Non-traditional end to year a success
Sunday’s German Christmas concert triumphantly signed off another successful year for Bach Musica NZ.
Eschewing a traditional Handel Messiah or Bach Christmas Oratorio, Rita Paczian turned to less familiar Telemann and Bach’s eldest son, Carl Philipp Emanuel.
Three Telemann offerings may have been lightish fare compared to the mighty Bach, but Paczian and Elizabeth Lau conducted a cantata each with real verve. Four exemplary soloists were beautifully showcased in the opening quartet of Saget der Tochter Zion.
One of many highlights was the absolute assurance of bass Jarvis Dams welcoming us in the first cantata, and the supple expressiveness of tenor Iain Tetley in the ensuing recitative, with its dramatic orchestral accompaniment.
A concerto for trumpet and two oboes flowed with the affable ease that is a Telemann trademark, with soloists Huw Dann, Alison Dunlop and Alison Jepson in sonorous accord.
C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat might languish in the shadow of his father’s better-known setting but, after interval, its opening chorus was a vigorous delight, dispensing choral confidence against a flurry of scales and vibrant instrumental busyness.
Madison Nonoa was exquisitely poised in her sole aria, while a duet between Tetley and that remarkable countertenor Stephen Diaz was nothing short of a star turn.