New Zealand Symphony OrchestraAuckland Town Hall, The EdgeApril 16In their first outing of the year at the Auckland Town Hall the NZSO under Pietari Inkinen played a group of works which showed the orchestra's expertise and brilliance.
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Auckland Town Hall, The Edge
April 16
In their first outing of the year at the Auckland Town Hall the NZSO under Pietari Inkinen played a group of works which showed the orchestra’s expertise and brilliance.
The opening work was Ma Vlast Sarke, one of Smetana’s tone poems which like many nationalistic works of the nineteenth century depicts landscape and narrative combining folk as well as classical references. The orchestra reveled in all the drive and energy of the work as well the light passages in their dramatic performance which featured a tremendous, sparkling solo clarinet.
The big work on the programme was Tchaikovsky’s last great symphony, The Pathetique. From the opening sound of grief to the final gasp of anguish one was aware of this being a work in which the compser was dealing with his inner conflicts.
That he died shortly after its first performance only serves to highlight the idea that this is a meditation on his own life.
Throughout the piece there is ambivalence, as the music alternates between waves of melancholy relieved by passage of joyous sounds.
At times Pietari Inkinen seemed to charm the music out of the orchestra rather than merely conduct them, although at the end of the final movement he appeared to be dragging the Mahler-like sounds out of his players.
The highlight of the evening was the young American violinist Hilary Hahn playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto.
In her notes to her recording of the work she says “my first hearing of the concerto mystified me…the music seemed to swing uncontrolled between strange extremes, and its structure baffled me: as soon as a shape would begin to develop, its arc would break and an unrelated idea would materialize”. Later in life when she began to learn the piece “the concerto transformed. The violin part revealed an unexpected vulnerability. A pleasing structural symmetry emerged”
In her playing of the work she showed she had certainly mastered the piece. She managed to encompass both the mysteries and unfathomable quality of the music as well as the expose the intriguing structure of the work.
Unlike many violinists Hahn doesn’t display a lot of dramatic posturing on stage taking a more controlled and refined approach. However, her control of texture and tone creates an emotional and visceral sound which is electrifying.
She inhabited the stage as though it were her personal world, confident and assured, scanning the orchestra and the individual players as though she was the conductor.
Her presentation of a white rose to Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppanen at the end of the performance was an indication of the crucial role the orchestra played in providing a powerful and sensitive accompaniment.
The next major concerts for NZSO are the two Guinness Peat Group touring concerts featuring Dame Malvina Major conducted by Tecwyn Evans.
Ritchie, French Overture
Gounod, Faust Ah! Je ris de me voir
Bellini, Norma Casta Diva
Puccini, Madama Butterfly Un bel di vedremo, Tosca Vissi d’arte, Gianni Schicchi O mio babbino caro
Elgar, Symphony No.1
Wellington / Fri 14 May / 6.30pm
Auckland / Fri 21 May / 6.30pm
Mozart, Symphony No.41 Jupiter
Strauss, Die Fledermaus Overture
Lehar, Guiditta Meine Lippen, sie küssen soheiss, Paganini Liebe, du Himmel auf Erden, The Merry Widow Vilja
Dvorak, Czech Suite Finale & Rusalka, Song to the Moon
Strauss, Thunder and Lightening Polka
Wellington / Sat 15 May / 3pm
Palmerston North / Tue 18 May / 7pm
Napier / Wed 19 May / 8pm
Hamilton / Thu 20 May / 8pm
Auckland / Sat 22 May / 3pm
