We sat down with David Allinson, Musical Director of London chamber choir The
Renaissance Singers as he prepares for a concert that celebrates one of the
greatest Renaissance composers, Palestrina.
You focus on music from the mid-15th to the mid-17th centuries. What draws you to this particular period, and how do you bring Renaissance music to life for modern listeners?
I fell in love with this repertoire as a music undergraduate, when I discovered chapel
singing, and learned about the historical context of this music. Before that, as a
teenager, I’d often played fiddle in folk bands and I found the modal orientation of the
polyphony expressive and familiar. I love this kind of music because it’s all generated
by the breath and muscle of the participants, and relies on a constant mutual
engagement, through ear and eye, as the music flexes expressively. There is a
beautiful collegiality and equality to singing polyphony – every part matters, every
voice contributes to the unfolding ‘weave’ of the texture. As for engaging audiences:
I’m less in favour of presenting this music as a comforting ‘aesthetic soundbath’ and
more in favour of drawing out the humanity and drama of composers’ confrontation
with core elements of the human condition – love, loss, birth and death – which can
connect profoundly across the centuries, despite us living modern lives, perhaps with
different belief systems; music of the Renaissance period can offer immense
intellectual reward and emotional consolation.
Your next concert is focused entirely on music by one composer, Palestrina. What will it be like?
I’m excited about this gig. Palestrina almost needs to be rescued from his own
reputation. He was, and is, so famous – such a totemic figure in the history of music
– that it’s easy to take him for granted, or to assume that you know all about him.
His technical and expressive range are far greater than most people realise.
Our programme uses the ‘hook’ of the 500th anniversary of his birth to show the
range of his achievement – from the achingly beautiful, heart-rending drama of
Stabat Mater to peppy, upbeat works for the feast of Pentecost, which teem with
rhythmic and melodic vitality. One of the most beautiful works we’re singing is his
Nunc dimittis for double choir, which perfectly illustrates his gift for mood and pacing.
This is a composer who understood the place of music within church liturgy and
architecture; every elegantly cantilevered line and harmonic shift is in the service of
the text, and never superficially so.
Your choir gives the first modern performances of many works, from the Manuel Mendes Requiem Mass last year to one by Sebastián de Vivanco that you’ll be recording this summer. What excites you most about uncovering and reviving these forgotten pieces of music?
Our choir has a special remit, built into its founding constitution, to educate as well
as propagate the music of this period. We do this mainly through our concerts but
also through public participatory workshops with invited expert practitioners, and this
core mission perhaps distinguishes us from other chamber choirs which sing
Renaissance polyphony. Of course, we sometimes take the well-trodden path and
sing ‘hits’ of the period, but in my fifteen years as conductor I have tried to
programme always on the basis of musical quality, finding music which compels,
intrigues or beguiles me, and advocating for it. I love devising programmes around
themes – be they seasonal, liturgical, geographical, or simply anniversaries of
significant personages, like our Palestrina programme. It’s wonderful to know that,
sometimes, we’re the only choir in the country (or even the world) performing a
particular piece that year, sometimes for the first time in centuries. While it’s
obviously an intriguing marketing angle to offer an audience a ‘modern premiere’, it’s
also thrilling to apply one’s musicological expertise in resurrecting a lost work, and
giving it a chance to breathe again in the hands of such an expert and sympathetic
group of singers. Music of this period often survives ‘by a thread’, and what we have
is such a small proportion of what was actually composed – and, as we’ve
discovered, some of it is of superlative quality.
With your free tickets for under-21s initiative, it’s clear you want to engage younger listeners. Why do you think it’s important for young people to experience Renaissance vocal music, and how do you make it accessible to them?
With the decline of music in schools, the reduced opportunities for young people to
access the arts in state schools, and the huge financial pressures that students can
be under (especially in a big city like London), even a modest ticket price can be a
barrier to trying unfamiliar live music. Our wonderfully loyal audiences and
supporters skew to an older demographic and are often retired, having come through
education at a time when a wider range of musical opportunities were available (and
art and music featured more often in mainstream culture). We want to ensure the
longevity and sustainability of the choir by reaching new audience members, and
allow younger people to discover, at no cost, the life-changing power and compelling
beauty of the music we sing. Of course, we hope that they will, in turn, become our
older, long-term supporters!
David Allinson conducts The Renaissance Singers’ next concert, Palestrina, Prince
of Music on Saturday 15 February at Holy Sepulchre London.
The Renaissance Singers’ next open workshop for singers, Unlocking the secret of
musical art of Josquin, takes place on Saturday 8 March and is suitable for any
singer with an ability to read music.
Tickets for these events are available at www.renaissancesingers.com and are free
for under 21s.
Follow the choir at:
● Facebook: facebook.com/renaissancesingers
● Instagram: @renaissancesingerslondon
● Bluesky: @renaissancesingers.bsky.social
