MUSIC REVIEW: The Sixteen, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

Apr 14 2008 by Glyn Mon Hughes, Liverpool Daily Post

The Cathedral choir at the dedication of the new entrance to the Metropolitan Cathedral (240)

THE British are blessed with an extraordinarily fine choral tradition.

From large choral societies to small local choirs, by way of schools, parish churches, concert societies, special interest groups, the interest in singing does not seem to wane. And that despite the fact that it’s not seen as “cool” for boys to sing.

In recent years, we’ve seen the growth of highly-specialised groups which have lifted the art of choral singing to new heights. While once it was the place of cathedral and collegiate choirs – along with the BBC Singers – to keep the choral tradition alive, we now have groups such as The Cardinall’s Musick, The Taverner Concert, the Monteverdi Singers and others who do much to bring new and unusual repertoires to the attention of the public.

No group is as dedicated to opening up new delights for audiences than The Sixteen who, since 2000, have undertaken a choral pilgrimage around the country, calling off locally at Chester Cathedral and, as they did this weekend, in Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

And what a group this is. Under Harry Christophers, they’ve explored not only the glories of music from the Tudor period but also the works of contemporary composers.

On this trek, the ensemble chose to explore the works of three composers rarely heard outside the ecclesiastical domain – and even then only rarely: Christopher Tye, Robert Parsons and Robert White. All three were active during that most turbulent of times, as the Church of England split from Rome and a period of persecution began for many members of English society.

Maybe it was the historical context which inspired the pressing urgency and considerable dissonance of White’s Lamentations.

Then there was the serene performance of Parsons’s quite simple Ave Maria, or the intensity of his O Bone Jesu.

If anything, though, the group used the vast acoustic of the cathedral to bring something eerily sacred and soul-searching to White’s Christe qui lux es et dies, where plainsong is interwoven with complex contrapuntal workings.

Though something of a drive away, the group visits Blackburn next month, their only other appearance in the North West.

GLYN MON HUGHES