Dunedin Youth Orchestra
Knox Church
September 24
Reviewed by ELIZABETH BOUMAN
Poet and Peasant Overture (Suppe) opened a concert by the Dunedin Youth Orchestra in Knox Church on Saturday evening.
With David Burchell conducting, the programme entitled "Stone Mage, Sax & Symphony" showcased some impressive musicianship from the under-25-year-old musicians.
Elliot Tay (saxophone) was the soloist for Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da Camera.
The two-movement work for orchestra and saxophone incorporates jazz elements of blues and syncopation, which were quite trendy in the 1930s, but the work is seriously classical.
Allegro con moto demanded extremes of saxophone register, wild, speedy and unpredictably agitated at times, and Tay rose to the occasion with good, confident tone, and impressive mellow shading and shaping for more intimate passages.
Currently, the orchestra’s cello section is not strong, but overall the orchestra coped well with such challenging repertoire, and compact strings provided good textural support.
The Stone Mage and the Sea, composed by fourth-year music student Sam van Betuw, was based on the novel by Australian author Sean Williams.
Three sections, "Seeking", "Finding" and "Changing" gave form and reason to this relentless work with its restless often dissonant mood and strident passages.
A particularly strong woodwind section impressed, percussion elements were well-balanced, and scoring required two harps — probably a first for the orchestra. Malcolm Arnold’s Little Suite No 2 comprised several contrasting movements.
The more romantic and lyrical Ballard featured some fine sweeping phrases with rich string texture.
A 40-minute work by Antonin Dvorak completed the programme.
Symphony No. 8 in G major Op.88 (1889) encounters many themes with a Bohemian flavour as it traverses four movements, moderately difficult but ideal for young musicians to explore instrumental colour and character.
The Allegretto waltz was excellent.
The 2016 Young Musicians’ Awards were presented to Natasha Manowitz (flute) and Nathaniel Otley (violin).
