Concert Review: The King's Singers, Auckland Town Hall

Christopher Bruerton. Photo / Supplied

The King's Singers were always peerless purveyors of a cappella polyphony, but their bright 'n' breezy close-harmony numbers are what have earned the YouTube hits and, I suspect, had much to do with a full town hall for their Saturday concert.

The opening set of Tudor madrigals was heavenly; the refinement and blend of the men's ensemble mesmerised.

They teased out the supple rhythmic play of John Bennett's All Creatures Now are Merry Minded and captured the lustrous darker tones of Thomas Weelkes' Thule, The Period of Cosmography.

A sortie into 16th-century Spain occasioned lustier fare, with rough and ready sailors rather than elegant courtiers featuring in two pieces from Mateo Flecha.

The saga of Flecha's La Bomba may have been a little drawn out, but it was never less than entertaining, especially when Paul Phoenix vocalised a twanging guitar.

A bracket of folk-songs ran from a couple of Maori offerings, including an artfully elaborating Po Karekare Ana, to Greensleeves dressed up with the sleekest Hi-Lo harmonies.

New Zealander Christopher Bruerton was a moving storyteller in Eric Bogle's The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, rounded off by his colleagues in hushed, immaculate unison.

After interval, Elena Kats-Chernin's River's Lament was a stilted affair, not helped by bursts of applause between movements. Effectively written for the voices, it was dogged by the Australian composer's conservative idiom. Listening to the "drip, drop" and "plip, plop" of rainfall in the last section reminded me, rather sadly, that this group once sang Penderecki, Ligeti and Berio.

Regardless of how you find the group's lighter material, the final set of numbers, some mushy Michael Buble excepted, was electrifying.

David Hurley's countertenor floated serenely above the syncopations and bass Jonathan Howard sometimes seemed to have a drum kit concealed in his lips.

And the first encore was just for us, the ultimate Kiwi tribute.

Their sizzling take on Dave Dobbyn's Slice of Heaven suggests these men could well consider taking out a patent on a cappella reggae.