The APO excel themselves with Haydn's The Creation.
Haydn’s The Creation opens with a frightening vision of chaos: ominous, darkly coloured and unsettlingly chromatic, with the tenor soloist and chorus telling of the void and darkness that hovered on the face of the world until God said, “Let there be light.” At which point, Haydn responds with the most glorious full-orchestra C major chord you will ever hear, one of those great dramatic moments in music that work every time. And it is not just light that fills the score from then on, but Enlightenment.
Gottfried van Swieten’s text for The Creation, taken from both Genesis and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, is the perfect expression of 18th-century Enlightenment beliefs, when the all-importance of God was being tempered by a belief in the importance of man and the power of logical reason. The text praises the Creator but also looks with wonder at the world and the creatures that live in it, most significantly for its period, man.
In its benign, clear-sighted simplicity, it can be a difficult score to bring off. But Roy Goodman, enthusiasm expressed in his every gesture, and shaping every phrase with the utmost care, was the ideal conductor. Even more than a conductor, he took to the stage as a Haydn missionary, needing us all, audience and performers, to believe in the piece in the same way he does.
Goodman is best known for his work in the early music movement. As the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s principal guest conductor, he has not asked them to throw away their modern instruments, but instead has convinced them to play the music on modern instruments in an authentic style, and in many ways this is the best of both worlds. With the orchestra’s unusual willingness to do something different and be guided by an expert, they played Haydn in this concert as though for the first time.
In The Creation, choir, orchestra and soloists all have vital parts to play. The soloists tell of the creation itself, and then in the final part bass and soprano take on the roles of Adam and Eve and tell of their love and the perfection of life in the Garden of Eden.
Soprano Sara Macliver was outstanding, singing with a crystalline brilliance most perfectly heard when she soared up to the many high notes. Bass Stephen Bennett, who supplied most of the informative recitatives, had a noble authority. Tenor Paul McMahon at times struggled to project over the orchestra, yet gave a moving performance of the crucial aria that describes the grace of man.
The Graduate Choir, a small group of highly trained singers drilled by Terence Maskell, sang the unfailingly exciting choruses with focused precision.
For me, the whole performance was the highlight of the APO’s year so far, making the promise of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in the same slot next year something to be impatiently looked forward to.