Auckland Choral at the Auckland Town Hall

By WILLIAM DART

The perennial popularity of Handel's Messiah is not difficult to fathom. This is a work written with the perfect balance of faith and invention; an oratorio with the sort of pacing and tunefulness that a Broadway musical might envy.

Messiah has become a Christmas tradition, a once-a-year concert hall experience for some and a lifesaver for choral societies who can count on healthy attendances to balance concert budgets.

Speaking from the podium, guest conductor Janet Lince stressed some of the damage that had been done to the work in the 19th century through Victorian overkill, when gargantuan forces obscured the finer details of Handel's music.

The English conductor worked hard with Auckland Choral to avoid this and lithe tempi were the key to her success - And the Glory positively danced into our consciousness. Lince also created a sense of interchange in the more contrapuntal choruses such as And he shall purify and the tonal blending in Surely he hath borne our griefs was admirable.

Balancing the many pleasures was the irritating sense of strain whenever sopranos tackled top A's and one truly terrible moment in For Unto Us a Child is Born when the good ladies overlooked one of their entries.

In general, arias were under-characterised. The initial tension in Glenese Blake's voice relaxed by the time she gave us a beautifully phrased I know that my redeemer liveth, but Zan McKendree-Wright needed more projection for her evident musicianship to come through.

Her ornamentation, though skilful, was not always convincing, and the impressive and full-voiced Kenneth Cornish was less at ease when he ventured from the printed score.

Baritone David Griffiths often struggled with notes that were below his comfort zone - most obviously in For behold, darkness - and it was distressing to have Handel's Da Capo ignored in the aria Why do the Nations. In fact, far too much of the score fell on the cutting room floor, including the lovely How beautiful are the feet.

On the instrumental side, Piper's Sinfonia may be a valiant band but their modest forces were often swamped by the 100-plus choristers and, after two hours, despite playing that had a nice Baroque bounce to it, the steely violin tone did take its toll.