KEY POINTS:
Auckland Choral's Messiah rang some changes in an event that has become a fixture in December's concert offerings.
Peter Watts' programme note did not quote 18th-century responses to the work this time but stressed the irony of Handel's oratorio being premiered in the politically sensitive city of Dublin when Cook was yet to consolidate on Abel Tasman's discovery of our country.
Watts, conducting from the harpsichord, marshalled one of AC's strongest performances to date.
For many years, the singers have closed scores for the better-known choruses and reaped rewards in the increased engagement with the music.
But elsewhere, Handel's often complex writing was more clearly delivered. "And with His stripes" was firm and resolute; "All we like sheep have gone astray" livened by quirky phrasing.
Instrumentally, a well-sprung overture bade well and, throughout the evening, Pipers Sinfonia only occasionally wanted in string tone. John Wells' organ contributions, from dramatic underlining to decorative flutter, were a delight.
Tenor Kenneth Cornish introduced himself poignantly with "Comfort Ye" but seemed less at ease later in the work. David Griffiths sang with intelligence and style, although, as a baritone, he is not always comfortable in bass repertoire.
"The trumpet shall sound" saw him in stirring form, with fluent trumpet obbligato from Philip Lloyd, but the excised middle section denied Griffiths the chance to use the tenor-like qualities of his upper range.
Madeleine Pierard brought a well-measured musicality to soprano numbers, a hint of mezzo colouring adding to the import of "I know that my redeemer liveth".
Wendy Dawn Thompson, last heard on this stage singing Mahler, responded vividly to the dramatic in her pieces, registering a remarkable intimacy in "He was despised".
Here is an aria in which one feels Handel is as much concerned with the many outcasts of the world as with the tormented Christ.
There is an anecdote of the composer commenting after Messiah, "I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wished to make them better." In this extraordinary aria, Thompson transported us well beyond the all-surrounding commercialism of the Christmas season.
