Grouped in a semicircle around a smallish orchestra of impeccable musicianship, the young singers propelled the dramatic Passion story; Bach's many chorales were beautifully dispensed, phrases often delineated with just the slightest catch of breath.
English tenor Nicholas Mulroy sang from memory as the Evangelist. He outlined the piece's sorrowful trajectory with a remarkable range of emotions, in perfect concord with cellist Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismark and James Tibbles on chamber organ.
Mulroy also took on the tenor arias, poignantly singing of Christ's bloodstained back being transformed into a rainbow of redemption. Paul Whelan's resonantly voiced Jesus combined authority with unswerving humanity. His final "It is accomplished" led to a transcendent "Es ist vollbracht," shared by countertenor Christopher Lowrey and the exemplary Laura Vaughan on viola da gamba.
The American Lowrey came with glowing credentials from the European opera and early music circuit; they proved to be fully justified.
Bass-baritone Derek Welton's sympathetic portrayal of Pilate brought the man's dilemmas into a world that many of us know, while fellow-Australian Siobhan Stagg made exquisite music out of Bach's vocally testing soprano arias.
The ultimate triumph, however, must lie with the orchestra that so proudly carries our city's name through the whole country and beyond.
What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Where: Auckland Town Hall
Reviewer: William Dart
