Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Ehnes & Bellincampi concert of Brahms Violin Concerto at the Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Sav Schulman
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Ehnes & Bellincampi concert of Brahms Violin Concerto at the Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Sav Schulman
The title of Thursday night’s Auckland Philharmonia concert, Ehnes & Bellincampi, gave away its inevitable highlight — Canadian violinist James Ehnes and AP’s music director Giordano Bellincampi pairing up for a spellbinding Brahms Violin Concerto.
Bellincampi’s carefully measuredpacing and finessed palette made Ehnes’ imposing entrance all the more so, the radiance of his eloquent lines set against a truly Brahmsian orchestral glow.
Flanked in the programme by the sturdier music of Schumann and Mendelssohn, Brahms registered as the romantic spirit in full flight. Ehnes and the orchestra luxuriated in their soaring lines and subtle interplay, particularly with a recurring theme suggesting the most languorous of Viennese waltzes.
The Canadian’s deep love of the work came across in his unerring sense of its structure; even the fearsome Joachim cadenza registered, more than ever, as an integral development of Brahms’ musical argument.
Bede Hanley’s expressive oboe, set in a matchless woodwind bower, launched the second movement, effortlessly extended by Ehnes to new and heart-stopping lyrical heights. A dashing finale positively bristled with Hungarian gusto.
Ehnes’ encore, a lingering Bach Largo, unfolded effortlessly over the most delicate of chords, representing the musical equivalent of a master storyteller at work.
The evening had opened with Schumann’s Manfred Overture, the response of a frail, older composer to Byron’s more youthful passions. Unencumbered by symphonic responsibilities, Schumann’s vivid and volatile writing was, within just two bars, given a bracing workout.
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Ehnes & Bellincampi concert of Brahms Violin Concerto at the Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Sav Schulman
There are many treasurable moments in Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony and these received the fullest of justice, from the almost sculptural moulding of its Andante con moto through to a poignant duet for clarinet and bassoon over sustained string sonorities.
Jonathan Cohen’s breezy clarinet suggested we were in for a trip to a Mendelssohnian fairyland in the second movement but, alas, the composer lets us down with some stodgy tutti. And, although one could not have wished for a shapelier Adagio than Thursday night’s performance, the banality of its material proved a definite liability.
