Music / Songs of Open Country, Canberra Choral Society. At Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, October 4. Reviewed by NICK HORN.

The Canberra Choral Society, conducted by Dan Walker, presented a carefully curated program of short, but intense works to an appreciative audience in the choral-friendly acoustic of this church.

The singers responded with heartfelt enthusiasm and commitment to Walker’s clear and steady direction. We heard them in terrific voice, singing particularly strongly in the big moments (with occasional loss of focus at other times). Dr Anthony Smith’s superlative piano accompaniment was a constant support. But it would make such a difference to the audience experience if more choristers could lift their heads and sing directly out to the audience!

The concert opened with a controlled aural blast that rolled down the nave and threatened to burst open the doors. The large choir declaimed the parallel 5ths of Ísland (Iceland) in one enormous, warm and powerful voice, heralding a celebration of the wild, wide-open spaces of earth.

A selection from Canberra composer Michael Dooley’s Songs for the High Country followed, commissioned in 2022 for the choir’s 70^th anniversary. Particularly effective were the delicate word-painting of Early Morning Rain and the stark drama of the tall burnt eucalypts in Sentinals. David Child’s The Moon is Distant from the Sea featured shimmering piano over a tidal melody, while Lili Boulanger’s Hymne au Soleil (Hymn to the Sun) contributed French colour, sung strongly, but a shade lacking in confidence.

Smith’s solo performance of Philip Glass’ Wichita Vortex Sutra was an unexpected treat. In characteristic Glassian mode – static repetition with variations – one imagined an endless road trip, the landscape slowly shifting on either side. The choir returned with Burt Bacharach’s South American Getaway (arranged by Walker), Swingle-singing music from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. All good fun, though the taut energy of the opening slackened as the piece proceeded.

Kate Miller-Heidke’s Where was warmly delivered, capturing the elegiac feel of lyrics concerning the devastating effects of colonialism on Australian country (Where is the rich, dark earth, brown and moist?… Who will save us from the rabbits?). Walker’s setting of the Appalachian round Take Me Back O Hills I Love was a highlight. From a simple beginning, strongly delivered, the song grew in complexity, showcasing each section of the choir in a moving performance.

Daniel Brinsmead’s Trees was sung effectively acapella, followed by Ola Gjeilo’s Tundra. Gjeilo – a chorister’s favourite, each note sitting just so – paints a picture of a desolate northern landscape with clouds dancing over the earth. The concert stayed up in the sky, first with the ecstatic vision of Elaine Hagenberg’s Measure Me Sky, and finishing with a stirring rendition of Dan Walker’s You, Me and the Wide Open Sky (composed in 2010 for Moorambilla Voices). The song demonstrates Walker’s gift for folk-inflected melody flowing over subtle harmony and shifting texture – with Smith’s pianistic flourish signalling a fine end to a very satisfying evening of contemporary choral music.