Music / Aurora, Oriana Chorale, Larry Sitsky Recital Room, ANU School of Music. October 18. Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD

Aurora captured the awe and beauty of voices and composers inspired by the dancing lights of both hemispheres. Truly music of the spheres!

Director Dan Walker crafted a program of choral delights with the responsive 38-strong Oriana Chorale in its 49th year. And what a fine instrument it is.

The excellence of their preparation showed in solid parts, mostly well upwards from the traditional four parts, presumably eight and often more in the contemporary works performed here.

Finely rehearsed details included patterned rhythmic chanting, or swooping to notes at different speeds, and against other lines. Rock solid semitones. Fine dynamics, swelling when required to impressive louds and fading to whispering softs. Beautifully controlled long notes. Good diction in a staggering range of languages.

Estonian Veljo Tormis’s Autumn Landscapes was a set of seven charming folk-like songs. Humming created the beginning of the evening’s soundscape to come. At times dance-like, but always evocative, this was a tour de force vocal achievement with crisp group staccato, oohing, whispering… the swoops in Wind over the Barrens building momentum leading to the lovely cool bleak stillness of Cold Autumn Night, punctuated sharply by glittering soprano lines.

Icelander Anna Þorvaldsdóttir’s Hear Us in Heaven had an ancient plainsong base with beautiful rich bass lines and a very peaceful effect.

An Australian work in English and Latin, Alice Chance’s And the Lord Said Fiat Lux for women’s choir had some lovely effects where, for example, wordless rhythms in the altos accompanied the melody in the sopranos.

Winter was written by Oriana member Patrick Baker. It was perhaps the epitome of soundscape in this concert.

Surrounding the audience in one long line, the chorale started very softly with sustained notes which subtly split into semitones, with some percussive tongue technique, all under numbered instructions from the conductor. Choir members timed their lines to fill the space between directions. The mellow chiming of bells. Quite affecting.

For the first time I noticed the ceiling projections of gently rippling images of the northern lights by Scandinavian based Quan Choi.

Two works were titled Northern Lights. Ēriks Ešenvalds featured a Latvian folk solo from David Faraker while the choir sang a story in English with chiming bells that created a magic effect. The second by Norwegian Ola Gjeilo was given a great full choir rendition with a tremendous sustained note held to the end.

Harmonically rich, undulating lines in Norwegian Kjell Flem’s Natten (The Night), also featured an otherworldly bass line intoning “requiem”. Such colours.

After a wonderful wandering vocal opening, Icelander Björk’s Cosmogony indeed “whirled around us and made us wonder” right to its incredible ending with a stunning slowmotion glissando from up high.

A nice Icelandic folk song setting by Scottish John Hearne It is Beautiful in the Fjords led to the finale.

The world premiere of Oriana Composer in Residence Sebastian ‘Bas’ Allen’s Aurora Aurealis. A delightful work, symphonic in scope, and realising effects of “shimmering in a carnival spectacle” from the words by Zoe Withington. Glorious melodies, subtle percussion from a shaker, it featured vocals from whispers to full-bodied singing.

As almost a benediction, the Oriana Chorale again surrounded the audience to sing the moving Underneath the Stars by English composer Kate Rusby. It featured individual voices, including the soloists from throughout the recital, as well as the whole choir intoning “Go gently.”

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