Concert under John Hopkins

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32777, 30 November 1971, Page 12

Concert under John Hopkins

John Hopkins, a former conductor of the National Orchestra (now known as the N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra), who is back in New Zealand as guest conductor of the National Youth Orchestra, will guide the Christchurch Harmonic Society Choir and the Christchurch Civic Orchestra in the performance of the Berlioz oratorio, “The Childhood of Christ,” in the Civic Theatre on Saturday evening.

The soloists will be Heather Taylor, soprano; Ross Mayhew, tenor; Winstone Sharp, baritone; and Maurice Taylor, bass. Berlioz was a Southern Frenchman. He was bom near Grenoble, but spent most of his life in Paris, during the Romantic period in literature, art and music. His sacred trilogy, or oratorio, “The Childhood of Christ,” exhibits facets of Berlioz’s many-sided genius. The scoring throughout refutes the legend which attributes to Berlioz an instrumental gluttony. Berlioz’s ideal orchestra, as sketched in his famous “Treatise on Instrumentation,” would include 242 strings, 30 grand pianos, 30 harps and wind, and percussion to scale. He studied minutely the power of every

instrument and every combination of instruments. But, in this work, at no time is a large orchestra demanded, as for the most part the scoring is chaste and slender. “The Childhood of Christ” is the only oratorio composed by Berlioz, and was regarded with special affection by its author, who wrote both the words and music.