Dorian Choir wins unreserved praise

Press, 2 September 1977, Page 18

Dorian Choir wins unreserved praise

NZPA London I The New Zealand Dorian Singers won unreserved i praise for its performance in • the 8.8. C. proms programme j at St Augustine’s, London, ton Monday evening. | Beautiful passages; [abounded in Palestrina’s! /'Mass for the Assumption ofj the Virgin Mary’’ as per-; !formed by the “splendidly! vital and resilient Dorian) }Choir from New Zealand,”! Philip Hope-Wallace said in; •the “Guardian.” i “The grading of tone and) jthe chording in the Gloria) • were near perfection,” hej [said. I “From the secular point of’

, view, the interest of this prom must have lain in the! programme-making, which in-! terspersed the secrecies of; ; the Mass with works, mainly! modern, which either fitted; tin or gave a startling effect; of contrast — Douglas ! Mews’s Magnificat being a particularly striking instance, •of this. Jack Body’s ‘Motet’ J almost verged into spoken, l declaration and Stanford and; I Britten’s youthful ‘Salve! ; Regina’ tuned in without any •sense of incongruity.” ii Douglas Mews and Jack; Body are both New Zealand; ,icomposers who have written; 'works especially’ for thej ’choir. |