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Friday 6 December 2024
Knox Church
Friday evening’s City Choir Dunedin (CCD) celebration of Christmas in Knox Church was almost sold out and the audience members were full of praise for the "Joyeux Noël! French Music for Christmas" programme of French choral works.
Conductor David Burchell, with great enthusiasm and flailing windmill arms, led the 70-member choir, plus five soloists, a 24-strong Dunedin Symphony Orchestra ensemble and organist Micah Xiang through various genres of French repertoire from 17th to 20th centuries, as well as traditional Christmas carols.
Among some very satisfying results were stand-alone pieces such as the opening unaccompanied Provencal carol Patapan, Poulenc’s Hodie Christus natus est and O magnum mysterium, which set the choir off to a great start, creating bright timbre with full sound and judicious dynamics. An excellent programme gave information and history of the various repertoire and arrangements.
Christe Redemptor Omnium (1690) by Delalande was a longer work with verses of a 6th century hymn set as individual movements shared between soloists and choir. Maintaining a brisk pace throughout, the choir achieved good balance, with strong male sections when called for and a magnificent final contrapuntal-styled Amen, all sung with French text, as was almost the entire concert.
Guest soloists were Robert Tucker (baritone), Cathy Highton-Sim (soprano), Tessa Romano and Claire Barton (mezzo-sopranos) and Alex McAdam (tenor).
Excerpts from Saint-Saens’ Oratorio de Noël also with soloists, was more lyrical and the resounding Alleluia repeats certainly displayed the current CCD’s choral strength. Organ solo Noël X was a set of demanding variations by Daquin, for which Burchell achieved great virtuosity as nimble fingers interpreted arrangements of the traditional tune.
Selections from Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ included The Unseen Angels, and The Flight to Egypt for orchestra with exquisite woodwind passages.
Several other French items and a strong delivery of the popular Cantique de Noël (O Holy Night) by Adolphe Adam completed a unique French-flavoured pre-Christmas concert.
Joyeux Noël!
Review by Elizabeth Bouman, Otago Daily Times, 9 December 2024
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