Arts reflections – musical revelation
Mentioned in Dispatches:
Riverlea’s boob show! Naughty! Naughty? Not!!! Well, maybe a little … Words are strange things. Lawmakers have spent decades trying to control the way people use them, in much the same way they have tried to control paintings and photography. The censor still has the power to ban films and literary works at will. With the arrival of social media less than a decade ago, those regulations were simply ignored, and the role of the censor in defining cultural norms has virtually disappeared. It is rather wonderful, then, that Riverlea Theatre’s end of year gig has words at its heart, and music for its soul. It tells the tale of sixties’ jazz and cabaret singer Ruth Wallis whose lyrics were banned, and whose shows shocked with their risque´ performances. Boobs, and Ruth Wallis’s life and music is great theatre and a completely anachronistic R18 certificate makes a mockery of necessary censorship. Don’t for a moment let that sticky label put you off. This is a show about people and preferences which the
New York Times reviewer said ‘‘Exudes a joyous innocence.’’ To coin a cliche´ – ‘‘Go figure’’ – or just go!
❚ The Quest is set to go. Remember the first musical by writer composer Chris Williams, State Highway 48? One of the cast made the comment that Williams, who himself acknowledges some first time slips in the structure and writing of Highway, has used that experience to turn The Quest into a tighter, more balanced and effective show with 22 original songs, some great Williams wit supplemented by the two Nicks, Wilkinson and Braaae, new and striking live music music, and great parodic targets from reality TV talent shows. Opens this weekend. Check The Meteor Theatre for showtimes.
What: Messiah
Who: Baroque musicians from the University of Waikato Conservatorium When: Saturday, November 25
Where: St Paul’s Presbyterian Church,
Katikati
Work by: George Frideric Handel, parlour performance edition of 1784
Musical director: Dr Rachael Griffiths
Hughes
On Saturday I met the ecstatic Colin Smith, guardian of the nearly 250-yearold edition of Handel’s Messiah which was the focus of the day’s performance. For him, music is one of the great paradoxes. We cannot do without it, and yet we still value developers and bankers above musicians. Mr Smith put it quite succinctly. We once used universities to educate students. Now that purpose has been subsumed by a belief in the civilising effect of economics. To be true to their purpose, universities need a heart, and that heart has traditionally been kept beating by the presence of the arts, and particularly music, in our university programmes. When Smith was going through the contents of his piano stool some years ago, he came across such a beating heart, a copy of Handel’s
Messiah. He looked at the title page and saw a publication date of 1784. A man of erudition and taste, he realised he had uncovered a potential musical treasure. He took it to the indispensable Dr Griffiths-Hughes of the university’s Conservatorium of Music. She researched the provenance to discover that it was one of only four still in existence and then designed and organised this performance to showcase the find and demonstrate its New Zealand significance. The score was a special edition produced by a London publisher on the 25th anniversary Handel’s death. It was a ‘‘parlour performance’’ version of the original 1742 oratorio, but adapted for harpsichord or piano and violin and four solo voices singing the various arias and recitatives, as well as combining as a quartet for the choruses. Griffiths-Hughes determined that it could have arrived in New Zealand as early as the 1850s, as the first recorded performance of Messiah in New Zealand was in 1856. For this showcase event she turned it into true musical theatre, with the performers dressed in mid-19th century costume, sitting on parlour chairs and knitting or embroidering a sampler as the men sang. She interleaved the performance with each member of the vocal quartet reading a representative historical extract from the period when that first New Zealand performance of this edition may have occurred. The resulting musical sound was probably immeasurably superior to that of its 19th century antecedents. Cello, harpsichord, and violin were world class, and the four voices were memorable, as soloists, and in combination. This event was remarkable for its underlying
scholarship, its excellence of performance, and the accurate revelations of its historical foundation. That it occurred in a small town in New Zealand is remarkable enough. That it is a product of the music department/ Conservatorium of the University of Waikato is testament to resilience, determination, and sheer academic excellence. That it captivated, educated, and enlightened its audience was a clear indication of the value of that town and gown link. That it was such a fulfilling and pleasurable experience for performers and audience together was a felicitous delight. Wonderful ambience, tantalising revelations, and the best music one could want in all its creatively original glory. A new Messiah indeed.