Light and delightful boutique orchestra

BACH AND THE BIRDS 

On a chilly winter afternoon, it is a great pleasure to gather with fellow music-lovers and experience a varied programme of delightful offerings, performed by some of the city’s best musicians.

The ever-popular Dunedin Symphony Orchestra Matinee Series concerts attracted full houses at the weekend, as principal guest conductor James Judd led a boutique ensemble through the "Bach and the Birds" programme.

Sunday’s concert began with Telemann’s light-hearted and evocative Don Quixote Suite, which depicts the adventures of Cervantes’ errant knight through a series of contrasting movements — brought to sparkling life by a nimble and responsive orchestra, with David Burchell at the harpsichord.

After a quick reshuffle, soloists Tessa Petersen (violin), Hye-Won Suh (flute), Nick Cornish (oboe) and Ralph Miller (trumpet) were joined by a small (standing) ensemble of players for a spirited performance of Bach’s fabulous and fiendishly difficult Brandenburg Concerto No. 2.

Shifting from high-speed complexity to dance-like passages, the concerto requires virtuosic flourishes, which the four soloists achieved with aplomb, ably supported by the orchestra ensemble.

The concert’s second half opened with Rod Biss’ extraordinary song-cycle Four New Zealand Bird Songs — a superb setting of poems by Denys Trussell, beautifully sung by soprano Rebecca Ryan.

Filled with soaring notes and atonal passages, the songs were no simple matter to perform, but were handled superbly by Ryan, with sterling support from the orchestra.

Finally, a high-spirited performance of Haydn’s joyful, lyrical Symphony No 83 in G Minor "La Poule" brought the concert to a deeply satisfying conclusion. Bravo!