BERKELEY---Is the fabled chamber chorus of Tallis Scholars sitting on its laurels after some 1,450 concerts?
               Perhaps it was the frigid winter weather here in California, dropping down to the 40s at night, or maybe just the effects of jet-plane air and microbes inhaled on all those trans-oceanic flights. But the Renaissance program given Nov. 5 bore little resemblance to the definitive, clarion performances given by this English a cappella group in years past.  Through the first half, the voices were fuzzy and ill-focused, the balances were out of kilter, and the two sopranos totally dominated the other seven singers in volume. Tallis had neither the old purity of tone nor good enunciation nor the unerring centricity of pitch; it became just another mixed chorus. The attire now was also considerably more informal, with open V-necks on the men. Admittedly, the group was less than full strength, with the tenth member absent; adjustment thus had to be made as well.
            If you were underwhelmed by the first half given over to Josquin’s great Latin Mass for the Blessed Virgin, you had the consolation of the group fully warmed up and in far better form for the second half, and there the sold-out house gave a warm ovation to Director Peter Phillips and his ensemble. Phillips had founded his group in 1973 and led it ever since in concert and (many!) recordings. “Scholars” is an apt title, as the group has sought out countless renaissance scores and brought them impressively to light. The repertory is the key.
            So Phillips’ crew zeroed in on English polyphony and hymnody in the second half, far more effectively, including a work by the 16^th-century master Thomas Tallis himself, “Tunes for Archbishop Parker’s Psalter.” These Tallis tunes are one-size-fits-all works, intended to fit any of a wide number of psalms---basically four-part hymns, in the style of early carols. Here the sounds were well-proportioned, well-directed.
            The English polyphony is more streamlined, more simplified than the complex Josquin polyphony of earlier, perhaps much shaped by the influence of the Reformation. Tallis’ student William Byrd, one of the most adroit political tightrope-walkers in music history, continued  Latin works intended for the Catholic church even in the late 16^th century, with more florid pieces bearing striking warnings like “Domine, misere” (Lord, have mercy…on us sinners) and “Vigilate” (Be vigilant!). Such scores normally have no dynamics at all indicated, allowing Phillips in personal designs to dramatize with impact on such key phrases.
            The concert was held at the First Congregational Church, whose sonic resonances are much preferred by such vocal groups to the various sites on the UCB campus itself.
            TALLIS SLOPES AND NOTES--Though conducting with utmost seriousness, Director Phillips can also be whimsical, as he proved the last time we encountered him here, when he devoted most of his program to the British composer Peter Philips, a contemporary of William Byrd, a man from half a millennium earlier than Peter Phillips.