NZ Herald Classical review: Auckland Choral, Town Hall

What: Waves Upon Waves
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Saturday 15 November 2014

Review by: William Dart, Monday 17 November

Auckland Choral's Waves upon Waves certainly benefited from one of the most imaginative programme covers of the season.

The subtle undulating blues of Elizabeth Thomson's Kermadec image lifted my spirits from time to time during the concert's rather taxing first half.

The Reinhard Flatischler and Johnny Bertl work that provided a title for the evening made lofty promises; among other things, it was going to reach our mental, emotional and motoric realms and establish rhythm as a mirror for deeper thought. It certainly won over the audience with its sonic spectacle.

Flatischler and Bertl were kept busy at their multicultural percussion station while Uwe Grodd drew the very best from Auckland Choral and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

However, at just under half an hour, it was too long. It was also too fragmented, meshing easy minimalism with almost unctuously tonal writing, soaring at one point into a theme perilously close to Edith Piaf's Hymne a l'amour.

Call me prosaic but, in among the hundreds of words of high-flown philosophy, I would have welcomed a simple explanation of the Takatina Gamala chanted by the choristers.

Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony brought in soloists and singers from City Choir Dunedin for an impressive choral contingent.

This 1910 score, the first totally choral symphony, is a major piece. Uwe Grodd was clearly aware of its significance and ensured that its iconic opening, Behold, the sea itself surged through the hall.

A Sea Symphony is very much part of the 19-century English oratorio tradition; recurring Elgarian sweeps, stirringly delivered, reminded me of last year's fine Dream of Gerontius.

David Griffiths, singing from the heart with his customary intelligence, did not always illuminate Walt Whitman's words with the vibrancy required.

Like soprano soloist Ursula Langmayr, his voice was sometimes submerged in the orchestral tide.

Both were at their most effective in the last movement, finding the personal in Whitman's universal.

The line "O soul thou pleasest me, I thee", was beautifully woven through solo strings and cool woodwind, with Langmayr's glorious top G proudly floating over a magical orchestral shimmer.

Divine performance, thunderous applause

Haydn's The Creation, NZSO and City Choir Dunedin, 3 September 2014, Dunedin Town Hall

Haydn’s The Creation presents a journey through a fantastic wonderland where man presides over an infinitely bountiful natural world, where love and luxury prevail equitably. It celebrates a miraculous creation devoid of lurking snakes and leaves the listener replete with unworldly exaltation.

In the Dunedin Town Hall, it was divinely performed to a full house by the NZSO, the City Choir Dunedin and soloists soprano Madeleine Pierard, tenor Robin Tritschler and bass Jonathan Lemalu under the inspired direction of Nicholas McGegan.

Although the choir’s part-singing sounded a little muddied at times when concentration was required, overall their sound was cohesive, dedicated and articulate with strong entries.

The solo voices melded beautifully together. All showed tremendous strength in softer passages with Lemalu’s tender tones being particularly pleasing.

Pierard was also notable for her delicacy and agility throughout her range. Their duet as Adam and Eve became as tender a love song as an oratorio can properly allow, enriched with the best of human quality. Tritschler’s tenor was clear with rich finesse.

The work rises gracefully, yet with great moment, out of silence. It relates the creation of life which, banishing gloom, evolves over the mythical seven days, divided into two parts, with a third devoted to Adam and Eve in Eden, to bloom with the simple rapture, joyful bliss, that the natural world inspires.

The playful word painting of water, birds, roaring lions and sinuous tigers were mostly successful.

While Lemalu’s depiction of lowly insects drew a laugh from the audience, the farmyard sounds of chickens and cattle failed to make their wit resound.

Although this long work sometimes tests the audience’s power of concentration, this performance was rewarded with thunderous stamping and prolonged applause. Contemporary cynicism was banished for the night.

Bravo.

Reviewed for the Otago Daily Times by Marian Poole, 4 September 2014.