THERE was a large and enthusiastic audience for the Summer Gala Concert at Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday night. Such enthusiasm owes much to the cathedral's organist and master of music, Mark Duley, for under his direction the cathedral choir has developed a reputation for being ambitious and accomplished.
This programme typified that ambition, for it embraced choral music ranging from the 5th to the 20th centuries.
Several items had organ accompaniment. Andrew Johnstone dealt neatly with everything that was thrown at him, and in the case of Stanford's For Lo, I Raise Up, and Walton's The Twelve, everything was pretty demanding.
He also played solo items by Schlick, Brahms and Vierne. Vierne's Carillon de Westminster came across particularly well, for its compositional flair, as well as for the strength of the playing.
The quality of the choral performances varied considerably. This had more to do with style than technique, for Christ Church Cathedral Choir was characteristically strong on vocal blend, on clarity with words, on rhythmic life and "less consistently" on accurate tuning.
The problem is that such ambitious programming requires a range of stylistic contrasts which few choirs can embrace.
The closer in style to the mainstream of Anglican liturgical music, the more compelling the performance tended to be.
So, Bach's motet Jesu, meine Freude was patchy; and for all the beauty of vocal colour in the Magnificat O bone Jesu by the early Tudor composer Robert Fayrfax, and in Josquin des Prez's Marian motet Inviolata, these pieces lacked that confident expression which comes when the compositional style is in the performers' blood.
Yet this was an enjoyable concert.
Two highlights were a beautifully paced performance of Bruckner's motet Os justi and a rapt, intense account of Tallis's O sacrum convivium.