Harry Christophers and his Sixteen are so much more than the sum of their parts. At Christmas, it’s never predictable seasonal fare: this year again they span from medieval times to the present and, with a particular focus on the innocence of children, invoke contemporary humanitarian issues in an understated yet thought-provoking way.
They sang the words Lully, Lulla, Lullay, most associated with the 16th-century Coventry Carol, in a broken sequence. Kenneth Leighton’s 1956 setting came first, juicy jazz harmonies allowing his emphasis on Herod’s order to slay young children to bite hard. Joseph Phibbs’ Lullay, Lullay, Thou Lytil Child, written in 2012 and weaving soloists in with the main chorus, had an ethereal expressivity impeccably realised. Phibbs’ final major chord emulated that of the Coventry Carol, which then followed, the contrast between the youngling’s purity and the raging Herod reinforced.
Programming different settings of the same text is Christophers’ invitation to engage in aural scrutiny that is intriguing and satisfying rather than effortful. A soli ortus cardine was heard in versions by Palestrina and the Tudor John Sheppard, austere plainsong alternating with intricate polyphony; the two Vox in Rama motets, reflecting the lamentations of Rachel on the loss of her children were by Suffolk’s George Kirbye and the Flemish Giaches de Wert respectively, the latter’s chromatic insertions spelling out anguish.
Carols by Richard Rodney Bennett, William Walton, Cecilia McDowall and Peter Warlock were bright and joyful, each in their way paying homage to older traditions, texts echoing Latin or old English, and adding further to the sense of ritual and celebration resonating across the centuries.
Touring until 22 December.
