CHORAL SINGING OF BEAUTY

Southland Times, Issue 23816, 13 May 1939, Page 8

CHORAL SINGING OF BEAUTY

Vienna Mozart Boys’

Choir

PURITY AND FRESHNESS OF VOICES

Singing of rare purity and freshness was heard at the Civic Theatre last night at the only Invercargill concert by the Vienna Mozart Boys’ Choir. Trained to the highest degree, the boys gave performances of unusual daintiness and artistry and delighted a big audience with their interpretations of part songs, folk music and early madrigals. The whole of the singing was marked by an apparently effortless precision which brought the choir into the very front rank of vocal organizations visiting New Zealand in recent years.

Grouped round the piano at which sat the conductor, Dr Georg Gruber, the boys produced an effect of a very responsive instrument from which a player extracted most personal interpretations. From 19 boys, many of whom were very diminutive, a big unit of volume could not be expected, but the delicacy and balance of the singing was a greater asset than the strength on which many choirs rely. Each item on a generous programme was an artistic gem, revealing imaginative conceptions of many beautiful works. The selection of music and its performance displayed a greater search for virtuosity and brilliance than would be expected from an English boys’ choir, but in all their singing there was a complete absence of artificiality. The programme opened with a reverent Easter hymn, “Christ is Reborn,” an example of the purity of early music. Then followed a group of madrigals dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Remarkable effects were secured in these numbers by the delicacy of control of the sections of the choir, the balance being admirable throughout. A charming sixteenth century folk song, “She is Like a Lovely Rosebud,” was a lovely example of unemotional singing and it was well bracketed with an early carol, “Christ, True Son of God.”

In the second section of the programme a delightful musical play, “Tales from the Vienna Woods,” woven round the lilting music of Johann Strauss, was presented. While the strict discipline of the pure choral numbers was missed in this operetta, it was performed with grace and enthusiasm by the young choristers who appeared to revel in the costume nlay.

The final group of choral numbers opened with a thrilling fugue, “The Hunt,” dating from the fourteenth century. This early example of polyphonic writing presented problems which the choir overcame with ease to secure tremendous effects. Two charming shepherd songs followed, of which a Neapolitan number giving impressions of pipe music was remarkably well produced. Beautiful effects were secured in a Silesian folk song, “The Nightingale and the Frog,” while a

Rhineland folk song, “Three Regiments,” was a brilliant piece of martial music. A Mozart cradle song was among the most delicate items, while, a choral version of “The Blue Danube Waltz” was deservedly popular.