Kiri’s second concert

Press, 8 January 1983, Page 6

Kiri’s second concert

Kiri Te Kanawa charity concert, Auckland Town Hall. Reviewed by L. C. M. Saunders, music critic of the "New Zealand Herald.”

The courage and fighting spirit of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa came to her rescue last evening when throat trouble seriously affected the final group of her programme.

Again the Auckland Town Hall was packed and the ovation at the end of the concert even greater, with streamers as well as flowers added to the prolonged applause. In the last few days Dame Kiri has. been through a hectic round of rehearsing, concert singing, and investiture and, most wearing, the experience of being in a much drier climate than she is used to.

All this took toll of her voice. Troublesome notes in her lower register showed up several times in the early part of the gramme.But the real difficulty

came with the emotional intensity of the Puccini group. By then it was apparent that she was vocally tired, but she had a commitment, and she honoured it with distinction.

If ever a singer must have wanted to do her best on such an occasion it was now, as she began on “Oh, My Beloved Daddy” with her own father there before her.

She got through it, and the succeeding numbers. Then as the applause went on during a standing ovation, it was suddenly realised that she was singing unaccompanied. It was a few lines only from “Pokarekare ana” which along with “Hine E Hine” she would have sung in full if only her voice would have allowed it.

For the rest of the programme, a repeat of the first one apart from the dropping of one Mozart' aria, there were the glorious moments of some lovely songs well worth the rehearing, and the few trouble spots which can-

did criticism is obliged to mention.

One is the voice break on certain notes, and the other the tendency to take the florid arias of Handel, including “Let the Bright Seraphim,” at a higher speed than allows complete accuracy of note placement for beauty of tone.

But Dame Kiri’s audience was not there to worry about details. They lapped up what she gave them, even though many would probably have preferred some more familiar items.

Certainly the whole of Auckland has appreciated the great contribution she has made in getting the proposed Aotea Cultural Centre under way.

The two concerts have emphasised the worth of the Auckland Regional Orchestra. The conductor, John Hopkins, has brought it to top pitch, both in the accompaniments and the purely orchestral numbers. Its playing last evening was better than ever.