The Week's Music...

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 885, 20 July 1956, Page 16

The Week's Music...

by

SEBASTIAN

HE open season is with us once more, and the voice of the choral society is heard in the land. The Christchurch Harmonic Society was broadcast only locally (3YC), unfortunately, because as a technical tour de force Maurice Jacobson’s setting of "The Hound of Heaven" would be hard to better. The hand of the composer’s mentor, Holst, shows in the marshalling of the forces and not a little in some of the more acidulated harmonies; but for the most part the work is quite original, and often very lovely. Mystic in mood, the music matches the words, sprinkled with plainsong-like melisma, sometimes too much so for my mental comfort. At some moments the force of the words was lost, but most of the time there was a consistent virtuosity that was both disarming and overwhelming. Bouquets to the concuctor, Victor Peters, fewer to the choir, which was efficient but frequently muddy, and more to the 3YA Orchestra, which excelled itself: and a special bunch of rosemary to the tenor solist John Forrest, who handled a most exacting part most exactly, with an un-looked-for sensitivity and an unstrained smooth tone. In musical contrast, Handel’s cantata "Mirth and Melancholy" (a literal setting of Milton’s words)

drew delightfully fresh singing from the choir, and produced some fine trumpet solo work. The other contender for musical honours was the Dunedin Choral Society who performed Bach’s St. John Passion (4YC), a trifle late for Passiontide perhaps, but since we so rarely hear the work, a welcome change. Mr. WaldenMills, the conductor, wrought his considerable effects not so much by nuance as by a brass-choir technique of wholesale changes in dynamics. The choir, though a little frail in the male section, dealt manfully enough with the dramatic sections, and gave a most expressive final chorus. Mary Pratt’s warm tone graced the alto solos, and Owen Bonifant made a good job of the Evangelist’s exacting part. The 4YA Orchestra was quite adequate, with some very appealing oboe work; altogether this was as good as one is likely to hear in local concert halls. ‘ If your taste veers toward the mcdern, you may have heard the flautist James Hopkinson with David Galbraith at the piano (YC links) playing various works, one of the most interesting without being eclectic with Hindemith’s sonata. The music, though not easy, is rewarding to the listener, and, as usual, so was Wr BPWonkinson’s nlaving.