Performance: The King's Music

By TARA WERNER

HOLY TRINITY CATHEDRAL, Auckland - While the theme of this Auckland Choral Society concert may have been music related to kings, an even stronger common element was the power of the emotional content in each score.

The supremacy of love, for example, and the compelling way two quite disparate composers communicated this intense emotion gave an added depth to the programme, conducted by Peter Watts.

Pergolesi's moving Stabat Mater was a poignant setting of a poem portraying Mary weeping at the foot of the cross, while Vaughan Williams' Flos Campi could be seen as its counterpart in its search for earthly love.

In both cases it was apparent that the choir has grown considerably in strength and discipline since last year, the women's voices especially. The Stabat Mater held no fears for them, with all the choruses evenly sung, leaving the best to the end with a gripping account of Quando corpus morietur. And the two soloists, soprano Gina Sanders and mezzo-soprano Julie Farquharson, were equally riveting, although the poor acoustics in the cathedral played havoc with the clarity of their words.

The duo was in excellent accord, with Sanders' lighter lyricism blending with Farquharson's heavier but equally expressive voice.

Vaughan Williams' Flos Campi, inspired by texts from the Song of Songs, may have been made up of wordless sounds for chorus, but this is not to say the music did not pose problems. While satisfyingly accurate with its intonation, on this occasion the choir was sometimes too dominant, overwhelming the orchestra and viola soloist Gillian Ansell.

When she could be heard, Ansell played a commanding and warm interpretation of Vaughan Williams' sensuous score, while the Pipers Sinfonia led by Graham McPhail provided a solid accompaniment.

Finally, Handel's Coronation Anthems highlighted a cheerful love of royal grandeur. Interspersed between the Stabat Mater and Flos Campi, this extrovert music provided a welcome contrast, even though the choir's initial entry in Zadok the Priest was somewhat over the top in its dynamics.