Orfeo ed Euridice at the Town Hall Concert Chamber

By WILLIAM DART

Gluck is one those composers too easily overlooked. His operatic reforms may be acknowledged as historically important, yet, when his operas are not in the general repertoire, his is often seen as a paper reputation.

By giving us the chance to experience Orfeo ed Euridice in its original 1762 version, Peter Scholes and his Auckland Chamber Orchestra have done music-lovers an inestimable service.

For a "semi-staged" presentation, Raymond Hawthorne's production left nothing wanting in terms of drama. Taking, perhaps, a lead from Gluck's famous comment about the virtues of "plainness and simplicity", the director was incisive and economical in his moves and touches, achieving wonders with four masked actors, standing in for shades, shepherds and - sporting masks worthy of video nasties - fearsome monsters.

Endlessly inventive in grouping his players and only once giving the impression there was too much running around in circles, Hawthorne also drew fine, dramatically engaged performances from his three singers.

Zan McKendree-Wright, sleek as a prize-winning Drag King, was triumphant as Orfeo. As well as doing justice to the classical beauty of Gluck's lines, she had the emotional range of a skilled tragedienne, whether railing in fury against the Gods or lamenting her Euridice in the well-known Che faro.

Katherine Wiles' Euridice, making her entrance to the smoothly blended voices of John Rosser's chamber choir, was a creature of flesh and blood, volatile in temperament, a fury to be reckoned with in her Che fiero momento.

There was humour, too, in Hawthorne's conception of the opera; Amor was a rather capricious, wilful Messenger of Love. Sarah-Jane Rennie caught just this and gave us some lovely, graceful singing in her Gli sguardi trattieni.

The orchestra, although not the ultimate in refinement, offered sturdy support, accompanied the many recitatives with confidence and managed to hold together for the complex textures of Orfeo's arioso Che puro ciel.

Bravo then to Scholes who has given our operatically starved city another production. What a pity there was only one performance - judging by the enthusiasm of a capacity audience, this could well have sustained a modest season.