NZSO presents Legacy
Dunedin Town Hall
Friday, October 14
REVIEW BY BRENDA HARWOOD
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) embarked on a massive weekend of music-making for Dunedin Arts Festival last night, showcasing giants of musical history alongside brand new music in its Legacy concert.
Under the baton of celebrated English conductor Alexander Shelley, the orchestra and visiting star pianist Gabriela Montero gave a nimble and dynamic performance of works by Dunedin’s own Dame Gillian Whitehead, Mozart and Brahms.
The concert began with Retrieving the Fragility of Peace, an otherworldy and rhythmically complex soundscapes by Whitehead, bringing the haunting beauty of the cello and cor anglais to the fore.
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 featured Montero in masterful form — handling the work’s shifting moods with aplomb, accompanied with sensitivity by the NZSO strings and woodwind.
Filled with Mozart’s signature rippling arpeggio cascades, and lovely interplay between pianist and orchestra, the concerto sparkled throughout.
Enthusiatic applause grew Montero back to weave a spellbinding improvised piece around the melody of Now is the Hour sung to her by an audience member.
The full magnificence of the NZSO was to the fore in the concert’s second half, which featured Brahms’ monumental four-movement Symphony No. 1, conducted with grace and dynamic intensity by Shelley.
From its ominous opening, to the beautiful melodies of the second movement, the baroque-style third movement and on to a triumphant conclusion, the symphony was superbly handled throughout by the orchestra.
All in all, the NZSO’s Legacy concert was a great start to a weekend of musical treats.
- The NZSO presents Bright Sparks with Shayne Carter tonight at the Dunedin Town Hall; and Fantastic Voyage tomorrow afternoon also at the town hall.
