Knox Church, Dunedin
Friday, November 7
REVIEWED BY JUDY BELLINGHAM
The overall emotion emanating from the stage was pride. Pride in Jonathan’s many successes; and pride in the fact that Jonathan’s father, Foalima, sings in the choir.
This sense of pride carried through to the quality of the choral singing.
Musical director Karen Knudson conducted all the choral items with energetic clarity, resulting in well-defined phrases, although phrase endings could do with greater consonantal definition.
The voices in this 32-strong choir, with a few voices added for a more robust sound, were well balanced.
Attention to dynamics was spine-tingling in Verdi’s Speed your Journey.
Orchestral-type resonance was achieved with accompaniment by both piano (Sandra Crawshaw) and organ (David Burchell).
Jonathan Lemalu sang with the five Cs so necessary for a successful international artist: confidence, commitment, communication, colour and characterisation. His solo offerings varied from Bach, sung in excellent German, and Handel accompanied by Burchell on the organ, to Copland and Finzi sensitively accompanied by pianist Crawshaw.
Bass favourites included This Nearly was Mine and Ol’ Man River, this with the Choir.
A particularly poignant moment was when both Jonathan and his father sang the bass solos, joining tenor Jesse Hanan and the choir in The Rose. Ralph Miller showcased glorious tone in Gershwin’s Someone to watch over me, and Jesse Hanan presented four songs in three different languages, the most successful being Amy Beach’s Take, O take those lips away.
Both were stylistically and sympathetically accompanied by Crawshaw.
Knudson’s skilful arrangement of Holst’s Jupiter allowed the choir to sing powerfully and showcased Burchell’s considerable organ skills in the long prelude.
The concert, which included a Ceremony of Remembrance, was expertly compered by Kevin Tansley.
