With the full-scale drama of Andrew Perkins' Christchurch Vespers coming up later, a selection of a cappella items made an effective opening for Bach Musica's Sunday concert. Three settings of Elizabeth and Jacobean poets by Keith Statham were pleasant enough partsongs, treating the words of Shakespeare, Edmund Waller and George
Concert review: Bach Musica, Holy Trinity Cathedral
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Conductor Rita Paczian. Photo / Supplied
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The piece had set off quietly with hypnotic tambura accompanying a skilful blend of plainsong-like writing and eastern chant.
It was here that we first encountered soprano Gina Sanders, who provided a dramatic and artistic anchor throughout the piece with her incisive contributions'.
Memorable moments were mainly vocal, from the overlapping phrases early in Laudate pueri to the choir clustering protectively behind Sanders later in the movement; and the clearly demarcated structure of Lucis Creator optime, verse by verse, each with distinctive vocal colouring, had a lucidity that sometimes did not come out in the work's more extrovert pages.
What: Bach Musica
Where: Holy Trinity Cathedral