KEY POINTS:
Saturday's weather might have tested the most loyal of concertgoers, but a good number turned up to hear David Hamilton conduct Auckland Choral in a selection of his own and other composers' works.
Haydn's opening Te Deum saw the choir spreading the requisite jubilation, although there was little to celebrate about the straggling sound of St Matthew's Chamber Orchestra.
The guests of the evening were Melbourne's Choir of Trinity College under expat Michael Leighton Jones. The conductor's own setting of Dylan Thomas's Do not go into that good night, offset by some fearsome claps of thunder, paid homage to Douglas Lilburn, and the young singers delivered it with freshness and effective sense of reserve.
Setting Bach's 98th Cantata alongside Hamilton's own Well Done, Mister Bach was clever, as both works feature the same chorale tune. The choristers did the hymn tune proud, although Bach's arias needed much more vocal characterisation.
After interval, Hamilton's Whisper to Me had the expressive Kate Spence reminding us of just what we expect from a soloist. The score's trip from Danny Elfman to Ligeti engaged, and the sense of enjoyment projected by the women of the choir was infectious.
A more recent work, Monday's Troll, tested the patience. This was Proms-style jollity, with Anna McGregor dishing out spunky bass clarinet solos while the choir sang of wizard-nibbling ogres and grubby goblins. Perhaps Harry Potter and Tolkien have hardened my heart to the charm of cute miniature malevolence, but Jack Prelutsky's arch verses were irksome, even in a bouncy Finale that could have slipped out of A Chorus Line.
Hamilton's Te Deum has pedigree. Originally commissioned by the Auckland Choral Society, it was impressive 22 years ago and, an over-boisterous Amen excepted, it wears its age well.
Spence was at her radiant best, Auckland Choral threw themselves into some radical 80s vocalising, while youngsters from the Auckland Youth Choir, Kentoris and Diocesan Senior Choir, sprightly brass and percussion and John Wells rumbling away on the organ ensured this was the full Technicolor splash.
