Music / Autumn with Mozart, ANU Choral Society (SCUNA) and the ANU Chamber Choir. At All Saints Anglican Church, Ainslie, May 24. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.

The ANU Choral Society, along with the ANU Chamber Choir, presented a concert celebrating the beauty of autumn through music.

With conductors Veronica Thwaites-Brown and Tobias Cole, and pianist Anthony Smith, the program featured works from Mozart, notably the Vesperae solennes de confessore (Solemn Vespers for a Confessor), K. 339, a sacred choral composition.

They opened with Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618, (Hail, True Body) a Motet in D Major. The combined choirs conducted by Cole performed this delicate, key work of the classical canon with an understated and elusive quality.

Then a selection of pieces by SCUNA, conducted by Thwaites-Brown. First, a song titled Never Weather-Beaten Sail, by Thomas Campion. Then an anonymous work, Dindirin and two other pieces. Each a plaintive expression of this autumnal season.

The final song in this selection was the much arranged, Four Seasons in One Day by Tim and Neil Finn made popular by the group Crowded House. It was a cracking version.

Then the ANU choir, all 10 of them, under Cole again. They performed three works from the Baroque and classical periods. It was as though each voice could be distinctly heard, yet I was unsure of their balance. Some voices seemed to be noticeably higher than the others in the arrangement.

It was a task concentrating on their tonal quality with such a strong contrast in their vocal range, yet it made for a distinctive performance.

The final work in this selection by Anton Bruckner, Virga Jesse, a motet, had a seductive arrangement. The choir had strong forte and piano sections that gave the piece a dramatic presence. A complex and delightful sound ensued.

With the combined choirs again, under Thwaites-Brown, the final work, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore. These Vespers, evening prayers, had a noticeable expression of drama over a more nuanced style as expected in music for an evening service. Sounding quite operatic, the choirs filled the church with a great volume as Smith on piano, ringing out like an orchestra, fused the arrangement with a profound ambience.

Over its six movements, this rousing work did have a stand-alone section, the fifth, sung from up in the pulpit, as a solo, by soprano Ella Craig, it oozed beauty. Yet, I feel this soprano needs time to bring out her best for solo parts.

In a concert of varying styles and from a wide range of eras, the choirs showed that they can handle music from across a range of genres.

The large audience were thrilled by the performance, especially a birthday surprise; a communal rendition of Happy Birthday for Thwaites-Brown’s mother, who was in the audience and then, a charming encore.