Contrasting Renaissance Artistries
By Joseph Sargent
"In an increasingly crowded field of Bay Area choral ensembles, the three-year-old Artists’ Vocal Ensemble (AVE) manages to stand out from the pack."
"Dimmock assembled for this concert a roster of 13 high-caliber singers, who produced an extremely polished choral sound. His program of sacred music from masters of the late Renaissance, performed Friday at San Francisco’s St. Ignatius Church, offered a wealth of glorious singing and further cemented the ensemble’s status as a key player on the choral scene."
"The pure beauty and elegance of AVE’s sound shone most brightly in the program’s centerpiece, Palestrina’s renowned Missa Papae Marcellae (Pope Marcellus Mass). The opening Kyrie was a delight, featuring wonderfully shaped melodic lines and vivid dynamic contrasts."
"The ensemble’s deft handling of contrasts in the Credo was exceptional. It never lost intensity across wide-ranging shifts in dynamic and vocal ranges. A lush panoply of intermingling melodies in the Sanctus, rising and falling like oscillating waves, gave this movement impressive power. The closing Agnus Dei had a wonderful ebb-and-flow quality, with different textures emerging and receding amid a background of lustrous sonority."
Click here for the full review of this concert (takes you to the SFCV site).
Excerpts from a Review of "666: Music of the Apocalypse"
"AVE’s performance of “666 - Music of the Apocalypse” at the June 2006 Berkeley Early Music Fringe Festival, captivated audiences with multi-media pairings of Renaissance choral music and the Cloisters Apocalypse, a 14th century illuminated manuscript of the Book of Revelation."
For more details of this concert, including a color program, see the Prior Concert Seasons page or simply click here.
AVE's performance of Josquin Desprez's Missa Pange Lingua and music from the Eton Choirbook was described as "Brilliant … powerful … hypnotic … lively and captivating" (SF Classical Voice, 2/7/06).
Click here for the full review of this concert (takes you to the SFCV site).
San Francisco Classical Voice also reviewed AVE's January 2005 concert featuring Pierre de Manchicourt's Missa Veni Sancte Spiritus (Mass Come Holy Spirit), Josquin's Ave Maria and many other works.
Click here for the full review of this concert (takes you to the SFCV site).
