Musical society performs Kodaly work

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33254, 18 June 1973, Page 14

Musical society performs Kodaly work

An interesting and worthwhile concert was given by the Royal Christchurch Musical Society, under the direction of Mr Robert FieldDodgson, in the Town Hall on Saturday evening. The Civic Orchestra, led by Louis Yffer, played the accompaniments for the choral works, and Heather Taylor, Lesley Thorpe, Gerald English, and Paul Person were the soloists.

Kodaly’s "Budavari” Te Deum opened the programme with exciting eclat. It is a work of brilliant and dramatic force, scored for bright effect — and for forceful presentation of the words. Choir, soloists, and orchestra entered fully into all details—and gave a memorable and impressive performance. There were times when the balance of the choir seemed not happy. The men, spread

widely across the back of the choir stage, should have been coming through with more vigour and clarity. The brass in the orchestra were seated high and were scored with plenty of top. This curtained off some tone. A more narrow seating of the men and bringing some of them nearer to the conductor might be worth trying. But apart from the fact that some punches lacked the expected dynamic force and the orchestra had more than its entitled “fat” it was a splendid performance well worth hearing once again.

Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Hom. and Strings was sung by Gerald English with Peter Glen — principal horn player in the N.Z.B.C. Orchestra — playing the horn solo part. The strings of the Civic Orchestra played with sensitivity to

atmosphere and phrasing and with lovely bloom on their tone. Gerald English sang with superbly poised artistry and with deep feeling for the six poems which comprise the work. His phrasing and choice of timbres were always so very apt and his lyrical and dramatic interpretations were ever interesting and delightful. Peter Glen’s horn playing had the delicate finesse one would expect from an artist of his long and proven ability. Some demands of far from ordinary difficulty were made on the instrument and were performed with smooth expertise. The string orchestra had the refined delicacy of tone and expressive nuances needed to accompany these two artists and the players made an excellent contribution to the success of this finely-wrought work.

The concert ended with Mozart’s “Requiem Mass.” This work did not fit in with the rest of the programme completely happily, but was an understandable choice with so good a quartet of soloists available. It is a work which is better performed by a much smaller choir. However it was both dramatic and devotional in presentation and there were many movingly beautiful moments. Particular reference must be made of the strongly dramatic, clear singing of the beginning of the “Dies Irae,” the gentle sounds of “Salva me fons pietatis” and “Pie Jesu Domine.” The fugal “Kyrie,” based on a subject also used by Bach and Handel, was firm in tone of good quality. The same music set to the words “Cum Sanctis Tuis” gave a dignified and strong ending to the

work. In all these, and in many more parts of the work, the choir was in grand form, giving close attention to the details of good choral technique. The soloists, in individual and concerted work, were well above the standard we often get. The “Recordare”— and the "Benedictus” were both sung with lovely blending and freshness of tone. Once again extraneous noise disturbed part of the performance. Theie was a banging sound during the “Agnus Dei” suggesting that “Big Time Wrestling” had come on at an unscheduled early hour. This sort of thing is annoying and distracting. Mr Field-Dodgson gave shapely dignity, bright and strongly rhythmical movement, and subtle and effective use of expression to all his conducting. —C.F.B.