Nicola Lisle talks to Peter Phillips, Tallis Scholars founder, about their SJE concert

There’s an intriguing contrast between old and new in the forthcoming Tallis Scholars concert, which focuses on different settings of the Old Testament text The Lamentations of Jeremiah.

While much of the programme will be traditional Tallis Scholars fare — settings by the likes of Palestrina, Byrd, Victoria and Tallis himself — there will also be the premieres of three modern settings by winners of the National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award 2014. The competition, run in association with BBC Radio 3 and the Tallis Scholars, invites entrants to write something that is suitable for the choir to sing.

“We’re the group they’ve wanted these young people to write for, to understand the sound, how it’s made and to write well for us,” explains Peter Phillips, who founded the Tallis Scholars just over 40 years ago while still a student at Oxford.

“From the start we’ve had two categories, up to 18 and up to 25, so there’s a winner in each category. This year, uniquely, we decided to give a joint first prize in the older category, so that’s how we’ve got three pieces.”

Why was Lamentations of Jeremiah chosen as the central text? “I was asked what I thought the theme should be for the young composers, and I thought setting a short section of the Lamentations would work well,”

Peter says.

“Also, Lamentation sets are often very good things to do in concert. They represent many of those older composers at their best, not least Tallis. They’re just right for concerts.

“Some religious music doesn’t work very well in concert, but this certainly does. It’s the right length, it’s got variety because of the Hebrew letters, and the slightly penitential tone always brings out the best in people!”

The concert, which takes place at the Church of St John the Evangelist, will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show on Sunday November 2.

After that, the Tallis Scholars will be off to Mexico, the States, the Netherlands and Italy — all before Christmas — and their latest CD, a recording of music by Arvo Pärt, is due for release in March next year to mark the composer’s 80th birthday.

Since their inception in 1973, the Scholars have established a unique sound, which remains unchanged despite several line-up changes over the years. So what makes this ensemble so different?

“I’ve chosen voices very carefully to go with each other,” says Peter. “For a long time it’s been this particular sound which is very clear and well blended, well tuned, light, bright and powerful. I think that’s what makes us different. It’s like comparing one wine with another, it’s a refined difference.

“And the repertoire — I’ve always refused to do anything other than Renaissance music. We have started to do a bit of contemporary music, but I won’t touch anything with instruments.

“That must have been the thing that got into my head in 1973. I chose the repertoire, and we stood on the stage exactly as we do now, in a semi-circle, which at the time was revolutionary.

“So I got a bee in my bonnet and a sound in my head, and that’s how it’s worked, and fortunately, it’s still going!”

The Tallis Scholars
St John the Evangelist Church, Iffley Road
Tomorrow, 7.30pm
Tickets: www.sje-oxford.org