Auckland Philharmonia shine with unforgettable Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev performances

Shiyeon Sung conducts Tchaikovsky’s Fifth with the Auckland Philharmonia. Photo / Adrian Malloch

• The Auckland Philharmonia’s concert featured Shiyeon Sung and Ukrainian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk, drawing a capacity audience.
• Gavrylyuk delivered an exhilarating performance of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with remarkable immersion.
• Sung brought vibrancy to Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, culminating in a triumphant finale.

The Auckland Philharmonia‘s Tchaikovsky 5 concert offered much cause for celebration, including the welcome return of principal guest conductor Shiyeon Sung and the very special feeling of being part of another of the orchestra’s capacity audiences.

Tchaikovsky had doubtlessly been the drawcard, with the return of popular Ukrainian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk to unlock and unleash the box of fireworks that is Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto.

With two substantial main courses before us, we set off with a light dessert in Kenneth Young’s Douce Tristesse.

More fiery emotions lay ahead, but the New Zealand composer dealt out gentle nostalgia, remembering a much-loved summer holiday retreat in a drifting, Ravelian waltz.

Back in 2011, the Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski stressed to me that Prokofiev’s Third Concerto was not all steel-like energy, but full of joy and humour, being written in a more or less happy period of the composer’s life.

Alexander Gavrylyuk performed Prokofiev’s Third with Auckland Philharmonia. Photo / Marco Borggreve

On this night, Alexander Gavrylyuk might well have been in total accord with him, delivering a performance of single-minded immersion, hovering over the keys, engendering expectation and exuding exhilaration, all with palpable delight.

Sung’s insistence on impeccable orchestral clarity was the perfect inspiration for the soloist’s rushing toccatas and marching chords; and, in amongst the glitter, could one almost sense a playful wink in his cheeky grace notes?

And what a thrill it was when an innocent clarinet theme returned, in full and stirring orchestral garb.

In the second movement, Gavrylyuk proved himself a skilled alchemist when he took on the orchestra’s perky march theme, most memorably recasting it as a moody melancholic nocturne.

Sung’s remarkably cohesive finale brought all the musicians together to enjoy the diverse panorama of Prokofiev’s music, followed by Gavrylyuk’s encore, a passionate account of the very first etude by a teenage Scriabin.

It is always daunting for a critic to assess yet another performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. Yet on the night, Sung drew a rare vibrancy from familiar pages, laying out a compulsive journey from the Russian’s doom-laden introduction to the triumphant glow of its final apotheosis.