Tag: piano

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Auckland Philharmonia’s “Tchaikovsky 5”

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Alexander Gavrylyuk Image Adrian Malloch

Tchaikovsky 5

Auckland Philharmonia

Auckland Town Hall

April 15

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

First up on the Auckland Philharmonia’s “Tchaikovsky 5” programme was Kenneth Young’s “Douce Tristesse”, a work composed in 2012 in response to the composer’s final visit to the  long-time family holiday spot near Tauranga.

Strings and woodwind opened the work with a description of landscape, with swathes of colour conveying the changing light and textures of the land, sea and sky.

These vignettes were studded with musical highlights deftly conveyed by the small group of percussion instruments – cymbals, glockenspiel, crotales and harp suggesting the sparkles of light on water, the movement of clouds and the chirping of birdlife.

The work manages to suggest panoramic images from dawn to dusk suggesting the romanticism of the idyllic as well as a nostalgia for lost times and memories.

The composer says that the title ‘Douce Tristesse’ means ‘ sweer sadness and that the piece is about looking at a familiar scene for the last time, a view never to be seen again.

Prokofiev’s third Piano Concerto was written in 1921 during a period of self-imposed exile from Russia and a period when he did not feel oppressed by war or demands on his time and seems to have  more leisurely ambience . The work was first performed in Chicago with the composer playing. The audience and press raved over the music with The Chicago Daily Herald calling it the “the most beautiful modern concerto for piano,”

It opens with the sounds of a clarinet and strings playing a floating melody emblematic of his own more relaxed life. This led quickly to pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk racing into the first movement of the work with fiery sounds from both orchestra and  pianist who played as  though the piano were a percussion instrument

Hunched over the piano his playing was by turns delicate and ferocious as he grappled with the various sequences. There were times when his sounds were languid and romantic and other times when he took a delicate almost spiderly  approach to his playing.

In the second movement he turned the slow dance-like opening into a cacophony of jarring sounds and the intense finale of the third movement saw him in studious concentration.

He displayed a mastery of stylish playing, able to ignite the orchestra with his passion and drive.

His playing technique – changing tempos, charging through themes and varying the tonal qualities added to the excitement of the playing and appeared to enliven conductor Shiyeon Sung well as the orchestra.

Shiyeon Sung Image Adrian Malloch

The major work on the programme was Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No 5” which saw Shiyeon Sung and the APO deliver one of their outstanding performances. The work is full of sensuous melodies, intense emotions and dramatic climaxes which make it one of the composers more invigorating works.

Some of the sequences are monumental with music similar to his 1812 Overture while there were traces of his ballet music in others.

Sung deftly, guided the orchestra, building musical images, of landscapes, seasons and events creating a world of sensation and emotions.

There were joyous  moments throughout the work but these were set against contemplative sections with the composer finding redemption in the grandeur of the work.

From the anguish of the first movement through the graceful mid-section and onto the final tumultuous fourth movement the orchestra provided a rich and satisfying performance.

While the orchestra was expertly conducted and the players superbly coordinated there were some stand-out performances by the bassoons, flutes, clarinets and French horns.

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Mozart’s Jupiter: Musical foothills and a mighty mountain

Reviewed by Peter Simpson

Genevieve Lacey Photo. Pia Johnson

Mozart’s Jupiter

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

May 1

Reviewed by Peter Simpson

Thursday’s Mayday concert by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra consisted of some pleasant foothills leading to a mighty mountain. The foothills were all acts of homage by different composers to a major predecessor: Tchaikovsky honouring Mozart; Australian composer Elena Kats-Cherwin (born 1957) honouring Bach, and British composer George Benjamin (born 1960) honouring Purcell. The mighty mountain was Mozart’s sublime ‘Jupiter Symphony’, No. 41.

The conductor, Leo Hussain (born 1978), is British and is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest; he also worked with Simon Rattle at the Berlin Philharmonic and is probably He is best known as a conductor of opera. In Auckland he began the concert informally with a brief verbal introduction emphasising the linking theme of homage and describing the Mozart symphony as the summation not only of Mozart’s career but of the whole Classical period in music. His control of the orchestra was impeccable throughout and the whole concert was warmly received.

Tchaikovsky’s ‘Mozartiana’, dating from 1887, orchestrated what the composer called ‘gems of musical art, unpretentious in form, but containing incomparable beauties’. The first three movements are tasty miniatures; the final movement, a set of variations, based on Mozart after a theme by Gluck, is more extensive and includes some effects a million miles from Mozart; the variations fully explore the large orchestra’s resources, one being entirely for strings, another entirely for woodwind, and including solo turns by clarinet, flute, violin and glockenspiel. The performance was spirited.

Elena Kats-Chernin describes her six-part work as ‘Re-inventions (after Bach)’; they are based on some of the great composer’s inventions for keyboard. Scored for small string orchestra and solo recorders the performance featured entertaining solos on four different recorders (discount, tenor, bass, sopranino) by Australian virtuoso Genevieve Lacey who impressed the audience (especially in her bird-song imitation encore) with her skill and vivacity.

Composer George Benjamin was a pupil of Messiaen; his ‘Three Consorts’ responds particularly to the ‘mesmerising intersection of line and harmony’ in Henry Purcell’s 1680 Fantasias. The middle piece was especially sonorous and pleasing.

Mozart’s Jupiter symphony is an astonishing work which the composer himself probably never heard performed; it certainly owes its name to somebody else. One scholar described it as ‘the greatest orchestral work of the world which preceded the French Revolution’ and the APO played the work as if they agreed with that dizzy estimation. The way the symphony combines both clarity and complexity, especially in the last movement, was apparent throughout the orchestra’s sparkling rendition. Glorious music!

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Delicacy and grandeur in nineteenth century masterworks

Inon Barnatan. Image. Sav Schulman

Romantic Brahms

Auckland Philharmonia

Auckland Town Hall

April 10

Reviewed by Peter Simpson

The April 10 concert of the Auckland Philharmonia headed ‘Romantic Brahms’, placed the audience squarely in the nineteenth century (where most audiences most like to be), with an overture from 1834, a concerto from 1881 and a symphony from 1888. The conductor was the Swiss-Australian Elena Schwarz who is currently with Klangforum, a chamber orchestra specialising in contemporary music based in Vienna; she is also a guest conductor with leading orchestras in Europe, America and Australia.  Elegant and agile in her dark trouser suit she seemed completely in command of these complex scores.

Louise Farrenc (1804-1975) was famous in her time (and is now undergoing recuperation) as a pianist, teacher and composer in Paris, earning the respect of Schumann and Berlioz for her compositions which included symphonies and chamber works as well as two orchestral overtures in 1834, the second of which played in Auckland demonstrates her confident control of the post-Beethoven orchestra and musical idioms.

Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 is possibly his greatest orchestral work, at least I have thought so since the early 1960s when I first heard Sviatoslav Richter’s famous recording with the Chicago Symphony under Erich Leinsdorf made during Richter’s first tour of America. Israeli-pianist Inon Barnatan was well up to the demands of this heroic score ranging as it does from  extreme delicacy – as in the opening exchanges between piano and horn (the beginning slightly fluffed by APO’s horn soloist) – to full orchestral grandeur in the many climactic passages. For his encore the pianist unusually chose a graceful duet by Rachmaninov with a cellist instead of a solo piece, perhaps in recognition of the lovely ‘cello solo at the start of the third movement of the concerto.

According to Heath Lees’ programme notes, César Franck’s Symphony in D has somewhat lost favour with modern audiences compared to its earlier fame, but it still comes across as a noble and majestic piece, especially in its swelling major theme which recurs throughout the circular structure The texture of the work can sometimes seem a bit muddy but not in Elena Schwarz’s expert separating out of the separate layers of sound. It was a fitting conclusion to a stirring and satisfying evening of Romantic music.

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Auckland Philharmonia’s Brahms 3 and a masterly James Ehnes

Reviewed by John daly-Peoples

James Ehnes Photo Sav Schulman

Brahms 3

Auckland Philharmonia

Auckland Town Hall

February 27

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The “Brahms 3”concert began with Romanian composer Gyorgy Legeti’s “Concert Romanesc” written in 1951. The work opens with joyous images of landscape studded with hints of folk music. These passages combined humour and experimentation, qualities which inhabit much of his later music.

From the middle of the piece there were more sombre sounds, as though confronting the history of his country as well as the suffering and death of his parents in Auschwitz during World War II.

As the work became darker and bleaker there was a whirling dance of death moving to a finale where the whole orchestra exploded with lively, suffocating sounds.

Following his performance last week James Ehnes’ performance of Bartok’s “Violin Concerto No 1” was highly anticipated. He did not disappoint. With the soulful opening movement he was initially joined by Andrew Beere and Lauren Bennett before others from the string section joined, adding to the density and complexity of Ehnes’ playing.

Following on from the strings, the woodwinds provided a slightly unsettling voice and even as the orchestra gained in intensity, Ehnes’ violin rose up , soaring above the sounds of the orchestra with some strident sounds which were reflected in Ehnes’ rigid  demeanour and exacting playing.

From the second movement on, his playing style changed, taking on a more passionate and expressive approach with some more hectic, gypsy-like playing as he battled against the sweep of the growling orchestra. However, even when he was frantically playing there was a sense of his being totally in control.

With his mastery of the violin, his skilful changes in pace, and tone the audience  was treated to a display by a consummate violinist.

While Ehnes received a rapturous ovation for the Bartok it was his encore, Eugene Ysaÿe’s “Violin Sonata No.3 ‘Ballade” .that got a tumultuous reception. The solo work dedicated to the Romanian violinist and composer George Enescu which was beautifully structured requires an intelligent and skilful player – all the qualities that Ehnes was able to bring to the piece.

The big 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.

These images 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 if the human condition. This is very 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.

The final works on the programme, three of Brahm’s Hungarian Dances had Conductor Bellincampi conducting at breakneck speed and while he spent much of his time dancing on the podium the orchestra were swept up by the music and carried along by its own impetus.

Bellincampi used the dances to book-end a farewell to the orchestra’s Music Librarian, Robert Johnson who has worked at the orchestra for over thirty years.

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A thrilling “The Planets” from the NZSO

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Planets

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

November 23

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

One of the disappointing aspects of the NZSO’s recent “The Planets” concert was the short duration of the first work on the programme.

The Finnish composer Kaije Saariaho’s  “Asteroid 4179: Toutatis” was performed for four minutes, but many in the audience would have been delighted if it had run for twice or three times that length.

“Asteroid 4179: Toutatis”, is named for an actual asteroid, a two-kilometre rock fragment which moves between Mars and Jupiter. The work is a confluence of science and art with the music sounding like music many composers have used for the soundtracks of science fiction movies or to create otherworldly sounds Her ethereal sounds which represent the movement of the asteroid were mysterious and saw her turning scientific notations into music.

The composer was trying to describe the pattern of Toutati’s movements, its chaotic orbit, its unfixed north pole and its complex pattern of rotation so we had music which described the various ellipses, parabolas and  cosmic curves tracing out celestial journeys.

The work contained  multiple combinations, of strings and huge sounds from the full orchestra . Many of the sounds were unusual with shimmering strings, eerie sounds  from  the wind instruments  and even fleeting sounds from the harp.

Christian Tetzlaff

Christian Tetzlaff gave an electrifying performance with his playing of Elgar’s Violin Concerto and he seemed to become one with the violin, It was not just his bowing arm but his whole body which appeared to be affected by the music.

He opened with some  ferocious bowing but this soon morphed into playing which was not much more than a whisper with Tetzlaff gently rocking as though playing a lullaby, taking him into a state of reverie.

There were times when the bow met the strings with a piercing sound,  while there were other passages when the bow barely touched the strings.

Several times his feverish playing was matched by Gemma New’s demonstrative conducting where she conducted with her body and not just baton and hands. Then there were times when violinist and conductor appeared to be linked in a dance, their bodies  swaying in harmony.

There were many passages in the work which were extremely taxing for the violinist but Tetzlaff handled these with style and self-assurance. At times he was sharply focused with some aggressive playing, as though he was trying  to outrun the orchestra  before changing to a more serene mode, melding with the orchestra.

With the slower second movement he was like a different violinist, the torments of the first movement replaced by an  engaging romanticism  Before the spirited finale he effortlessly dashed off a spirited theme with some grand gestures.

That Gustav Holst composed his The Planets suite early on in the twentieth century saved a lot of problems later on. Pluto was not discovered until 1930 so was not one of the planets which the composer included in his work. So, with Pluto now being dropped as one of the planets his work doesn’t have to be seen as an oddity just one of the great British musical works of the early twentieth century.

Under the brilliant direction of Gemma New the orchestra managed to give each of the sequences a thrilling interpretation, exploring their emotional and narrative themes. At times New seemed carried away by the music performing little dances and jigs, her hands and arms tracing out the music as though replicating planetary arcs.

From the relentless marching sounds of Mars, The Bringer of War through to the almost spiritual Neptune there was an urgency and  drama from the orchestra.

Jupiter featured an onslaught from the full strings along with an array of percussion including bells and triangle which added to the intense atmosphere.

Emotional and expressive playing by the violins, cellos, and double basses introduced Venus along with percussion instruments – gongs, triangles, bells, timpani, celesta and drums, which provided a serene and imposing atmosphere.

Saturn gave us the sombre sounds of the double basses  and  plucked cellos and  this then changed with a nice contrast to harps and double bass.

The opening harps and organ of Neptune, created an enigmatic sound with the  orchestra joined by Voice New Zealand Chamber Choir which was beautifully expressive, becoming another instrument  to finish the work in style,

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APO’s Romantic Journeys

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Johannes Moser

Auckland Philharmonia

Romantic Journeys

Auckland Town Hall

November 21

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The opening and closing works on the APO’s Romantic Journeys programme featured travelogues from Tchaikovsky and Schumann. Tchaikovsky Capriccio Italien is a record of one of his  trips to Italy whileSchumann’s Symphony No.3 ‘Rhenish’ was written in response to a journey along the Rhine and a visit to Cologne.

Tchaikovsky travelled many times to Italy, partly to escape the Russian winter and it was on one of these trips that he was inspired to compose his Capriccio Italien partly inspired by Carnivale, of which he wrote – “seeing the public raging on the Corso, you are convinced that no matter how strangely the joy of the local crowd manifests itself, it is nevertheless sincere and unconstrained,”

A  blaze of horns opens the work,like a curtain being lifted to reveal a colourful panorama of landscape, cities and spectacle. There are some slow and precise passages before we hear traces of folk music which introduce a sense of Italian life with lively  and charming dance melodies and bugle calls.

This was followed by a fast-paced tarantella-like sequence with the lively strings and woodwinds allowing the composer to capture the ebullient moods of the people as they danced through Carnivale  from dawn to dusk.

Throughout the work with its changing, colours and tempos there is a sense of the composer delighting in parading these sounds which would be new to a Northern European  audience

Schumann’s Symphony No 3 (Rhenish) is a portrait of the Rhine but it can be seen as part of the nationalist ethos which had been developing since the end of the Napoleonic  Wars and was particularly strong in the Rhineland.

From the opening fanfare, there is a sense of celebration of the land, the buildings and the people. The Rhine is central to this depiction and the music paints a picture of the flowing river indicated by the sinuous sounds and overlapping melodies of the orchestra.

The work is like a musical diary depicting the changing landscape as the composer passes through towns and villages capturing his changing impressions.

The voluptuous second movement also has landscape images – clouds, fields and activity, all highlighted with bursts of dramatic brass while the third continues with descriptive passages which are increasingly jaunty.

The fourth movement is  full of majestic sounds and is a description of the composers visit to Cologne Cathedral, the largest in Germany. The building was still in its unfinished state, surrounded by scaffolding, the two massive spires yet to be installed. It would still have provided an impressive scene and the music conveys that sense of size and grandeur, with traces of liturgical and choral music. The full range of the brass instruments provided  the orchestral texture and the movement climaxed in a massive, repeated fanfare for brass and winds.

With the finale, the vibrancy of the first movement was revisited emphasising the rhythms, giving the music a headlong movement that drove the Symphony to its thrilling, conclusion.

Between the two descriptive works the orchestra played Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with German / Canadian cellist Johannes Moser who replaced Edgar Moreau.

Moser glided  effortlessly through the work revelling in the interplay with the orchestra in a tantalising display which emphasised aspects of the sophisticated composition. He made use of the various solo sections  to show an understanding of the work as well  displaying his extraordinary technical skills.

He was able to combine, as did Tchaikovsky, an understanding of the romanticism of the Rococo theme as well as debt to Mozart which gives the work its spectacle in the way that cello and orchestra intertwine. The theme was dissected and re-formed in different guises with Moser seemingly finding new opportunities in the melodies as well as exploring its tones, and textures.

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NZ Trio’s Untamed Hope

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

NZ Trio. Amalia Hall, Somi Kim and Ashley Brown

NZ Trio

Triptych 3: Untamed Hope

Auckland Concert Chamber

November 17

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

NZ Trio as well as being one of the finest groups of players in Australasia are also one of the most innovative and inspiring with their stimulating programmes. This was clear in their latest concert, “Untamed Hope” which featured four women composers from New Zealand, England, Germany and the USA with works spanning three centuries.

The title of the concert, “Untamed Hope”: probably alludes to the fact that at least three of the  women were constrained in some way by the environments in which they began their musical careers. Their hopes of being able to be in the concert hall on equal terms with their male counterparts was largely tamed by that environment.

The opening work was English composer  Ethel Smyth’s Trio  in D minor, a work  written when she was twenty-two having left the England to study in Leipzig.  At the time she met many contemporary composers including Clara Schumann and Brahms.

The first movement could even have been written by Brahms, which was apparent in the  sinuous playing of Somi Kim who was accompanied by delicate melodies from the strings. Initially violin and cello were in harmony with the piano but then their playing began to diverge, with each of the instruments developing their own musical themes.

Parts  of the second movement seem to be based on a folk song (French or English) with theme passed between the three instruments, all suggesting a soulful introspection as well as displaying the composers sophisticated writing.

Third movement entitled “Leid” had many aspects of the “song without word” with hints of a Scottish dance melody played by Amalia Hall

The dramatic finale saw a long  passage by the piano with the strings entering, playing a Hungarian-like tragic theme.

Eve Bedggood’s Ukiyo 浮世 –The Floating World relates to the Japanese concept of “the floating world” which evokes an imagined universe of wit, stylishness, and extravagance, a state which was often experienced through theatre, song, stories  and pictures.

Bedggood says of the notion of “the simplicity of just existing  and immersing yourself in the floating world or sense of calm is something I think music and other art forms can evoke”.

Much of the work had musical images of floating, flowing and meditation states with the work opened with dark rumbles from the piano suggesting sombre depths with strains of the violin and cello making interventions .

We heard exciting glissando from the Amelia Hall’s violon and careful, controlled repetition from Ashley Brown cello, while many of the sequences  saw an almost minimalist backing with the scudding sounds of the strings hovering above.

The work was like a reverie, the various themes creating dreamlike images much like those of many Japanese prints of an earlier period.

The American Joan Tower’s “Trio Cavny” opened with some tingling high notes from the piano with the violin and cello responding with equally high-pitched sounds creating a taut musical mood.  A following sequence saw Somi Kim creating crashing waves of sound leading to a tension between the three instruments which then played independently of each other before arriving at a point of intense harmonisation.

The music ranged from the soundtrack of a horror movie to a musical version of the Doppler Effect to the sounds of sympathetic voices in  minimalist mediation.

The final work on the program was Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D Minor. It is a beautifully conceived work with the violin and cello flowing around the energetic displays of Somi Kim

Amalia Hall provided both a delicacy and sharpness with her playing, contrasting with Ashley Browns sedate cello.

The introspective and reflective  second movement which opens with  a romantic  sequence from the piano contained elements of waltz tunes  while the third suggested elements of German folk song.

In the final movement the three players displayed a vigorous drive and energy, beginning with some  mesmerising playing by Kim before Hall and Brownjoined in creating an eloquent dialogue, leading to repeated motifs to end the work with an optimistic conclusion

The group announced that cellist Ashley Brown will be leaving the group to take an appointment as Principal Cellist with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra next year. He  has been involved with the trio since its founding twenty-three years ago and his presence with the trio will be greatly missed.

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The APO’s 2025 Season revealed

John Daly-Peoples

Principal Guest Conductor, Shiyeon Sung Credit Yongbin Park

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra 2025

John Daly-Peoples

The  Auckland Philharmonia has just released its 2025 Season, of forty concerts featuring some of the world’s most-important artists including violinist James Ehnes, Spanish pianist Javier Perianes, guitarist JIJI, cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, and conductor Pierre Bleuse.

Javier Perianes Credit Julia Severinsen

The opening concert will feature New Zealander Claire Cowan’s “My Alphabet of Life”, Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Piano Concerto and  Strauss’ tone-poem,Ein Heldenleben. All of the following concerts will provide a similar mixture of the great classics along with new and surprising works from the classical period and more recent compositions.

There will be a complete performance of Ravel’s ballet, Daphnis et Chloé.as well as  a selection from The Creatures of Prometheus, Beethoven’s only published ballet.

Other major works will include performances of Beethoven’s  Symphony No.5, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5 and Mahler’s Symphony No 3 with mezzo-soprano Deborah Humble.

Principal Guest Conductor, Shiyeon Sung will conduct fellow Korean Clara-Jumi Kang, playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21 performed by British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, who was recently named in Gramophone magazine’s list of the 50 greatest all-time pianists.  

The New Zealand Herald Premier Series will include major symphonic works by Elgar, Brahms, Shostakovich, Wagner, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky, as well as some rarely programmed gems by Ravel, Respighi, Liszt, Schoenberg and Grieg, complemented by music from leading New Zealand composers Claire Cowan, Kenneth Young and Louise Webster.

There will also be the New Zealand premiere of Sir James MacMillan’s newest concerto ‘Ghosts’, an Auckland Philharmonia co-commission with the London Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

The Canadian violinist James Ehnes will return for a two-week residency, performing two of the most demanding works in the violinist’s arsenal –  Bartók’s Violin Concerto No.1 and Brahms’ Violin Concerto.

Pierre Bleuse

Other soloists include Korean guitarist JIJI, German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, Sylvia Jiang and Alexander Gavrylyu. There will also be several visiting conductors leading the orchestra including Pierre Bleuse, Karl-Heinz Steffens and Jun Märkl.

The Classic Series of five concerts will feature major masterpieces, such as Mendelssohn’s ‘Scottish’ Symphony, Haydn’s Symphony No.93, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.2.

The Pub Charity Opera in Concert production of Verdi’s La traviata will see Giordano Bellincampi exploring the raw dramatic power of this sublime score with a celebrated New Zealand and Australian cast; including Amina Edris as Violetta, Oliver Sewell, as her lover Alfredo, and Phillip Rhodes as Germont.

The multifaceted Baroque & Beyond series will be returning with two concerts directed by Concertmaster Andrew Beer that celebrate the masters of the Baroque era from Handel’s Water Music to works by Sir Michael Tippett along with Baroque masters Biber and Corelli and 20th century composers Bloch and Respighi.

In 2025 the music of the movies will be heard  in Art of the Score: The Music of Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer is one the most influential film composers of all time and is behind the iconic scores for Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy and themes from Pirates of the Caribbean and Gladiator. Audiences will be taken on a journey through Zimmer’s music, presented by Australian Art of the Score podcasters and film buffs, Andrew Pogson and Dan Golding, with Nicholas Buc on the podium.

Matariki with Ria Hall will be a popular night to celebrate the Māori New Year. One of Aotearoa’s most compelling and thoughtful voices, Ria Hall, will join forces with the the orchestra to recreate her evocative songs ‘They Come Marching’, ‘Te Ahi Kai Pō’, and ‘Black Light’, with a magnificent symphonic soundscape.   

Bic Runga Credit Tom Grut

Bic Runga with Auckland Phil will feature Runga performing such classics as ‘Something Good’, ‘Precious Things’ and ‘Bursting Through’, reimagined together with a full orchestra, this will be an extraordinary evening of musical fusion.

There will be a  fun-filled interactive show featuring New Zealand’s beloved canine icon, Hairy Maclary’s Greatest Hits presented by Jackie Clarke, and a captivating show for the whole family starring everyone’s favourite duo, Wallace & Gromit, at Wallace & Gromit in Concert. including The Wrong Trousers screened in full.

Season brochures are available online from aucklandphil.nz or by phoning Auckland Philharmonia Ticketing on (09) 623 1052

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The NZSO’s Copland, Cresswell and Mozart concert

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Gemma New

Jupiter: Mozart & Copland

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

September 21

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring which opened the NZSO’s latest concert featured music the composer originally wrote for Martha Graham’s ballet of the same name. The work has a simple narrative  following aBride and Husband as they get married and celebrate with the community. The work contains  various themes – faith, love and the joys of a new life.

The work is a celebration of the American West as well as an acknowledgement of the country’s past times of violence, referencing both the Civil War and World War II (the work was written in the midst of the war).

Copland used American folk music for melodies, harmonies and textures, that he had used in previous works such as Billy the Kid and  Rodeo and he also  included a theme and variations on the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts”.

Like those other two ballets the composer has responded to the notion of fluidity, representing the dancer’s movements.

The piece starts off with one of the great descriptions of the dawning day but with it is also the couple’s wedding day. This is described with soft chords from the strings, followed by soaring woodwinds with the flute and clarinet sketching out the storyline.

Quiet and wistful vistas and activity merge into cheery dance-like passages echoing the early American folk tunes and Conductor Gemma New responded with a little dance, caught up in these lively  rhythms

The work was punctuated by dramatic use of the percussion and horns which contrasted with the lively, dancing strings.

The finale with its grand statement along with Copland’s others works added a new dimension to the idea of rural America and the West elevating them to a sophisticated and iconic level.

The second work on the programme was Lyell Cresswell’s Piano Concerto No 3  which was given its world  premiere, played by Stephen De Pledge, a long-term admirer and advocate of the composer’s work.

The concerto is full of contrasts, between the instruments  themselves as well as the musical colours and textures which are all bound together with innovative instrumentation.

It opened much like the Copland with a dawning with suggestions of Nature, the stillness of landscape and the sounds of the forest. This was soon followed by the aggressive orchestra which merged with De Pledge’s piano where shimmering clouds hovered over the raucous strings.

Throughout the work there were musical suggestions of observations of his environment linked to a strange, abstract realm of sound with De Pledge and the orchestra contributing a range of textures – delicate, frenzied, lush and meticulous.

The brutal sounds of the orchestra were often matched by the equally brutal sounds of the piano, orchestra and piano creating interweaving and inventive sounds. These included the pianist using the instrument as a percussion instrument, knocking on the piano keys or playing long passages of a repeated single note.

Much of the piano work was sparse but there were occasional energetic bursts of sound accompanied by the orchestra  with the whispering strings at time sounding like the gentle wind in the trees or a breath slowly exhaled.

The final work in the programme was Mozart’s Symphony No 42 , The Jupiter one of his last symphonic works and one in which the composer is producing work which is at the centre of the transition of music form the classical to the Romantic…

With this work Gemma New seemed to be interested discovering nuance and depth in the composer’s work.

Even in the opening sequence which is full of drama she created contrasts so that the great melodies took on a more impressive sound with New seeing possibilities in the music that even Mozart  may not have been  aware of.

Her approach was obvious in the intensity of many passages, reducing some to more of a sigh while the dramatic moments featured immense surges of sounds.

The mysterious quality of the second movement featured  some beautiful balance between the woodwinds and orchestra while the energetic final movement with multiple themes and intricate playing  demonstrated the orchestra’s superior musicality.

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

James Jin (violin), Xing Wang (piano) and Dominic Lee (cello)

Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival

Eden Arts

Mt Eden Village Centre Church

September 6 – 8

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Now in its ninth year the Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival organised  by the local community arts group, Eden Arts has presented high quality performances by some of the country’ s leading musical groups and major talent including NZ Trio and NZ Barok.

These concerts have been programmed by Simeon Broom, the Festival’s Artistic Director who is a violinist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra  and Cathy Manning of Eden Arts.

Its most recent concert series featured Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No 2, Dvorak’s Piano Concerto No 3, Debussy’s Sonata in G Minor for violin and Piano, Brahms’ Piano Quartet No 3 as well as a concert of works for trombone quartet including pieces by Beethoven, Bruckner, Chaulk, Webern Apon and Seroki.

The four major works on the programme all see composers responding to major crisis in their lives – personal, domestic  and political, using music as a means of self-expression as well as communicating their ideas and emotions.

The Shostakovich Piano Trio and Dvorak Piano Concerto were both played by Xing Wang (piano), James Jin (violin) and Dominic Lee (cello) giving each of the works a very different tone.

The Shostakovich was written in 1944 following on from his Symphony No 7 which was his reaction to the horrors of the Second World War and the Siege of Leningrad and which was his personal expression of his  resistance to fascism.

Some of these same aspects are to be found in the Piano Trio along with reference to his friend Ivan Sollertinsky who had recently died and who is credited with introducing Shostakovich to new music including the work of Mahler.

The opening, chilling tomes of the Lee’s cello  were followed by the lamenting sounds of Jin’s violin and the dignified piano of Wang. The trio became more animated with the anguished conversation between  the strings set against the ruthless tones of the piano. Here the strings seemed to be particularly raw expressing anger and torment.

The second movement began with a slightly more joyful tone with its dance-like melody but this soon became more excited with a harsh pizzicato sequence from the strings, soaring above the pianos more restrained sounds.

There followed a death knell, the cello paying homage to Sollertinsky with a passionate voice.

In the final section Shostakovich used a Jewish melody but the celebratory nature of the work was played as a dirge, full of an increasingly frantic distress.

The undertones of the mournful cello and the tense violin become something  of a metaphor for the lost and abandoned. Here Lee took on an active performance role lifting himself out of his seat in an agitated manner.

There is also a dark and brooding element in Dvorak’s Piano Trio  which may be a reflection of the composer’s grief over the recent death of his mother and the early death of  three of his children.

The group displayed an understanding of the work with its subtle nuances of tone and its dramatic chiaroscuro giving the work  an alternating drama, liveliness and introspection.

 The opening of the work was filled with swirling eddies of sound conjuring up images of landscape  that he evoked in many of his previous works. Here the , the grandeur of the vision expressed a contemplative mood.

The work was full of passage of tight  precision and the trio was able to  express the   passion in music with some delightful passages such as  the springlike opening of the second movement as well as some unexpected inflections and intricate rhythms.

The three instrument  developed and expanded these early melodies creating some languorous vistas  with some of the melodies beautifully expressed  by Lees’s cello which led to an unexpected conclusion.

Much of the playing of the violin and cello took on an elegance  which saw  the two  instruments  interweaving in a conversation which alternated between the formal and the combative.

Simeon Broom (violin), Katherine Austin (piano), James Tennant (cello)Helen Lee (viola)

Debussy wrote the Sonata in G Minor for violin and Piano in 1917 at a time when France was grieving its losses in The Great War and at a time when the composer was aware of his imminent death,

Simeon Broom’s violin soared and floated above Katherine Austin’s piano which went from the dramatic to the lethargic, her intrusions like  a scudding cloud and Broom’s violin explored some rapturous melodies.

The second movement brought some colourful and sprightly dancing  melodies from Broom with some jittery playing from Austin, the instruments vying for innovation and spectacle.

Austin delivered brilliant passages of insistent piano into which Broom inserted a bird-like romanticism and then some  marvellous playing involving double stopping and intricate playing.

For the Brahms Piano Quartet No 3 Austin and Broom were joined with Helen Lee (viola) and James Tennant (cello). The work  is filled with drama, yearning  and reflection as he was close to Robert Schumann and  was shocked by his mentors attempted suicide. But he was also drawn to Schumann’s wife Clara and probably felt conflicted about that relationship.

The work also captures much of his romantic angst which can also be seen in Goethe’s “Young Werther” and the paintings of Caspar Friedrich.

The opening sobbing sounds of the instruments and the plucked sounds of the viola suggesting tears set the scene for the work  with frantic strings morphing into a more contemplative mood.

There were passages where the piano alluded to joyful times as well as distant love. Then the strings erupted is waves of sound suggesting the turbulent life and mind of the young composer. There were also passionate outbursts creating an image of the lonely hero caught in a storm.

Many of the passage see Brahms creating a sense of light and dark, joy and sadness with soulful conversations between the cello and violin as well as a delicate romanticism  carefully outlined by Austins piano.

The work ends with some robust playing as the instruments seemed to spiral out of control with some  dynamic connections between the four players before  moving onto a reflective sequence and terse conclusion.

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