One positive outcome of the 1881 shameful Taranaki confrontation is Anthony Ritchie’s moving Remember Parihaka.
Leading Saturday evening’s Dunedin Symphony Orchestra concert, it conveyed all the drama of the event, from the peaceful resistance and children greeting the 1600 troops to the thump of musket fire.
The DSO, under the baton of Umberto Clerici, turned in an exemplary rendition and — to the delight of the near-capacity town hall audience — Ritchie came onstage to prolonged applause at the conclusion of his work.
The second work was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 31 in D Major, known as the "Paris" as the 22-year-old composer was in the city when he wrote it.
Described by Clerici as Mozart’s "most boisterous" symphony, it was — as always — a crowd pleaser, although seasoned concert-goers found the applause after each movement somewhat disconcerting.
The main work of the evening was Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor, which brought onstage a 108-strong choir, the voices of City Choir Dunedin supplemented by 25 Choirs Aotearoa Otago-Southland members, the latter adding strength and power to the performance.
Clerici described the Requiem as "the most enigmatic" of Mozart’s works. It was composed when Mozart was ill and there is a myth that he may have known he did not have long to live and pushed on with the work. The truth is more prosaic: cash-strapped Mozart, while working on The Magic Flute and La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), took a commission from Count Franz von Walsegg, who wanted a requiem to honour his late wife. Unfinished when the composer died in December 1791, the Requiem was completed by his student Franz Xaver Sussmayr.
Full marks to the soloists — soprano Emma Pearson, alto Maaike Christie-Beekman, tenor Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono and bass Wade Kernot — for their superbly balanced and crisply enunciated performances. Not once did one voice overpower another, making them a pleasure to listen to.
Not as pleasurable was clapping after each segment. This disconcerting behaviour was out of place in a Requiem which should flow without interruption.
The night, though, belonged to the well-rehearsed choir, which impressed throughout. The Latin lyrics may be easier than, say, German, but Mozart’s music had choristers working constantly, challenging every singer. The combined choir triumphed, handling tricky fugues with ease.
A first-rate concert.
