What: Auckland Choral
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Sunday
Reviewer: William Dart
The human race should well be ashamed that Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem is still chillingly relevant 64 years after it was written.
Back in 1962, the English composer’s monumental plea for peace was premiered just months before the Cuban Missile Crisis; tonight’s performance by Auckland Choral took place as we received news of ever-escalating conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Britten’s 85-minute score is indeed a choral masterpiece for all times, artfully placing traditional liturgical text alongside verses by war poet Wilfred Owen.
Musically, under the banner of Pipers Sinfonia, it pits a small chamber orchestra against larger symphonic forces and, most crucially, brings in the voices of a younger generation.
Tonight, this meant Auckland Youth Choir and, singing from the circle above the stage, Westlake Girls High School’s Cantare Choir, who navigated perilous melodic journeys with fearless precision and clarity against Philip Smith’s pellucid organ tones.
On the podium, a fervent Uwe Grodd inspired his choristers to new heights, introducing them with the hushed chant of “Requiem aeternam,” and having them burst into unbridled exhilaration for the joyous “Hosannah”.
The last few bars of the piece, descending irrevocably to a sonorous F major, offered the thought-provoking image of hopeful possibilities.
On the orchestral side, individual players responded stylishly to some demanding challenges, from energetic brass peppering in the Dies Irae to the many characterful responses to the vocal soloists.
Tenor Kyle Stegall and baritone James Harrison were responsible for Britten’s heartfelt settings of the Owen poetry, reminding me of the intense emotionalism that Derek Jarman evoked from them in his 1989 film dramatisation of this piece.
Stegall registered his unquestionable authority from his opening “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” and was almost unbearably poignant, threading Owen’s lyrics through the implacable Latin flow of the Agnus Dei. Harrison magnificently registered the weight and import of Owen’s final caution on the pity of war.
Soprano Morag Atchison is special in this country, combing dramatic acumen with unflinching technical expertise. Both served her well as she coolly delivered her contributions, with particular brilliance in the Sanctus, against a bracing splash of percussion and piano.