Concert Review: Prism, St Matthew-in-the-City

The university chamber choir could not be in better hands than those of Dr. Karen Grylls. Photo / Supplied

Prism, the University of Auckland Chamber Choir's 75th birthday tribute to Arvo Part, set off in the nicest possible way, with a tribute from fellow composer Eve de Castro-Robinson.

The first of de Castro-Robinson's chimed sonorities was a cleansing of the soul after a welcome from Davinia Caddy who, rhapsodising over the Estonian composer, invited us to "take a moment and get sucked in".

De Castro-Robinson's setting of Tennyson's Ring Out, Wild Bells for countertenor Dean Sky-Lucas, tubular bell and eight-part choir made reverberant use of St Matthew's acoustics.

Apart from cascades of scales, Sky-Lucas's material, sensitively voiced, was on the sparing side, in line with Part's comment, quoted in the programme, that a single note is enough when beautifully played.

The choir, chiming in and pitching its own scales around the soloist, worked towards a spectacular chordal climax. Sky-Lucas also caught the lilting, waltz-like ballad of My Heart's in the Highlands and, after sketching evocative colourings behind the singer, organist James Tibbles took us through the tintinnabulating Trivia, with only passing competition from Wellesley St traffic.

The university chamber choir could not be in better hands than those of Karen Grylls, and, aside from a few indecisive entries from sopranos, quite possibly through nervousness, team spirit ruled.

Part's Magnificat enchanted me as unisons swelled into full chords; in the exquisitely layered Woman with the Alabaster Box, I was struck by the Estonian's skill as storyteller.

As masses go, Part's Berliner Messe is a relatively succinct setting, but still there were moments when the musical material did not quite measure up to the time spent delivering it.

Not all the movements had the compulsive momentum of the Credo - a showcase, as was much of the concert, for the particularly strong tenor section.

Lulled in this veritable oasis of contemplation, one longed here and there for a bit of a contrapuntal tussle.

However, faced with the achingly simple plainchant in the second Alleluia or the absolute rightness of the Gloria's three-note Amen, one felt brutish for doing so - especially in a birthday concert.