• Henry Purcell: So when the glittering Queen of night; Not all my torments; Cold Song; Evening Hymn
• Jenny McLeod: Peaks of Cloud
• Benjamin Britten: On this Island
• Samuel Barber: Three songs from Ten Early Songs; Three songs from Collected Songs; Two songs from Hermit Songs

At the time the Festival programme was announced I pondered why the Festival chose to employ Michael Houstoun to accompany Keith Lewis for this concert rather than a professional accompanist. Although Jenny McLeod worked hard in her piano writing to justify Houstoun’s appearance, I’m still not convinced it was altogether necessary.

The four Purcell songs were all artfully and delicately sung, although the use of a piano as accompaniment detracted slightly from So when the glittering Queen of night in particular, the block chords seemingly alien and irrelevant to the finely detailed vocal line. Possibly a spread approach might have lent more homogeneity, but ultimately the piano is simply not the best way to experience this music. Happily, none of the other Purcell songs were particularly affected by this, and the Evening Hymn proved particularly powerful. The Cold Song’s accompaniment is almost amusing in the light of minimalism – Philip Glass could easily stick on some cheesy synthesisers and claim it for his own.

Jenny McLeod’s Peaks of Cloud, commisioned by Lewis and composed in 2007, although not premiered until this concert, may have to wait some time to receive a representative performance. One has to ponder the degree of communication between composer and performer, because Lewis struggled at both ends of his range, sucking the power out of what ought to have been the most effective song. Promise, the fourth of seven songs, possessed a frightening intensity until its ending, when Lewis could only muster a half-hearted “scream”. The following song, Gods, was also beautiful music that suffered from uncertainty in the lower register. This is not to suggest that the entire song cycle was unsatisfactorily performed – the first two songs were especially enjoyable; the dichotomy between the characters of the piano and voice in the opening song I Met a Man was cleverly conceived and executed.

The concert’s highlight proved to be Britten’s cycle On this island, settings of Auden poems. Britten’s songs displayed more of a common nature with the Purcell selection than with either McLeod or Barber’s music. Both composers display a certain English restraint; while his music might not carry quite thee same intensity as Peaks of Cloud, this does not affect its expressiveness. Moreover, Lewis displayed an ability to reach some of the notes that seemed to elude him in the McLeod cycle. The Nocturne displayed a wonderful harmony of intent between performer and composer, never straining for emotional effect, but rather commenting upon the curiosities of the lyrics from a distance.

If nothing else, the Barber songs illustrated the effect that a poor text can have upon a piece of music. Although Barber’s music is impossibly capital-R Romantic in any case, the combination of his music with these overwhelmingly cloying texts (Joyce being the prime suspect) is simply nauseating and unmusical. They offered nothing in any way thoughtful or unexpected, and thus there was no point in either their composition, their performance, or the continued presence of the audience, with the exception of the setting of The Cruxifiction.

• 26 February 8pm: Mahler Symphony No. 8. Will be awesome. There is a free live broadcast in Civic Square, tickets for the real thing range from $46 to $176. I suspect that the $46 tickets will be really, really bad, probably a worse option than the broadcast, but probably that’s where I’ll end up.
• 5 March 8pm: Simon O’Neill sings a selection of Wagner. The Festival describes this as a “banquet of delights for opera-lovers”, but on the whole I’d rather have an actual opera, or at least a proper orchestral concert featuring contemporary music. In any case, didn’t essentially the same concert happen in Wellington fairly recently? Thanks are due to everybody who didn’t turn up at Resonances at the last festival – you’re the reason we can’t have nice things. $40-$125. Don’t throw your money away.
• 6-7 March between events: Breath of Wind, featuring the Levin Brass Band. I’ve no idea what this will actually sound/look like, but it’s free!
• 6 March 12pm: organ recital by John Wells. Free!
• 6 March 2pm: Stockhausen’s Helicopter String Quartet. Or, at least, a film of it, rather than the actual thing. Free.
• 6 March 4pm: the NZTrio perform a variety of movements from various string trios. The highlight will probably be a new work by David Downes, if only for the fact that it won’t have its integrity compromised by the Greatest Hits concept. Why is this happening at 4pm? $45 (one class of seating).
• 6 March 7.30pm: The Borodin Quartet play string quartets by Borodin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. Not an astonishingly exciting programme, but it has Shostakovich 8th and there will supposedly be $15 student rush tickets available.
• 7 March 12pm: organ recital by Douglas Mews. Free!
• 7 March 2pm: a (mostly) children’s concert of music inspired by Tolkein and Dahl with the Zephyr Wind Quintet. Tickets are $36, kids $18.
• 7 March 4pm: the NZSQ perform Schubert, Alban Berg, Ross Harris and Beethoven (with Jenny Wollerman). The Alban Berg String Quartet really turned me on to 20th century music. It’s an absolute masterpiece, and definitely worth hearing. The Ross Harris should be interesting as well, although the Schubert is rather dull. $45 (one class of seating).
• 7 March 7.30pm: Keith Lewis in recital accompanied by Michael Houstoun. This is a total waste of Houstoun and of the festival’s money – a professional accompanist would do an equally good job. On the programme are Purcell, Britten, Barber and the inestimable Jenny McLeod. Probably the best programme on offer at the festival. $58 B reserve, $68 A reserve.
• 12 March 8pm: Ravi Shankar is 90 years old. This is the probably the last chance to see him play (I hope so, he certainly deserves a rest at that age) – and he certainly is a great musician – but there is quite a possibility that – as with Pavarotti’s tour a couple of years ago, he’s simply past it. Tickets range from $73 to $120.
• 17 March 7.30pm: The Freiburg Baroque orchestra performs Haydn and Mozart. Although the festival claims they are interpreters of “Classical Romantic and even contemporary music”, their two programmes belie this. It would be a fair bet that these two concerts will sound exactly the same, but if you must go to one, make it this first one, featuring the fourth Mozart Horn Concerto. $46-$98. You’ll need to spend $88 to be in a half-reasonable position.
• 18 March 7.30pm: The FBO snore their way through their second concert of Haydn and Mozart. $46-$98