Phillips, Tallis Scholars Set for L.A. Debut

An imposing catalogue of recordings has given the Tallis Scholars a commanding presence among early music enthusiasts. To date, though, that presence has not been a physical one in Los Angeles.

That will change on Easter, when the ensemble comes to City Hall for a Chamber Music in Historic Sites program. The concert, to be given twice Sunday afternoon, culminates in double-choir pieces that will be sung from opposing balconies in the Rotunda, with the audience seated below.

Tallis Scholars director Peter Phillips doesn’t like overly reverberant rooms, but says, “It is part of our professionalism to sing anywhere.” That professionalism may well be tested on the Tallis Scholars’ current tour--its third visit to North America--which takes it to 12 cities in Canada and the United States in 14 days.

As a youth, Phillips seemed briefly set on a career as an oboist, but his passion for Renaissance sacred music was stimulated at the same time. On the basis of that passion, and some desultory piano and organ studies, he auditioned for the organ scholarship at Oxford’s St. John’s College.

To his surprise, he was awarded the position. The choir at St. John’s provided the basis of the Tallis Scholars--named for the English Renaissance master Thomas Tallis--which gave its first concert in 1973, and took its current professional form five years later. Phillips, who says he prefers two voices on a part, is bringing 10 singers on this tour.

Now 34, Phillips founded the Tallis Scholars as part of what he calls “my missionary act, as it were, for the music.” His outreach effort on behalf of Renaissance sacred music has included establishing Gimell Records (distributed in this country by Harmonia Mundi) with recording engineer Steve Smith, solely to produce Tallis Scholars recordings, which have been rolling out roughly every other month for several years.

The preeminence of Phillips and his singers in this repertory--their recording of two Josquin Masses won Gramophone’s Early Music Record of the Year award in 1987, the first time all the voters in a category placed the same record first--is surprising in some ways. The 10 Tallis Scholars include four female sopranos, where purists would insist on boys.

“My first motive in doing this music has nothing to do with authenticity,” Phillips says. Instead, his goal is to explore the repertory, which he feels has been narrowly represented in concert. “If I carry on doing this all my life, which I hope I will, I will still not have done everything in the field.”

Singing so much complex music under such a heavy recording and touring schedule makes the employment of women, rather than less-experienced and trained boys’ voices, a practical as well as artistic decision. Phillips notes that 500 years ago boys’ voices broke much later, allowing them to mature as musicians. The earlier change today, he says, has been attributed to the increased protein consumption in a higher standard of living.

The program that the Tallis Scholars will sing on Easter is largely, but not exclusively, oriented to the liturgical season. The centerpiece is Allegri’s highly embellished Miserere, traditionally sung by the papal choir during Holy Week ever since it was composed in the early 17th Century.

Four works for antiphonal double choir by Palestrina and Francesco Soriano conclude the symmetrical agenda. It begins with four pieces by English composers John Taverner and John Sheppard.

Despite the forebodingly academic name of the Tallis Scholars, Phillips insists that deep study of this music is not a prerequisite for enjoyment of it.

“I like people to just hear the sound, which is very easy to listen to. I don’t feel that people need to know anything about it. People enjoy Beethoven without knowing anything about sonata form--they can enjoy Josquin without knowing the rules of 16th-Century counterpoint.”