Audience is taken back in time

Flickering candlelight illuminated the black-clad singers. Voices sometimes angelic, sometimes ghostly, wafted among the shadowy pillars and arches. While the ethereal music they sang dated from no later than the time of the Tudors and Stuarts.

This wonderfully atmospheric concert by the Aragon Consort was a perfect opportunity to travel back in time for the sizeable audience in the darkened church, with only nightlights to help them see.

Motets and madrigals from the 16th and 17th centuries followed in conditions similar to those which existed when they were written. Intended as they were for small groups of singers to perform in churches, chapels, or private houses, when only candles were available to light up the dark hours.

The Consort takes its name from Henry VIII’s first wife Katharine of Aragon whose tomb is situated in Peterborough Cathedral, where all six of its members are lay clerks. The Aragon Consort is also part of the newly formed Peterborough Vocal Collective, an enterprising organisation currently presenting a series of varied concerts at St John’s.

The carefully planned programme consisted of both sacred and secular music, reinforcing the point made to me by Robbie Haylett who has masterminded the series. Putting on these concerts gives the singers the chance to broaden their horizon. Thus the concert began with the deeply religious Lamentations of Jeremiah by Elizabethan composer Thomas Tallis. Here there was unanimity and precision in performance as the stately contrapunctal work unfolded. And a breathtaking hush when the singers reached the plaintive refrain ‘Jerusalem, turn to the Lord your God.’

But, it was soon followed by the tuneful Pastorelli Vezzosi by Claudio Monteverdi. With its simple harmonies this upbeat song extols the joys of the countryside and gives us a glimpse of everyday life beyond the spiritual. Still further from liturgical use were a pair of soul-searching madrigals by Carlo Gesualdo. Here the Aragon Consort handled the composer’s challenging chromatic harmonies and key changes with ease.

The singers returned to the sacred for William Byrd’s lovely O Lux Beata which began the second half. In this passionate performance there were some thrilling sonorities contributed by vibrant altos and powerful basses. Not to mention the busy, hardworking tenors.

But, it was Elizabethan pop songs like Thomas Morley’s Now is the Month of Maying and John Farmer’s Fair Phyllis which again provided a contrast. To say nothing of the hilarious finale, the Chant des Oiseaux by Clement Janequin.