LATEST REVIEW
A Taste of Venice
Christchurch City Choir with members of Woolston Brass, vocal soloists, Jeremy Woodside organ, conducted by Brian Law.
ChristChurch Cathedral, Sunday 18 April 2010, 2pm
Reviewed by Christopher Jones. Christchurch Press 19th April 2010
City Choir back to best with lean, hungry sound.
The City Choir was back to its best form yesterday afternoon in this short concert billed A Taste of Venice. I make no apologies for having been pretty tough on them in the past and it is a genuine pleasure to note a leaner, hungrier sound and a youth programme delivered 15 high school students to the choir’s ranks.
The final piece, Gabrieli’s Jubilate Deo, was the highlight. As Brian Law said, it is something of a full-frontal assault, and came with a delicious big choir sound with fine support from the organ and seasoned with brilliant brass flourishes. These works provided that ideal arrangement of great power being used in a disciplined way.
The same composter’s Gloria and In Ecclesias were similarly successful, bubbling confections of colour with superb soloists whose contributions were over all too quickly. Chris Burn, Helen Charlton, Malcolm Leitch and Daniel D’Souza all sang with remarkable polish.
I was not aware there was a single sackbut (a medieval form of the trombone) in Christchurch, let alone a quartet of them, but there is and it played curious but very attractive arrangements of Bruckner motets.
Jeremy Woodside had his solo in Elgar’s Second Organ Sonata, which was played with much charm and also lifted the choir to great heights in the opening piece, Great is the Lord, again my Elgar. From the first bar the choir sounded alert and focused, but afraid either of letting rip nor of having a bit of fun.
The deployment of musical forces to achieve different colours and effects was meticulously well organised.
Messiah “Law drives choir in style”
Brian Law really does make the choir, which by rights should have all the manoeuvrability of a logging truck, corner like a fine Italian motorcycle. The speeds down the back straight, as in For Unto Us A Child Is Born are eye-watering, the control on the hairpins in Since By Man Came Death is magnificent. - Timothy Jones
MUSIC FROM RUSSIA
Fortified by inclusion of the Oxfords, the men’s section was magnificent, while the sopranos and altos soft openings of some items were splendidly controlled. Firmly directed by Brian Law, the Choir coped with the formidable demands of the score. - David Sell
MISSA GAIA
Theresa Thomason was clearly top of the bill, with her spine-tingling voice and wonderfully straight forward presentation. Te Ropu o te Kotahitanga were also a class act. Many of the individual performances were superb. The concert, it should be noted was a sell-out. - Timothy Jones
Congratulations to Messrs Law and Halley and to the hundreds of performers for the many hours of organization and rehearsal that must have gone into staging this magnificent performance. - Chris Oldham
A MESSIAH TO REMEMBER
Christmas means another Messiah. Brian Law’s crisp tempos with a small flexible orchestra and the Choir - Soloists, four specialists, each with a voice of real personality with diaries packed with impressive engagements at the worlds greatest musical venues made this a Messiah to remember. - Timothy Jones
ANZAC SALUTE
Christchurch Symphony & Christchurch City Choir ( Joint Concert) with N.Z.C.T. Woolston Band & Artists QUALITY BEFITTING OCCASION. For a concert in which the meaning was in the event, this was a very successful one. It had variety, dignity and consistently good quality, and at the same time never lost sight of the event that it was saluting. There was plenty of nostalgia. - David Sell
MOZART REQUIEM
Memorable effort, focus maintained, the bite and fury in the Dies Irae is worthy of special mention. The choir was impressive, producing a full rich evenly matched tone. The symbiotic chemistry of seasoned performers and youthful spirit definitely got results. It was great to see and hear James Harrison and Christopher Bowen back in Christchurch for this concert, both doing extremely well overseas and deservedly so. - Patrick Shepherd
MISSA SOLEMNIS
Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis stands alone in his repertoire as a work of such complexity and expressive power that even he called it his greatest achievement. Involving over two hundred musicians in music of often fiendish difficulty, its twenty-year absence from the city is understandable. However the success of this performance suggest that the tune was right for its reappearance. - Rachel Hawkey