‘Christmas-at-home’

Press, 13 December 1982, Page 6

‘Christmas-at-home’

“Christmas-at-home” with the Cecilian. Singers, music director, Nan Anderson, at the Provincial Council Chambers, December 12. Reviewed by Philip Normdn. The "Christmas-at-home" concert by the Cecilian Singers last evening was a gracious yet lively occasion, qualities ' reflected in the choir from its music director. Nan Anderson. “Home" this year for the choir was the previously untried concert hall of the Provincial Council Chambers, an impressive and elegant building that deserves to be further explored as a performance venue. The programme presented by the Singers and their featured guests was tailored to meet the reverberant acoustics of the hall. Slowerpulsed pieces were favoured, as was the pianissimo dynamic. The bulk of the programme was taken up by the choir-s presentation' of • Stra-

vinsky’s "Cantata" (1952). This is a curiously uneven work that contrasts a haunting. not unattractive choral refrain with some turgid solo writing. Judy Bellingham (soprano) and Frariz Kney (tenor) wrestled intelligently with the convoluted phrases in their long solos, but the lines defied all shaping. In spite of the sensitive but determined approach to the work by soloists, choir, and the small mainly wind ensemble, the work remained unsatisfying. The small Kodaly pieces, particularly "Whitsuntide,” presented by the choir were most enjoyable, and were delivered with commendable precision and a generally full and pleasing tone. The sopranos need to temper their tone in the upper register though; the rattle of loose vocal chords persistently marred the otherwise well blended texture in “Mountain Nights III.” I. The.guest group, the Aure-

lian Singers, is a happy male quartet combination of two soft-toned inner voices with two outer voices of sharper definition. Their ensemble sound is as finely tuned as their interpretative skills as they most ably showed in Elgar's “Part-songs from the Greek Anthology.” Of all the performers, their clarity of diction suffered the least in the reverberance of the hall. The other guest artist was Anne Young, a Christchurch singer briefly on leave from London before taking up a contract with the Glyndebourne Opera. Her voice has a maturity and a polish of technique that belies her age? Her singing appears effortless, with an even tone quality throughout. Hers is a' darkly sensuous sound, capped with a tight rapid vibrato. It is. a sound that I admire, particularly in such a deeply expressive song as Michael Head's < "Love's Lament ”L. ~