Tower Voices New Zealand at St Matthew-in-the-City

By WILLIAM DART

Making their first appearance in the city for more than two years, Tower Voices New Zealand showcased some of our country's best choral singing.

"I am passionate about New Zealand music and what New Zealand composers have to say," conductor Karen Grylls said.

The 32 voices of the chamber choir responded with works by no fewer than five local composers, four of whom were in the audience.

David Hamilton's 1979 Lux Aeterna was beautifully realised in terms of its fluctuating textures, and perfectly complemented by the composer's more recent Veni, Sancte Spiritus. This work, which won an international prize in Bologna a few years ago, searches for the perfect balance of serenity and fervour until its final Alleluias soar to the sky.

While the sopranos and altos lent a telling warmth to a Jack Body Lullaby, the men did more than ardent justice to Sam Piper's Blessing of the Three.

David Griffiths is skilful at exploring choral resonance and his 1996 Baxter settings, Lie Deep, My Love, show the composer at his most thoughtful. From the dark, burnished tone of the opening bars to the restless canons of the final "Blow, wind of fruitfulness", the singers were in glorious form.

After interval, Eve de Castro-Robinson's Chaos of Delight III seemed more sinister and menacing than when I first heard it from the University Singers. And by this point in the evening, its crackling textures introduced a welcome, abrasive element into a programme that had become a little legato.

Earlier, Grylls had introduced Mendelssohn's Hora Est with the quip, "Just to prove we do sing other sorts of music". In truth, the international repertoire fared less well. Poulenc's Quatre Motets suffered from bleak sopranos and the flattering acoustic of the church worked against the fluttering Quem vidistis.

Swedish composer Jan Sandstrom's take on Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, with singers scattered around the building, provided one of the loveliest moments. It played with our expectations sonically and spatially, a dramatic touch the choir could explore more.