of variety, with clear dissonances among the vocal parts. Martin’s choral writing for the tenors and basses was dramatic and raw, and chords were well tuned, particularly at the close of the work.

The Tallis Scholars ended the concert with two works of the 20th century. The music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is transparent and ethereal, requiring exact placement of pitches. In both Pärt’s Tribute to Caesar and Virgencita, The Tallis Scholars found an appropriately stark and open sound, cleanly executing chord clusters and creating the most dramatic effects of the concert in the final work.

The Princeton University Glee Club has made an annual tradition of bringing world-renowned choral ensembles to campus to collaborate with students and perform for the community. In the years since The Glee Club Presents series began, these collaborations have no doubt made a tremendous impact on the University music program and have provided Princeton area audiences with the opportunity to hear the finest in choral music in their backyard.