Jackie Clarke Performer Penny Dodd Musician Jennifer Ward-Lealand Director Joanna Murray-Smith Writer Callum Brodie Producer Lachie Oliver-Kerby SoundDesigner Michael Goodwin LightingDesignerandoperator Rachel Marlow SetDesigner
Reviewed by Jonh Daly-Peoples
‘Songs for Nobodies’, could be billed as the five female singers who provided the sonic background to the twentieth century. We meet Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf and Maria Callas as their lives intersect with five “nobodies” whose lives are transformed by their encounters
The Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith comes with good credentials and Auckland audience will have seen her plays recently. There was “Switzerland” at ATC and “Three Little Words” at the PumpHouse and I have seen her brilliant play “Julia” in Brisbane which charts the political life of Julia Gillard
Jackie Clarke provides a sensational performance as the audience is taken on a musical journey with insights into the lives of some famous singers and their casual meetings with five “nobodies”. The songs which she sings include “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “Crazy,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.”
Highlights of the show are her Edith Piaf singing “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” and Maria Callas singing one of Tosa’s arias from the eponymous opera.
This isn’t just five singers belting out their well-known hits, there is a sense of the “nobodies” having their lives changed by encounters with the singers in imagined settings, the songs, the singers and the environments acting as a backdrop to their changed world and lives.
Through the course of the play she creates characters ranging from miserable lavatory attendant who encounters Judy Garland in a bathroom and fixes he hemline to a fashion reporter trying to get out of fashion reporting by doing a piece on an taciturn Billie Holiday
Director Jennifer Ward-Lealand has kept the staging simple, with the focus always on Jackie Clarke and her remarkable performance in creating the characters of the five distinctive “nobodies” and four singers (she doesn’t try to tackle Callas). She moves effortlessly between the characters giving them personalities and presence along with singing their signature songs.
Pianist Penny Dodd, the sole musician on stage accompanies Clarke with skilful musical direction and just the right amount of volume, never intruding on the singers and providing a sense of being in a nightclub.
‘Songs for Nobodies’ is a theatrical gem with one of New Zealand great voices taking us on an musical journey with emotional depth.
The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.
GMG Productions, Crossroads Live and Worklight Productions
Director Timothy Sheader
Set and Costume Design Tom Scutt
Choreography Drew McOnie
Music Director Hugh Hayden-Brown
Asst Choreography Courtney Arango
Assoc Director Alli Coyne
Sound Design Nick Lidster
Music Supervision Tom Deering
Lighting Design Lee Curran
With (Principals) Luke Street, Javon King, Hannah Richardson, Ethan Hardy Benson, Grant Hodges, Kodiak Thompson, Thomas McFerran, Eric W Scheeck, Will Silver
(Ensemble) Joshua Bess, Ashley Chafer, Filippo Coffano, Kalei Cotecson, Joshua Dormor, Savannah Fisher, Elizabeth Fullalove, Icis Hammond, Dominick Hubbard, Jake MacPhee, Thoman McFerran. Jessica Meegan, Caroline Perry, Sandy Redd, Henry Rollo, Erich W Schleck, Will Silver, Jordan Michael Todd
Civic Theatre, Auckland
Booking to 15 November
St James Theatre, Wellington, 18-21 November
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch, 2-6 December
Familiarity Breeds Endearment
Someone once argued that being both familiar and comfortable can induce conflict so they counter each other out.
They were wrong. This Jesus Christ Superstar is both. It doesn’t judge. It doesn’t editorialise. And its basic premise isn’t even debatable. It simply entertains.
As such its very familiarity brings only a very welcome endearment.
Jesus Christ Superstar tells a story about a man and the legend that has shaped civilisations for more than two millenia – whether myth or not. And that’s what good productions are all about – telling a simple story (in this case a fairly well-known one), telling it well and leaving its audiences with happy, satisfied smiles on their faces. It succeeds.
This cast is rather well-credentialled, is drawn from many different parts of the globe, some going right back to this production’s birthplace at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London a few years ago now.
Rather than Jesus, JCS, presents Judas as the fulcrum. NYC and Melbourne based Javon King gives us a Judas of loyalty, happiness, greed, conviction and then ultimately confusion and even regret before his own death. He has light. He has shade. And, as an anti-hero, he shows us an awful lot in between.
He shares influence over Jesus with what I felt was a slightly under-played Mary Magdalene (London-based Hannah Richardson) although her carefully nuanced ‘I don’t Know how to Love Him’ was well-received.
Offsetting them is the humble, confused and, at times, angry central figure of Jesus (fellow-Londoner Luke Street). While Street has played Judas in other iterations, it wasn’t until Jesus’ big song (‘Gethsemane’ in Act 2) that I found him more convincing. So did this audience.
Supporting roles were everywhere. Standouts for me included the Annas-Caiaphus duo and their Pharisees as well as the brief appearance of the deliciously faux-cabaret Pilate. Don’t ask me why, but I found his idiotic and nonchalant antics to somehow echo a certain orange-haired contemporary American politician.
Above all though, it was a joy to see such a well-rehearsed cast laden with slick professionalism eliciting a wide range of emotional responses not to mention a final scene though it would be unfair to detail here.
The set is brilliantly conceived, the costumes fit the purpose and some of the choreography memorably outstanding. However, this IS a gritty rock concert rather than a vaudeville-inspired glammed-up musical and the band, cunningly buried in various parts of an industrial-quality set show it to be just that. An Australian colleague mentioned to me that some audiences across the ditch found this production unduly loud. Not so me ! This IS a rock-musical after all – the hand-held mics tell us that! Yet the strong baseline only managed to kick me in the sternum a couple of times towards the end.
Using the well-documented final days of Christ’s life, JCS of course uses music to connect with a generation that now has grey hair, along with many of their children and more than a sprinkling of grandchildren.
However, it is something of a shock to realise it is now more than fifty years since JCS was birthed. With Andrew Lloyd Webber’s driving rock score it broke new ground at the time and was eagerly awaited – but not entirely.
By the early 1970s we were a decade on from the Beatles and the Stones and a decade where popular music had taken a new direction. For some there were even more serious directions to take. It was a time for concept albums.
And just like The Kinks’s Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), or the Who’s Tommy, or Jethro Tull’s Thick As a Brick or even Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, creative musicians had paved the way for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to tell a well-established story from a book pretty much everyone knows, and found a new way to retell it – bringing Judas more into the scheme of things.
This particular concept album was eagerly awaited. I fondly remember sitting with a group of friends in a rather dingy flat just behind Sydney’s Kings Cross in 1971 and playing it over and over through the night when the long-due LP (remember them?) finally arrived.
But a staged production took a little longer. The Americans had a go but fell foul of dissenting voices – primarily over religious and racial divides (funny how some things don’t change) – and a rage of licensing issues. It took Australian impressario Robert Stigwood to take a punt, lock in the world-wide rights with the creators and convince fellow-Australian Jim Sharman to wave his magic director’s wand over things before it bounced onto the stage at the Westend’s Palace Theatre in 1972.
So while most other rock operas would tell the story of Jesus from the perspective of the man himself (the crossover between lead singer and preacher was a fairly well-trodden area even in 1970), JCS takes Judas’s point of view and throws some sympathetic light upon Mary Magdalene too.
Jesus might have been a charismatic leader, wise beyond his experience and adored by his sychophants. But they are only human. And it is Judas, manipulatively loyal and true, who misguidedly accepts the thirty pieces of silver, while Jesus becomes well aware of what is about to happen to him and resigns himself near-passively to his fate.
Perhaps cynically, I must admit I have always loved the closest thing Webber and Rice got to editorialising when the Apostles sing …
Giordano Bellincampi and Auckland Philharmonia, 2024 Opera in Concert production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in the Auckland Town Hall. Photography by Sav Schulman.
Auckland Philharmonia 2027 Season
John Daly-Peoples
The Auckland Philharmonia has announced its 2027 Season along with the announcement that it will be Giordano Bellincampi’s 12th and final year as its Music Director.
Diana Weir, Auckland Philharmonia’s Chief Executive says of the season “There are so many highlights to look forward to in this upcoming season; from Mahler’s serene Symphony No.4 and Stravinsky’s exhilarating The Rite of Spring to a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle, and two Opera in Concert performances of Puccini’s sublime Tosca. It’s also very exciting to be the exclusive New Zealand orchestra presenting Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert in 2027, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original 1977 movie.”
Major international artists making their New Zealand debuts in 2027 include virtuoso pianist Nikolai Lugansky, cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and conductors Anna Sułkowska-Migoń and Katharina Wincor. They are joined by pianist Paul Lewis and violinist Simone Lamsma, who make their Auckland Philharmonia debuts. Long-time friends of the Auckland Phil — violinist James Ehnes and pianists Alexander Gavrylyuk and Javier Perianes — make welcome returns in 2027, along with conductors Elena Schwarz, Samy Rachid and Pierre Bleuse, and violinist Chloe Chua.
Spectacular special events add extra star-power to this season, headlined by a 50th anniversary New Zealand exclusive screening of the multi-generational cinematic classic Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert, with John Williams’ original score performed live by the Auckland Phil. A blockbuster evening of Joe Hisaishi’s film scores hosted by popular podcasters Art of the Score, and Kāpiti Ice Cream presents Mānawatia a Matariki, an unmissable evening of waiata reo Māori and musical collaboration to celebrate the Māori new year, also join this sparkling line-up.
The 2027 season will culminate with a magnificent two-week BrahmsFest conducted by Bellincampi, one of the world’s leading Brahms interpreters.
Giordano Bellincampi says, “It has been a pleasure to be Auckland Philharmonia’s Music Director and throughout my final season in this role I’m delighted to share with you some marvellous music from many of my favourite composers. Opening with Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony, followed by Nielsen’s mighty Fourth Symphony, through to the BrahmsFest in November, featuring all four Brahms symphonies, both piano concerti and his Violin Concerto, with Alexander Gavrylyuk and James Ehnes joining us as soloists.
“We will share with you many more wonderful masterpieces along our way, including a programme of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony paired with magnificent works by Schubert that feature exciting Kiwi-Danish soprano Louise McClelland Jacobsen, Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage and sublime fourth symphonies from both Schumann and Bruckner.
Nikolai Lugansky, photo by Marco Borggreve.
“A pinnacle of the programme will be Nikolai Lugansky playing Rach 2, along with a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle featuring renowned pianist Javier Perianes as soloist and director. It’s also wonderful to have Australian pianist Andrea Lam returning to perform the Auckland premiere of R. Strauss’ spirited Burleske and violinist Inmo Yang playing Bruch.
“A special highlight for me will be a concert in August featuring our brilliant Principal Flute, Melanie Lançon, performing Nielsen’s Flute Concerto, alongside two magnificent works — Mozart’s Symphony No.32 and Schubert’s Ninth Symphony ‘The Great’.”
The 12 concerts in the NZ Herald Premier Series The New Zealand Herald Premier Series will feature composers including Brahms, Nielsen, Schubert, Mozart, Schumann, Strauss, Bruckner, Ives, Mendelssohn and Mahler.
New Zealand talent will include the premiere of Salina Fisher’s new violin concerto written for Geneva Lewis, who features as soloist in this performance, this piece is a co-commission by Auckland Philharmonia, the Bortletti-Buitoni Trust and BBC Radio 3. In 2027, the orchestra also performs Auckland premieres of works from fellow New Zealand composers Lilburn and Gao Ping.
The concerts will feature some of the world’s most important artists such Nikolai Lugansky who has been hailed as ‘the most trailblazing and meteoric performer of all’ he will perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2.
The British pianist Paul Lewis, makes his Auckland Philharmonia debut in 2027 playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23. Two exciting rising conductors will make their debuts -Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, the 2022 winner of La Maestra conducting competition, and Hungarian conductor Gábor Káli who will lead the orchestra with a programme of works by Enescu, Glazunov, Beethoven and Kodály.
Simone Lamsma, photo by Otto van den Toorn.
Outstanding artists returning in 2027 include conductors Pierre Bleuse, Elena Schwarz and Samy Rachid, pianists Alexander Gavrylyuk, Andrea Lam and Kiwi Sylvia Jiang, violinist Chloe Chua, and Auckland Phil’s own Principal Flute, Melanie Lançon, who steps forward as soloist.
The 2027 Classic Series features six concerts of best-loved masterpieces, including a special all-Beethoven double bill to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his death. The superb Spanish pianist Javier Perianes returns to the Auckland Philharmonia to play Beethoven’s five piano concertos as this great composer intended, directing from the keyboard.
Mahler’s Fourth Symphony is a splendid opener for the series in February, one of this great composer’s most popular works, led by master interpreter Giordano Bellincampi. This is paired with some wonderful Lieder by Schubert featuring Kiwi soprano Louise McClelland Jacobsen, who makes her Australasian debut in the dreamy Night and Dreams (Nacht und Träume) and the Auckland premiere of The Trout (Die Forelle).
In 2027, rising violin player Inmo Yang returns to play Bruch’s delightful Violin Concerto No.1, led by Giordano Bellincampi, alongside Schumann’s Fourth Symphony. Another highlight includes sensational cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras’ New Zealand debut in Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante, conducted by Katharina Wincor, who also makes her Aotearoa debut.
Lovers of Baroque music will appreciate the new Simply Baroque, two concerts held in June and September in the chamber music setting of Grafton’s Kāhui St David’s will feature works by Bach and Vivaldi, with Auckland Philharmonia.
Auckland Philharmonia’s annual Opera in Concert will be a semi-staged production of Puccini’s opera Tosca, with a two-concert run to meet high demand, will be no exception. With such a captivating story of love, lust, murder and political intrigue, accompanied by some of the most exciting and dramatic music . It will see Serena Farnocchia as the diva Floria Tosca, tenor Antonello Palombi as Cavaradossi, baritone Lucio Gallo in the role of Scarpia, along with New Zealand bass-baritone Edward Smith, singing the role of Angelotti.
Released in 1977, George Lucas’ movie Star Wars: A New Hope first introduced us to Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader. Celebrating the film’s 50th anniversary in 2027, the Auckland Philharmonia brings this cinematic titan to the big screen performing John Williams’ Oscar-winning score.
Following their sold-out Aotearoa debut with Auckland Phil in 2025, charming Art of the Score podcasters Andrew Pogson and Dan Golding return to present The Music of Joe Hisaishi, a musical love letter to Japan’s great Maestro. From Studio Ghibli classics Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro to over 100 works for the screen and concert hall, Joe Hisaishi is one of the world’s most prolific and beloved contemporary composers.
Auckland Phil’s annual Matariki concert returns with Kāpiti Ice Cream presents Mānawatia a Matariki, inviting whānau and friends to celebrate the Māori new year with this night of uplifting music. This evening of exciting musical collaboration features a very special line up of guest artists joining forces with the Auckland Philharmonia to perform the best of waiata reo Māori.
The orchestra wraps the season with its annual Christmas Cheer featuring special guest vocalists and The Graduate Choir New Zealand.
In April, popular children’s concert series Tunes 4 Tamariki dives into Te Ao Moana, exploring the ocean world through music. In this lively interactive concert, talented singing duo Loopy Tunes Preschool Music, winners of NZ on Air Best Primary Song at the 2026 Aotearoa Children’s Music Awards, join the orchestra to perform music, songs and stories connected to the sea.
Then in December, charismatic entertainer Kevin Keys presents Tunes 4 Tamariki: Kevin’s Kirihimete, a concert for little ones and their whānau that’s filled with singing, dancing and holiday joy.
In 2027, the Community Classics series celebrates some of the best-known love stories. At each of the three performances of this family-friendly concert, the orchestra and special guests will play musical excerpts from beloved classics, including Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and traditional Māori love song ‘Pōkarekare Ana’.
In March, the popular In Your Neighbourhood series returns with a concert featuring Interim Concertmaster Max Tan and his fellow string section colleagues playing works by Strauss, Mozart and Martinů. Then in October, Principal Horn Gabrielle Pho leads a programme that showcases the lyrical qualities of the French horn, alongside the richness of strings. The series concludes with a fanfare to the holiday season, Principal Trumpet Huw Dann leading his brass section colleagues in a concert filled with treasured, classic festive favourites.
R. Strauss: Four Last Songs (Vier letzte Lieder) performed by Madeleine Pierard
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 3
Conductor; Sir Donald Runnicles
Auckland Town Hall
October 2
Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples
The Rosenkavalier suite is an orchestral arrangement derived from Richard Strauss’s famous 1911 comic opera and consists of five connected sections that capture the emotional and melodic core of the opera. It is a marvellous piece of composition which showed off the strength of the orchestra with Sir Donald Runnicles conducting with tremendous energy particulary in the final, uproarious waltz sequence, where Sir Donald seemed to be like a ringmaster in charge of a circus band.
Throughout the work he ensured that all the tonal and percussive qualities of the music were appreciated, bringing out the intense drama of the work as well as the more pensive parts where the orchestra was almost whispering and in several of the dance sequences, he almost seemed to take flight.
The strings were particularly expressive in the presentation of the rose sequence as well is in the final trio, but the finest sequence of all was the prelude, with its marvellously colourful horns.
Strauss’s Four Last Songs come at the end of the period of great German music and while the songs are something of a requiem for the composer, they are also a meditation on the downfall of Germany and the end of its romantic period. However, the mixture of the depressing and the defiant can also be seen as a celebration of the eventual resurrection of the man as well as that of the country.
The four poems which are set in a garden trace out both a day and a life from the perspective of the composer reflecting on the passing of time and his own life.
The first song Frühling (Spring) is a setting of a poem by Hermann Hesse about waking up in a scent filled spring garden. The second song September makes use of a Hesse poem depicting the garden’s colours changing to autumn.
In Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep) the composer uses the poem to explore his desire to escape the demands and worry of the day and to escape into the night.
The final song Im Abendrot (At Sunset) takes a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff in which the composer depicts himself and his wife at sunset contemplating death with the composer quoting from his own composition Death and Transfiguration.
Madeleine Pierard
Madeleine Pierard managed to capture the sense of life slowly ebbing from the body and contemplation of death with the occasional vision of tranquillity. Her shimmering gown seemed to mirror her shimmering voice shot through with light sparkling against the dark.
At times she allowed the music to overwhelm her voice as though overcome by the forces of death and despair, only to then rise above the music. At times her voice seemed like a musical instrument as it flowed among the sounds of the orchestra
Throughout the songs her voice had an introspective quality, the music providing the garden in which she wandered, her aching despairing voice emerging as though striving to find new life.
Her voice had a superb quality of emotional expression matching the emotional quality of Strauss’s music, always able to complement the power and delicacy of the music.
Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppanen provided a soulful violin solo in the Going to Sleep song, mirroring the vocal soaring of Pierard’s voice depicting the rising of the soul in flight and is emotional highlight of the song cycle.
The major work on the programme was the Brahms “Symphony No 3, a work which is full of marvellous melodies, but which is something of an enigmatic work.
In many ways it is a forerunner of the impressionist works of Debussy and Ravel reflecting the interest of the Impressionist artists of the late nineteenth century. Much of the music is linked to visions of landscape, light and shade, colours and texture.
Sir Donald took a very nuanced approach to the music exploring the chiaroscuro of the work. Every tonal change seemed to have an extra emphasis with some sections slightly truncated while others were extended and several sequences had a palpable tension.
These images he created parallel a world of emotions and feelings, the composers inner and exterior worlds mingling. In building a structure based on these links Brahms explores the nature of the human condition. This is particularly evident in the final movement with its passages of drama and tumult suggesting natural forces as well as the inner turmoil of love and passion.
In February 2022 as Auckland was coming out of Covid lockdown the Auckland Philharmonia gave a special performance in the Town Hall to 100 masked patrons. It was the orchestra’s first concert after nearly two years and the major work on the programme was Dvorak’s Symphony No 8, a joyful work sounding the relief after many days of seclusion.
Last week the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was playing the Dvorak symphony as part of their Tea & Symphony series which feature one-hour daytime orchestral performances at the Sydney Opera House complete with complimentary tea and biscuits.
The symphony is like the soundscape to a Czech epic tale with a mixture of nature, landscape, events and dancing, it is the music of adventures, heroics, and larger than life figures,
Like other composers of the period there is a strong element of nationalism to the music similar to the earlier works of Jean Sibelius’ such as “Finlandia” and Edward Greig’s “Peer Gynt Suites”.
The music is focused on the landscape and ethos of the country with Dvorak presenting changing moods and unfolding spectacle. He moves from the playful to the picaresque, from the dramatic to the contemplative. There is wit and there is angst all skilfully delivered by conductor Umberto Clerici.
After the honeyed tones of the opening and the sweetness of the flutes the orchestra erupted with joyous celebratory tones flecked with hints of drama. Then we heard bird-like sounds from the strings followed by some ferocious sounds from the percussion heralding a triumphant Nature.
The second movement featured a flowing dance sequence illuminated by woodwinds and flutes. Then after a mysterious segment there was another spritely dance sequence featuring strings, brass and woodwinds.
The third movement was full of shimmering sounds creating a spring-like impression full of joy followed by passages of dark foreboding while the fourth movement opens with a big, bold march tune which morphed into a sequence of Czech dance tunes such as the polka, Dvorak turning these simple melodies into clever musical inventions.
The final movement opens with commanding brass fanfare that is followed by the cello which introduced the lyrical main theme—a distinctly Czech melody consisting of wide-ranging variations which shift dynamically between moments of fiery, rustic energy and tender, introspective beauty.
The first work on the programme was Ligeti’s “Romanian Concerto“ which like Dvorak’s Symphony was a nationalistic work with the composer responding to the sounds of Romanian village band.
The work composed in1951 opens with a sweeping landscape common to many composers reacting to their country’s nationalist sympathies. The flute sounds hinting at the bright glint of light on water also suggested the dawn of a new era of modernist composition.
Then there were rousing sounds from the woodwinds referencing lively, dance themes as well as some quirky abrupt, sequences and some rustic sounds from the horns. There were also mysterious, restless passages with the sounds of gypsy strings which Legeti recalled from his youth.
The way in which he wrote the music of the village bands with a slight discordant sound was regarded by the authorities as incorrect and led to the work being banned for many years.
Future Sydney Symphony Orchestra concerts
October 30 – 31 Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Bryn Terfel
November 6 -8 Simone Young conducts Mozart & Bach
November 19 – 22 Simone Young conducts Gotterdammerung
The last performance of Mozart’s Requiem I heard was a couple of years ago at the Royal Albert Hall where there were close to two thousand choristers.
Sydney Philharmonic Choirs may have had only a tenth of that number in last nights performance with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra but under the direction of conductor Stephen Layton it delivered an intense, introspective interpretation which showed that size alone does not produce sonic brilliance.
The Requiem may have been written for Count Franz von Walsegg but it always feels to have been written for Mozart himself.
The Latin text that he used would have been familiar to him as well as most Europeans of the day and it would have held meaning for the composer as well with four of his six children dying young
Is is the emotional drama of the music which is very much the composers as he reflects on his own life and mortality.
From the opening Introit, Mozart defines what is central to the work – lifes journey from uncertainty to renewal.
In the first sections, the Introit and Kyrie we have the first intimations of a heavenly voice with a brief appearance of soprano Samantha Clarke as well as hints of melancholia from the darker strings. Mozart then gives us an extraordinary change of pace with sonic punches from orchestra and choir with Dies Irae. This acknowledgment of the Day of Wrath with thunderous sounds was as powerful as any of his operatic moments.
This was followed by Tuba mirum where the soloists and their tenuous searching voices made us aware of the human figures in the work. Baritone Simon Meadows melancholic voice alerted us to the dark dimensions of life while Clarke and mezzanine Ashlyn Tymms gave us wondrous angelic sounds.
With the Rex tremendous the soloists and orchestra provided a beautifully layered sound providing an emotional richness. Clarke seemed particularly engaged with her bright, focused voice
Mozart only wrote the first eight bars of Lacrimosa before he died (completed by his close friend and pupil Xaver Sussmayr. It is a sumptuous piece which conveys human sadness with mixture of lightness and despondency which the choir elegantly delivered.
The Sanctus which followed showed a particularly forcefully choir and orchestra while in the Benedictus which followed Tymms’ distinctive voice along with Clarke’s soured above the warm voices of tenor Andrew Goodwin and Meadows’s powerful baritone, the four voices intermingling in an elegant display.
With the beautifully crafted Agnus Dei the choir seemed to be searching for a new sound, their voices varying from the lightest of whispers to full crescendo but with the final Communio they embarked on the great drama which ended the work.
After interval the orchestra played Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams and John Rutter’s Gloria. The Vaughan Williams melancholic music which explores British landscape with sounds of the spirit rising to an apotheosis was rewarding while Rutter’s celebratory work was fine companion work to Mozart’s Requiem.
Stephen Lawton’s conducting throughout the work was crisp and controlled ensuring a nuanced sound from the orchestra and choir but his conducting became more agitated and demonstrative when the music required.
Future Sydney Symphony Orchstra concerts
October 30 – 31 Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Bryn Terfel
November 6 -8 Simone Young conducts Mozart & Bach
November 19 – 22 Simone Young conducts Gotterdammerung
The four works on the NZSO’s Rhythm & Dance programme were infused with dance music of the twentieth century, all linked to the music of the Jazz Era with dance tunes which were immediately recognizable with infective portraits of places and events.
Ten years ago the Auckland Arts Festival presented a concert version of John Adam’s Nixon in China one of the great operatic works of the late twentieth century recounting the visit of President Nixon to the Republic of China in 1972 and his meeting with Mao Zedong.
The opera has several dance-like tunes and “The Chairman Dances” is an interlude with no singing that has been described by Adams as an “outtake” from the opera depicting Madame Mao gate-crashing a presidential banquet and performing a dance.
The percussion and woodwinds opened “The Chairman Dances” sequence before slowly building Adam’s minimalism sounds which featured a mixture of delicacy and robust sections.
The music relies on a clever mixture of percussion, bassoon, viola, along with an insistent, foxtrot rhythm with some bell–like sounds introduced Madame Mao along with music that referenced 1930s Chinese film music.
The work finished with a typical Adams percussion combination of piano, wood block and snare drum.
Conductor Gemma New responded to the music with her own flowing and floating gestures, notably in the animated fox trot sequence and the bell liken sounds which referenced Madame Mao’s early career as a film actress.
Patrick Barry
Copland’s “Clarinet Concerto” saw soloist Patrick Barry navigating the technical capabilities of the clarinet with a marvellous dexterity. After a soulful, filmic opening. his instrument soured above the orchestra, its bright sound weaving through the sounds of the orchestra.
There were sections where the clarinet captured the vast, open spirit of the American West and others where jazz was more dominant. Then there were passages when the orchestra seemed to be replicating the sounds of the clarinet and some boisterous sequences where the piano provided some gritty syncopation.
The orchestra and clarinet hurtled towards the finale with a fast and jazzy sounds, blending popular rhythms along with a reference to George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Gabriela Ortiz ‘s “Anropolis” is a portrait of Mexico City, describing the sounds and energy of the dance halls and clubs of the city. Central to the performance was the wide range of percussion instruments which delivered an edgy, constantly evolving percussion background.
From the massive opening drum and brass displays the work moved to a high energy soundscape punctuated by flute and brass where waves of sounds were constantly interrupted by the drum soloist. The work transitioned through different musical styles, including traditional Mexican sounds, mambo, and experimental punk with the musicians briefly shouting out in unison in a nod to dance hall routines.
This was high velocity music with some hectic, playful sequences which the orchestra players and conductor appeared to relish.
The last work on the programme was the “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story” by American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. Here, we get the ten-movement suite of orchestral music from West Side Story, with its recognizable tunes, familiar Latin rhythms and elements of jazz.
From the rhythmic finger snapping used by the Jets and the Sharks during the opening instrumental sequences through the jazzy dance sequences and the romantic interludes the music captured the spirit of New York.
The music has its emotional centre in the wholesomeness of Tony and Maria’s relationship conveyed by “Somewhere”, but it was shattered by the dark hatred of their environment and the gangs conveyed by the gangland themes.
Throughout the work Bernstein cleverly changes the pace of the music the high energy and jazzy sequences contrasting with the romantic scenes of the two lovers.
Normally one has to wait till either the Wellington or Auckland Arts festivals brings together a couple of international stars, but the NZSO Radiance concert brought together conductor Pietari Inkinen and tenor Simon O’Neill provided an exceptional linking of two international stars along with an inspirational NZSO.
Both O’Neill and Inkinen have become international names in concerts hall around the world, regarded as Wagner specialists.
With the eerie green light projected onto the Town Hall’s organ pipes, the vast array of instruments on stage and a sold-out performance the concert promised to be a major event. And it was.
Out of the huge orchestra came the initial light tones of the Tannhauser Overture which slowly increased in volume and within a few minutes came the full force and musical energy of Wagner’s music under the baton of Pietari Inkinen
Carefully shaping the orchestral sound, revealing the brilliance of the music, he made the audience aware of all the hallmarks of Wagner. Mystery, myth, magical spaces, human sacrifice and redemption. Linking the heroic past to contemporary German nineteenth century German religious ideas and nationalism.
It was several minutes into the music that O’Neil entered, bemoaning his condition. His distinctive voice rising above the sounds of the orchestra.
While the workbegins with the quiet, noble hymn representing redemption and faith it soon erupts into swirling, chromatic agitation depicting sensual temptation.
This was music that followed the ideas of the composer – the total work of art with richly orchestrated music, dramas driven by recurring, psychologically shifting leitmotifs and extreme chromatic harmony. It was music which emphasised the ideas of aspiration, regeneration, hope and nobility.
O’Neill fiercely conveyed the idea of a hero struggling against forces beyond his control, with his sharp angular movements and gestures as well as focussed singing.
Under Inkinen’s direction the NZSO provided a perceptive clarity to the music, sensitive to the singing of O’Neill and providing the emotional depth to the unfolding narrative.
There was drama and violence as well as calm and sweetness to the O’Neill’s voice and he demonstrated his total control, his posture, gestures and all his movements seemed natural and he was the embodiment of the Tannhauser, providing a nuanced depiction of the hero.
A Wagner performance is dependent on the role of the conductor, who needs to understand the music’s structure appreciate the connection between singers and the music and is able to balance the needs of the orchestra and the singers.
Pietari Inkinen Photo: Phoebe Cassidy / NZSO
Central toTannhäuser is the exploration on the deep, conflictbetween carnal desire and spiritual purity which prevents Tannhäuser from achieving a psychological wholeness. Rather than a simple moral tale of sin and repentance, it is also Wagners attempt to reconcile his own attempt to understand his own ego driven life and the fate of German ideas.
O’Neill approached the role with immense commitment, his tenor voice powerful and his projection flawless. He maintained an intense, radiant quality particularly in the lengthy Rome narrative section as well his farewell to Venus.
His singing, from the quiet, noble passages representing redemption and faith, through the swirling chromatic agitation depicting sensual temptation of the Venusberg section was always focussed.
Parsifal opens with an achingly beautiful prelude where out of silence, a simple melody emerges, played by the strings, and seems to hover there creating a sense of otherworldliness and later adding grandeur and nobility.
Many of the work’s motifs notably those associated with the Grail and the Spear as well as abstract ideas like sorrow and faith, shame and torment are revealed in the music — the restless string rhythms and shifting harmonies always searching for resolution.
The success of Parsifal relies heavily on an orchestra and conductor appreciating the needs of the soloist and the way Wagner’s music supports the singer and O’Neill was able to balance heroic aspects of the role along with his anguished search for redemption.
The audience was provided with the German text and a translation but only those near to the stage would have had sufficient illumination to read the words. Providing surtitles has become essential for any opera production and should have been available for the Radiance concert.
Just because Bayreuth doesn’t provide surtitles doesn’t mean audiences around the world have to make do without them as well.
The title of the NZTrio’s latest concert came from the first work on the programme – Fazil Say’s “Space Jump for piano trio”. The Turkish composer, Say wrote the work having witnessed the Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jump from a balloon 39 kilometres above the New Mexico desert. His descent time was 9 minutes and 3 seconds making him the first human to break the sound barrier in freefall without vehicle power.
The work which is like the soundtrack to a film of the event described the action of the ascent, the jump, the descent and the parachute landing.
Ater a short introduction of several sharp sounds the music took on a free, floating tone suggesting the emptiness and soundlessness of the ascent with the occasional music hint at an inherent danger.
Halfway through the piece the cello and violin suggest an almost spectral sound before the climatic sounds of the descent, dramatic and relentless, Amalia Hall energetically plucking at the strings of her violin and the trilling of the piano captured the idea of the billowing parachute and the stillness of its descent
The trio gave an intense sonic performance which required aggressive attacks, precise harmonising, and rhythmic strength with the piano, violin, and cello cleverly creating the sense of being in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
Reena Esmail’s Piano Trio stems from her Indian immigrant background with the threads of Western and Eastern music blending her interest in Hindustani music as well as that of Mendelssohn and Shostakovich.
Each of the four movements has displayed an element of the classical Indian raga which generally provided a melodic framework for improvisation.
The first movement has a particularly light quality with shimmering sounds from each of the instruments and they each seemed to be chasing an elusive sound. There were shifting dynamics between the three instruments where the subtle textures slowly morphed into raga melodies, integrating with the classical. The music was full of tremolos, slides and taut harmonies which created a sense of timelessness.
There were sparkling and watery sounds with a flowing movement along with some exuberant playing by the violin and cello while Somi Kim produced multiple runs on the piano.
The third movement hints at Mendelssohn and Shostakovich whose has been important to her and in the final movement there is a rising, intricate string melody, shimmering over over the piano work, which the led to a passage where the instruments seem to be at odds with each other before moving into a dreamlike conclusion.
The New Zealand composer Keith Moss write his “Field notes in Autum” about his living in Wellington in Autumn.
This was a truly atmospheric piece conveying many elements of Wellingtons weather and its changing light. There is a flurry of rain in the opening moments of the piece before suggestions of fleeting clouds, rain sweeping across hills along with the creeping chill of a Wellington day.
This is a sombre Wellington, dark and brooding but with flashes of sunlight dancing on the houses and hills.
The final, and major work on the programme was Schumann’s “Piano Trio No 2” which is essentially a love letter to Clara Schumann.
It was passionate and intense from the opening moments with the violin and cello in an ardent and rapid conversation. Light notes from the violin were answered with denser sounds from the cello.
The work is not just a conversation, it also conveyed the passion and drama of the couple’s relationship. With the light quivering of the violin and the richer reflections of the cello.
The second movement was less passionate and more contemplative surrounded by bursts of excitement. It is as though Schumann is seeing the relationship with more depth and understanding.
Throughout the piece violin and cello were well integrated, answering each other’s tentative questions with musing and meditations.
Somi Kim’s piano provided an ideal setting for the two strings as well as adding depth to the instruments. Violin and cello also responded to the piano giving some cheery and frothy accompaniment. Before leading to the climactic finish with some rapid intersections and mingling of voices.
As with all their concerts the trio demonstrated why they are such an innovative group programming a mix of classic and contemporary works along with New Zaland and international compositions which challenge, entertain and surprise.
Birthday Offering – Mayu Tanigaito and Laurynas Vejalis Image: Stephen A’Court
Royal New Zealand Ballet
Winter Season
Aotea Centre
July 23 – 25.
Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples.
The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Winter Season featured a triple bill featuring and two contemporary ballets, and the premiere of Sir Frederick Ashton’s more classical, Birthday Offering.
Ashton was the principal architect of the “English style” of classical ballet and choreographed Birthday Offering in 1956 for The Royal Ballet’s 25th anniversary, Birthday Offering. The ballet was originally a tribute to fourteen of its premiere dancers which included New Zealand ballet legend Dame Rowena Jackson along with Dame Margot Fonteyn.
Danced to Alexander Glazunov’s waltzing music the work demands perfection and precision and that is what the dancers delivered.
The seven female dancers each danced sequences which displayed their various talents and took inspiration from the Glazunov score. One of the dancers performed like a clockwork Coppelia, another gave a display of gentle, relaxed limbs while another presented a more romantic approach.
The seven dancers handled all the intricacies of the dance with a calm serenity, all using their body, arms and legs expressively.
Their displays presented what amounted to a primer of modern classical dance which they performed with technical virtuosity and panache.
When the female dancers partnered with their male partners both dancers became more animated and expressive but there was not the engaging emotionalism one might have seen later– not the sort of dancing seen between Fonteyn and Nureyev
There were some stylish vignettes, there was elegance and beauty, but it was too formal with a lack of heart.
This was simple ballet staged cleanly and stylishly in colourful mid-length gowns (Kenneth Rowell) that bounced along to the spritely footwork.
Ultra Folly – Jemima Scott and Kirby Selchow Image: Stephen A’Court
Sarah Foster-Sproull’s Ultra Folly opened with the dancers appearing to communicate with each other using their own form of semaphore in a homage to the choreographer Crystal Pite. Then, dancing to La Folie, music from the seventeenth century but played by Jordi Savilo and Hyperion XXI, they displayed a range of engaging dance routines with sharp moves and gesturers, mirroring the music and exploring the notion of communication.
Their dancing took inspiration from a range of sources varying from the courtly dance of the seventieth century to Highland dance while at other times their dancing evolved from the chance encounter on the street to the meeting of two lovers.
Then there were the more elaborate group interactions, the dancers appearing create hieroglyphics or an elaborate signing system and they became bound up in their intricate dance movements.
The almost tactile music was reflected in the dance at times as it morphed from the mechanical to the sensual.
Stand to Reason Image: Stephen A’Court
South African Andrea Schermoly’s Stand to Reason which was the more political of the three works took inspiration from the pamphlet “Ten Reasons Why A Woman Should Vote” written by Kate Shephard in 1888 in which women had to clearly convince, explain and justify their right to political participation.
The text of the pamphlet was projected onto a screen behind the all-female dance ensemble who were dressed in black tunics which referenced the women of Sparta, or the Amazons as well as a nod to the various black clad New Zealand sports teams.
The notion of the strong woman was also highlighted in the way that the dancers confronted the audience often fixed their gaze on us.
The dancers performed the roles of support and impetus normally taken by male dancers and while much of their movements had an aggressive quality with great physicality this was tempered by more subtle gestures.
In the final sequence of the work danced to the music of Beethoven the intensity of the dancing increased as the volume of the music increased with raw energy, breast beating and frenetic dancing. The dancers seemed to be struggling against unseen forces as they broke the bonds restraining them just as the sound system seemed close to imploding.
While the music by Johann Paul von Westhoff, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Marin Marais, drove the work, the choice of male composers seemed at odds with the feminist nature of the work.
In two of the works the lighting played a significant part with the surreal lighting of Daniel Wilson in Ultra Folly and the minimalist approach by Andrew Lees in Stand to Reason.
