Aotea Centre, Auckland
Review: Heath Lees
Purists look down their noses at Ravel's Bolero and even the composer was scathing about its unswerving build-up over one rhythm.
But this performance reminded those of us who like the piece of its haunting start, its almost imperceptible growth to a triumphant finish, the guitar-plucking strings, the adrenalin burst of the single key change, and the circus-like trombone slides at the end.
Most satisfying is the opportunity for soloists to make their instruments "speak" the repeated melody. So we had a scintillating E-flat clarinet solo, and later, with the same music, an eloquent trombone version and, in between, two types of sensuous saxophone, each played by the same musician, with a 10-second changeover.
The whole programme was a collection of orchestral showpieces, unified, according to conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya, by the folk influences of the countries they came from.
Enesco's first Rumanian Rhapsody was certainly colourful and flamboyant, though disjointed, being rather casually stitched together. And the opening piece by Aaron Copland was colourfully drawn, a series of garish postcards in sound, El Salon Mexico.
The Auckland Philharmonia plays this kind of cinematic music incredibly well, and the opening solos from trumpet and clarinet were a delight - wayward and comic, yet with fire underneath. By contrast, the jagged rhythmic thrusts of the ending were a bit saggy - incisive but not really muscular.
A certain lethargy also stole into the major work of the evening, Tchaikovsky's second symphony. Many of the mature composer's fingerprints can be heard in the warm brass centrepieces and the gloomy, bass-voice Russian melodies.
Many of these effects were well caught, but some parts sounded jaded. But in the over-heroic finale, the uplifting entry of the prima donna in the second main theme (Tchaikovsky loved the ballet) was a breath of fresh air. Capping this Royal and SunAlliance concert, the riotous encore - Chabrier's Espana - almost stole the show.
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