Moving recital

Press, 4 March 1978, Page 6

Moving recital

By

C. FOSTER BROWNE

; A deeply moving perform-) jance of Pergolesi’s “Stabat! Mater” was given in the) ;Cathedral of the Blessed Sac-) ) rament last evening by the! I Christchurch Harmonic Sing-! lers and a women’s choir) I conducted by Elizabeth) iWemyss, accompanied by! Karen Evans. This impassioned work was! )sung with skill and under-) '.standing—although it was I wrongly entitled “music for; )Easter.” The choir sang with! ;care for every detail de-) imanded. I The sublime grief of this |poem, telling the story of; l Our Lord’s Passion as ex-; perienced at the foot of the j Cross, was tellingly narrated by choir, soloists, and accompanist, without sentimental [exaggeration, and without an

instant’s perfunctory lapse. Ruth Hawkey and Raeleen Donald were the soloists. They had technique, sympathetic quality of voice, clarity and understanding of [phrasing. The tempo of “Sad 'her mourning,” (“Qui morebat”) was possibly a shade fast, but Miss Donald had [suitable timbre. Mrs Hawkey’s voice and clarity of line were splendid. My preference is for the work to be sung in Latin, however, for the phrasing seems more comfortable, and the meaning more succinct. Miss Evans’s accompanying was secure and stylish, and she played with imagination and good phrasing. The Rev. Stuart Avery gave fitting commentary on the story, and Mrs Diane Parsons sang a prologue with excellent voice and atmosphere.