REQUIEM (CONCERT)

Coro

Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest July 14

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Coro’s latest program featured composers’ works that have more under the surface than might be immediately apparent. The program of individual items worked very well together.

Founded in 2011 by composer and conductor David Mackay and singer Paul Eldon, Coro is an award-winning chamber choir which has built a reputation for its innovative approach to performance and repertoire.

Donald Mackay, conductor

Conducted by Donald Mackay, the choir commenced with Maurice Duruflé’s Motets, composed in 1960. Their singing was beautifully clear and accurate. The second motet performed by women only was sensitively and memorably sung. There was great depth in the singing throughout and the finale was sombre and reflective.

Next, Nicholas Michael Smith’s recent choral work, Salve Regina, was an Australian premiere performance and the choir sang it with strength and conviction, the words making it a strong plea for mercy.

The third item, The Country Of Marriage, was a world premiere performance. Composed in 2014 as a wedding gift by this concert’s conductor, Donald Mackay, the text was from a few lines of the poem, The Country Of Marriage by Wendell Berry. It was a beautiful work with sensitive singing by the choir. Tenor, Paul Eldon and baritone, Daniel Sanderson, were featured and sang their parts with great feeling.

There was also a rich, colourful arrangement by John Aue of James Yorkston’s 1883 work, Molly Malone, as well as Oliver Messaien’s O Sacrum Convivium, haunting and beautiful in its complexity. The choir gave a fine performance of both works.

Barbara Jane Gilby

In a change of pace, one of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies was given a sensitive performance by the string orchestra with Barbara Jane Gilby, who also did the arrangement, playing the violin part.

The final work of the program was the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré, performed by choir and orchestra. In seven parts, its focus is on eternal rest and consolation. The work has dramatic as well as quiet moments, all of it achingly memorable. The soloists were Jang Hee Han, bass, Hannah Bleby, soprano, and Andrew Fysh, bass. They, the choir and the orchestra gave this the work the sensitivity it needs. It was a highly satisfying performance to end this excellent concert.

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 15 July 2024.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

 

  

THE WOMAN IN BLACK (PLAY)

 

Story by Susan Hill

Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt

Directed by Robin Herford, Associate Director: Antony Eden

Canberra Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre to July 14

 

Reviewed by Len Power 10 July 2024

Good ghost stories are those that engage your imagination, gripping and taking you on a dark journey where something nasty in the shadows may be about to strike. The Woman In Black is a fine example of this genre – frightening, imaginative and enjoyable at the same time.

Based on the 1983 book of the same name by English author Susan Hill, Stephen Mallatratt has created a stage adaptation that uses the magic of theatre to really get your imagination going. First performed in London in 1989, the show ran until 2023, becoming the second longest-running non-musical play in London’s West End, after The Mousetrap.

Arthur Kipps, a man deeply disturbed by an incident that occurred 30 years previously, struggles to present his story in rehearsal for a staged reading. Assisted by an actor who assumes the role of Kipps for the retelling, Arthur then plays the other male characters in a story of remote Eel Marsh House and the strange experience of the young lawyer Kipps who travels there to finalise an estate. What the young Kipps encounters is a true horror that reaches out into the present day.

John Waters and Daniel MacPherson

The framing device of a play-within-a-play works very well. We readily accept that we are asked to use imagination for the various scenes that unfold, setting us up for the supernatural aspects of the story. The suspenseful atmosphere builds unsettlingly well – there are strange, unexplained sounds, the rocking chair swinging back and forth in an empty room, the fumbled torch that plunges us into darkness and the locked door that suddenly opens by itself. Then there is something horribly eerie in the shadows as well…

John Waters

John Waters is the older Arthur Kipps at the start and end of the play who is the storyteller and he plays the various other male characters encountered in the story. Daniel MacPherson is the actor who then plays the younger Kipps in the story. Both actors play their roles convincingly, keeping the impact of the incidents in the play that affect their characters at a very real level.

Daniel MacPherson

Clever lighting and sound designs add a great deal to the atmospheric set, making this a memorable journey into the dark world of the imagination.

 

Photos by Justin Nicholas

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 11 July 2024.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

BEETHOVEN MISSA SOLEMNIS (CONCERT)

National Capital Orchestra

Canberra Choral Society

Llewellyn Choir

Soloists: Sarah Darnley-Stuart (soprano),

Emma Mauch (soprano), Ryan O’Donnell (Tenor)

and Sitiveni Talei (Bass)

Conducted by Louis Sharpe

Llewellyn Hall July 6

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Although his Missa Solemnis is less well-known than his 9^th Symphony, Beethoven composed both in 1824. Completed just three years before his death, his achievement with both works is astounding, given that by this time he was profoundly deaf. A reflection of Beethoven’s own spiritual beliefs, the Missa Solemnis pushed the boundaries of what a mass setting usually encompasses.

The work is rarely performed because it is one of the most demanding pieces in both choral and orchestral repertoire. Exactly two hundred years since it was first heard, it was a challenge readily taken on by the National Capital Orchestra, Canberra Choral Society and members of the Llewellyn Choir with Louis Sharpe courageously conducting.

Louis Sharpe, conductor

Also performing were soloists Sarah Darnley-Stuart, soprano, Emma Mauch, soprano, Ryan O’Donnell, tenor, and Sitiveni Talei, bass. Dan Walker was the Chorus Master.

Soloists from left: Sarah Darnley-Stuart, Emma Mauch, Ryan O'Donnell and Sitiveni Talei

From the opening Kyrie, the performers sang and played confidently, giving an engaging and energetic performance that continued at a high standard throughout this lengthy work.

The Gloria that followed was especially dynamic and the many voices blended with the orchestra to produce a moving and often quite thrilling sound. They excelled themselves with Et vitam venturi, the famously difficult end of the Credo.

After interval, the playing and singing of the Sanctus was sensitively done and, in the Benedictus, first violinist, Thayer Preece Parker, played the high solo part so movingly, it was one of the highlights of the performance.

Thayer Preece Parker, first violinist

Although they sang very well throughout the work, the Agnus Dei gave the soloists their main opportunity to shine. Their unique voices rang out superbly, blending well with each other. The performance of this final section of the work was particularly moving with its plea for peace very clear.

This was a performance that everyone involved should be proud of. They were given well-deserved, lengthy applause at the conclusion of this outstanding concert.

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 7 July 2024.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.