The 42nd Intervarsity Choral Festival: MELBOURNE, Friday 18 January–Sunday 3 February 1991

[Patron?]
Chorusmasters: Ben Macpherson, Richard Nicholls, Kathleen McGuire
Accompanists: Anthony di Giantomasso, Dianna Nixon
Camp Venue: Campaspe Downs, Kyneton
Participating choirs: Adelaide University Graduate Singers, AUCS, SCUNA, DUS, FUCS, LaTUCS, MUS, MUCS, MonUCS, PUCS, QUMS, SUMS, TUMS
FIBS: HIPPY (Hip Information Peacefully Packaged ... Yeah!)

COMMITTEE

Convenor: Jacqui Harrison
Secretary: Mandy Johnson
Treasurer: Sophie Gordon-Clark
ConMan: Tim Connard
Publicity: Kate Gorringe-Smith
Librarian: Michael McLaughlin
Camp Officer: Kate Suter
Transport & Billeting: Helen Penrose
Social Secretary: Jane Staley
Fundraising Officer: Eric Polli
Corporate Sponsorship: Maya Rozner
Ass. PubOff: Andrew Wailes
Dogsbody: Anna Gifford
Dogsbody: Helen Gordon-Clark
Consulting Wizard: David Greagg
Deakin Liaison: Nicola Wells
MUCS Liaison: Simon Barfoot

CONCERT 1

8pm, Wednesday 30 January, St Mary Star of the Sea, West Melbourne
Conductor: John Grundy
Soloists: Lynette Alcantara (alto), Michael Chang (tenor)
Programme: Rachmaninov Vespers, Op. 37
Notes: A small group of three singers (not four, as listed in the programme) sang four pieces of Gregorian chant from the loft at the back of the church, interspersed amongst the movements of the Vespers: Psalm 104, Salve Regina, Haec dies, and Gloria, laus et honor tibi sit.
Review: Kenneth Hince, “Monument to what might have been”, Age, Friday 1 February 1991, p.12.
“… [T]he main dramatic device is [Rachmaninov’s] use of very strong impressive dynamic contrast, loud against soft.
“For its full effect this needs large choirs, as it had on Wednesday, with about 200 voices (including some female tenors, something new to me). Large choral forces allow two quite different things: pianissimo singing of exceptionally fine tone such as you can never get with a small choir, and sudden stupendous thunder-claps of volume. Grundy and his choir exploited both these well, and combined and contrasted them effectively.
“The choral work was excellent, especially for a strenuous unaccompanied work lasting about an hour-and-a-half. It was not flawless. The sopranos and altos both tended to drift under the note at times, especially early in the evening. Nor could the basses handle Rachmaninov’s writing at the end of the Nunc dimittis: but where outside Russia do you find basses who can give you maximum tone around low B-flat?
“The choir showed great enterprise in singing the work in Russian: this was probably the first complete performance in Australia in the original language.”

CONCERT 2

Saturday 2 February, Melbourne Concert Hall
Conductor: Pinchas Zukerman
Soloists: Gillian Sullivan (soprano), Irene Waugh (alto), Gregory Tomlinson (tenor), Geoffrey Chard (bass)
Programme: Mozart Requiem
Notes: State Orchestra of Victoria. Victorian Arts Centre Summer Music: Mozart 200 Series
Review: Kenneth Hince, “Mozart concerts fail to maintain high standards”, Age, Monday 4 February 1991, p.14.
“The concert, and the series, ended with a performance of the ‘Requiem’, splendidly sung by the choir of the 42nd Intervarsity Choral Festival. The solo singers made a formidable quartet, although there were a few points missed — neither the soprano nor the tenor caught the inflected pathos of the reference to Mary and the good thief in the Recordare, and the tenor turned his Latin accusative into an ablative at the same moment.
“Although the orchestral ensemble was satisfactory, my own impression was that both the orchestra and the conductor were riding on the back of the well-prepared choir. Outside their singing, there was not a great deal of subtlety or finish to the performance.”

OTHER COMMENTS

IV Parents: Mr and Mrs Stacey, Mr and Mrs Penrose.
Preview article: Rebecca Lancashire, “200 with one voice”, Age, 30 January 1991, p.14.

"Where's my sandwich?" Pinchas Zukerman

STORIES & LINKS

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