ST. MATTHEW PASSION

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27628, 7 April 1955, Page 3

ST. MATTHEW PASSION

MUSICAL SOCIETY’S PERFORMANCE Last evening, in the Civic Theatre, the Royal Christchurch Musical Society sang Bach’sSt. Matthew Passion, The society gave its first performance of this work last year and, in many respects, there has been considerable improvement. Particularly was this so in the maintaining Of atmosphere. A much better choice of soloists for the parts of "The Evangelist” and “The Christ” helped very considerably towards this end. Orchestrally, although this performance was of a high standard in many respects, last year’s rendering was the better. The choir, trained by Mr R. FieldDodgson with great skill aid understanding, sang excellently. Their precision, tone, and expression were all of a most creditable standard, and their added confidence helped greatly towards making their contribution to the work both moving in its devotional aspects and brilliant in the cries of the rabble. . The chorales lost something of their effectiveness by being sung at a rather fast speed. In the choruses, “My Saviour, Why Must AR This 11l BefaH Thee?’ and "And So Our Sin WiU Fall Asleep,” there was great devotion: the great ending to Part I—“O Man Thy Grievous Sin Bemoan”—was magnificent; and the final chorus, “In Tears of Grief,” made a deep impression. However, it was the small interpolated chorus work in some of the arias that showed how splendidly the choir has assimilated the atmosphere of this sublime work. These came aptly and reverently. Mr Maurice Newman gave a stylish and most satisfying reading of the Evangelist. His well-controlled light lyric tenor voice, together with his perfect clarity of enunciation, was eminently suitable to the part. Alongside these, qualities, he showed a sensitive and sympathetic understanding that enabled the narrative to unfold

naturally and poignantly. His contribution to the effectiveness of the performance was a large one. Mr Winston Sharp showed the same understanding, and sang the words of Christ with deep reverence. His voice was tonally suitable, and in interpretation he made a nice distinction between bringing forth too much personality, which would be intolerable, and that wooden singing which so often is mistakenly assumed to be the correct style for eightenth-century oratorio. The one thing that marred an otherwise excellent performance was his tendency to swoop in descending intervals in a fashion that would be better suited to Puccini than to Bach. Mr Gordon Griffiths sang with a well balanced and resonant bass voice. An otherwise good performance was spoiled by bad distortion of vowels. Mrs. Anita Ritchie, as usual, sang with exceUent understanding and sure

sure technique. Her technique, and her ability tq carry on regardless of obstacles, stood her in good stead in

“Jesus Saviour” when the accompanist went awry, and the whole thing developed into “catch-as-catch-can for a while. Her solo work, for the most part, was in nature of commentary upon the story, and was performed with deeply-felt intensity. Of Miss Mary Pratt’s work, one can but repeat what has been said so often of her past performances in so many fields of music, and hope that one will have many more opportunities of saying how extremely fortunate we are to have in her an artist of such rare distinction. Her truly magnificent voice—it would be magnificent in any company—and her disciplined interpretations are a sheer delight. To Mr Field-Dodgson, congratulations must given for excellent training of his choir, and for most able direction of a fine performance. —C.F.B.