KEY POINTS:
There was a real sense of occasion on Saturday when Auckland Choral farewelled Peter Watts after 20 years as music director.
The concert was also a celebration, marking just how much this dynamic Englishman has provided a figurehead and direction for the group over the past two decades.
David Hamilton's The Ring of Words set an appropriate tone, praising the power of music through cleverly combined settings of Stevenson and Sassoon. There was much to ring and sing about, vocally and orchestrally, in a resolutely upbeat score.
The piece also incorporated a lone bagpiper, when AC's chairman and choir member Warwick Mitchell, fully sporraned, joined in from the circle.
Andrew Carter's Benedicite is one of Watts' favourite works and its inclusion was an opportunity to showcase the finely disciplined voices of Auckland's Girls' Choir. The AGC gave a real zing to their three "blessings", as they put in a good word for badgers and hedgehogs, whales and grandparents - the first, a waltz with perky bassoon on the side, had a cuteness factor of 10 out of 10. But alongside them the adult writing seemed overly earnest.
Beethoven's Mass in C provided the impetus choir and orchestra needed. This was the meat in the programme. The musicians were well-primed, from the striding fugal entries of the choristers to exquisite woodwind colorations and bracing outbursts from trumpets and drums. It is a vocal quartet which gives this Mass its emotional effectiveness and Emma Roxburgh, Mary Newman-Pound, Brent Read and Wade Kernot were beautifully balanced.
What: Auckland Choral.
Where: Auckland Town Hall.
Reviewer: William Dart.
