This concert will split the choir into 40 parts and showcase the bass line as the fundamental anchor to the harmony. Thomas Tallis’s Spem in alium was written around 450 years ago for eight choirs, each of five voices, and is a unique musical monolith that fascinates both listeners and choirs to this day. The bass line contributes significantly to the structure and harmony of this angelically beautiful piece.
Commissioned in 2019 as a companion piece to the Tallis, we also have James MacMillan’s Vidi aquam in this programme. Another 40-part piece, it begins in the shadows of the 16th century sounds of Tallis but gradually shifts to different, more modern sounds reflective of the 21st century and is an amazing piece in its own right.
Josef Rheinberger similarly makes the most of the bass parts within the choir in Cantus Missae. This Double Choir Mass, written in 1878, reflects his new-found flexibility in style and from the first note displays Rheinberger’s own musical language.
We are delighted to be showcasing our very own Jennifer Wigram on the violin in Richard Barnard’s Grasmere.
