Mathis fans happy

Press, 10 December 1981, Page 6

Mathis fans happy

johnny Mathis. Silver anniversary concert tour. Town Hall Auditorium, December 9, 8.30 p.m. Reviewed by Philip Norman. The Town Hall Auditorium j/ was packed with “maturing;/? teenagers” last evening for the big silver anniversary concert tour of the singer, Johnny Mathis. -■ Twenty-five years of survival in the precarious world of show business is no mean feat and for this Johnny Mathis deserves hearty congratulations. The Christchurch audience was quick to show its appreciation of the Mathis sound with a near-unanimous standing ovation. No sign of waning popularity here. Middle-of-the-road - music is always in danger of blend-

ing too successfully with the white line. Such was the case . last evening — two (generous) hours of music without a break was sufficient to make even 'the upbeat numbers / seem down and the down .ones up. Hitherto Unsuspected similarities between, for example, a Stevie Wonder ballad and an Ivor Novello burlesque were highlighted as the programme travelled its monochromatic way. Certainly there was variety of material,, if not of treatment. Apart from the inevitable reminiscing through his old repertoire. Mathis ranged through such 1 diverse pieces as “Begin the ißeguine,” “Misty,” an orchestral medley of Michel Le Grande numbers, and the

ageing pussy’s lament from the new Lloyd Webber musical, “Cats.” The vaunted “superb silver anniversay orchestra” comprised, in the main, local musicians centred' on Mathis’s own rhythm section. The sound of this elite band was tight and well controlled by its musical director, James Gunduglia. The strings, however, were far from syrupy and frequently arrested the flight of many a soaring melody with . scratchy intonation and mispitching. A regular little light show was provided by the Town Hall technicians supplying the splotches of colour that were otherwise absent, likewise with the photographic festschrift that was the programme.