Auckland Choral's 150th birthday concert was launched with some ceremony. A David Hamilton fanfare set the entrance of the Governor-General in MGM splendour and the choir rendered the composer's arrangement of the national anthem with gusto.
Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, that Everest of the choral repertoire, was an ambitious offering for
the occasion.
Consciousness-expanding in its stylistic range and its demands on performers, no wonder the composer's biographer, Schindler, described Beethoven's mood at the time with one of those portmanteau German words that translates as "oblivion of everything earthly".
Conductor Peter Watts drew a committed performance from his choristers in a difficult work.
The air of general celebration made less of passing untidinesses which, let it be admitted, is just as likely to occur on the international concert stage.
On the whole, the singing was laudably athletic where Beethoven asks for it.
If one expects an occasional thinness of tone in the upper reaches of the sopranos, I was more disturbed by the frequent inability of the men's voices to register over the orchestra. Too many lines stole upon us instead of making a strong entry.
Watts showed his sensitivity over and over again, from the muted "Et in terra pax", surrounded by the blaze of the Gloria, to the shapely woodwind Larghetto that leads into "Qui tollis", elegantly delivered by the four soloists.
Perhaps more could have been made of those bizarre parade-ground outbursts in the final Agnus Dei, and a little more fire would not have gone amiss in the Quoniam.
The quartet of soloists - Patricia Wright, Helen Medlyn, Patrick Power and Sir Donald McIntyre - came together well, with Medlyn's warm mezzo and Power's sometimes over-rich tenor to the fore.
The Auckland Philharmonia provided solid support, although both stamina and concentration were tested in the second half of the evening.
Particularly lovely were the solo contributions from the trilling flute of Catherine Bowie and Dimitri Atanassov's solo violin, hovering over a heavenly Benedictus.
What a shame that an interval was placed between Credo and Sanctus. Beethoven's extraordinary style-shift here is daring, and all the more so if the performance is continuous.
