Concert Review: Auckland Choral, Auckland Town Hall

Indra Hughes. Photo / Supplied

The origins of Bach's Mass in B minor might surprise some, considering its undisputed status as a High Baroque masterpiece.

Auckland Choral's Saturday presentation of the work came with an Indra Hughes triple bonus and, pre-concert, Hughes' authoritative programme notes laid out the work's extraordinary genesis, patched together during the last decades of Bach's life from his earlier disparate and often protestant scores.

During the performance, Hughes' deft organ continuo was the perfect complement to the ripple and thrust of James Tibbles' harpsichord, and the participation of Hughes' Music Sacra singers added confidence and focus to the choral sound.

Whether this work should be sung by a hundred plus choristers is a moot point, as many feel it was intended for solo voices; nevertheless, Auckland Choral director Uwe Grodd went for the monumental in the opening Kyrie eleison, only occasionally let down by wavering tenors.

When the mode was robust, the singing generally convinced, but the second Kyrie exposed some flailing sopranos, and there were some murky chromatics in the Confiteor.

Pipers Sinfonia was an energetic band, thanks to the presence of some of the city's best instrumentalists in its ranks, revelling in the Polonaise-like swing of the Et resurrexit. Grodd's four soloists came from both sides of the Tasman and beyond.

Soprano Lauren Armishaw revealed her European experience in the clarity of her phrasing, with an unimpeachable musicianship that made for a succession of telling duets.

Tenor David Hamilton provided a stirring plainchant introduction for the great Credo but, by his Benedictus, towards the end of a two-hour programme with no interval, his voice seemed strained alongside Luca Manghi's effortlessly liquid-toned flute.

Australian bass Stephen Bennett excelled in the Et in spiritum Sanctum, buoyed by the dancing lines of two oboes d'amore.

Some of Bach's finest writing goes to the alto, and Kate Spence was eloquent in her Qui sedes against Alison Dunlop's beautifully turned oboe d'amore part.

By the final Agnus Dei, maintaining her line against fairly acrid violin playing and herself a little tested by Bach's superhuman demands on the human lungs, Spence still made every note count.

What: Auckland Choral.

Where: Auckland Town Hall.

When: Saturday. Bach's Mass given monumental treatment