Recital enhanced by anecdotes

Wednesday's lunchtime concert at Marama Hall this week was "A Celebration of Commemoratives" and marked 40 years of vocal performing by soprano Judy Bellingham, who introduced a potpourri of songs with poignant memories and anecdotes.

The recital opened with Quilter's The Fuchsia Tree, chosen from Bellingham's first public performance as a student, accompanied by Maurice Till in the Great Hall of the Arts Centre, Christchurch.

Flow My Tears, by Dowland, came from part of an early recital.

With no harpsichord player available, the tape-recorded accompaniment had prompted the reviewer's comment, "It was like making love to a robot!" Yesterday's delivery was authentically played on harpsichord by Prof Terence Dennis, who has accompanied this soprano for 16 years, in countless venues both in this country and abroad.

Mention was made of their British Embassy recital in Tripoli, Libya, in temperatures of 48degC.

Among other songs were a favourite lied by Wolf; Have Mercy on Me Lord from Bach's St Matthew Passion with chamber-organ accompaniment and violin obbligato (Tessa Peterson); Queen Mary's Song, by Elgar, performed as part of a 1977 National Radio broadcast; and Mary Magdalene and the Birds, by Dorothy Buchanan (clarinet accompaniment Peter Adams).

Bellingham has always been a strong advocate for New Zealand compositions and Mrs Sullivan's Soliloquy, from The God Boy (Ritchie) was a highlight yesterday.

Comic operas such as Cinderolla and the Fairy Oddmother (when she was fined for double-parking her pumpkin) and Stiff Luck for the Undertaker have been part of the journey, and the wackiest performance came during the 1993 Christchurch Proms concert, with an impromptu text announcing election results.

Guinness World Records lists Judy Bellingham as the singer of the longest cadenza (28min 23 secs) - signed off by Prof J. Ritchie in 1973, complete with TV coverage and St John staff present - replacing an Italian tenor's 25-minute cadenza in 1815.

A moving performance of Vaughan Williams' Linden Lea ended the recital.

There are singers who perform, singers who teach, and the somewhat rarer breed of singers who excel at both.

Judy Bellingham fits the latter, and unstintingly sharing her pedagogical knowledge through the past 40 years has been of immense value to hundreds and hundreds of singers and teachers both in this country and abroad.

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Lunchtime Concert
Marama Hall
Wednesday, September 16

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