PASSION MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 78, 2 April 1928, Page 9

PASSION MUSIC.

RECITAL AT ST. SEPULCHRB. For the first time in Auckland —if not in New Zealand—a rendering was given on Sunday by Holy Sepulchre Church choir, assisted by Mr. B. Hutton, tenor, and Messrs. A. E. Clyde and A. Simpson, baritones, of "The Passion of Our Lord According to St. Mark," a work which has gained ever increasing popularity in England during the past five years or so. The >york consists of the greater portion of the story of the Sacred Passion, arranged by the Rev. E. M. Milner White, dean of King's College, Cambridge, and set to music by the late Dr. Charles Wood, formerly organist of Caius College, Cambridge. Forsaking the usual arrangement of solos and choruses, the composer has followed closely the story of the Passion with recitative interspersed with short bursts of chorus work, the words of which are mainly the outbursts of the crowd which condemned our Blessed Lord. The music is contrapuntal in style for the most part, with an amazing dignity and forcefulness. The work opens with a bold organ prelude, and the organ accompaniment throughout is most effective and dramatic. In the treatment of the hymns, which intersperse the work, the composer has depended 1 chiefly upon ancient plain-song models, but these are treated with delightful variations of organ accompaniment, very effective use is made of faux bourdon, and in one hymn a very beautiful descant is added to be sung by one or two treble voices over and above the melody being sung by the rest of the choir, The rendering of the work last evening was sufficiently well done to enable the listener to appreciate the judgment passed upon the work by the "Church Times," which describes it as "a unique and precious gift to church music." The boldness, dignity and dramatic force of the music was fully felt by the large congregation. In future years this work is sure to supplant much of the Passion music now popular among us.