Cellist Li-Wei Qin, a crowd favourite, returned to the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra to perform in The Planets.
Cellist Li-Wei Qin, a crowd favourite, returned to the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra to perform in The Planets.
Thank composer Gustav Holst for the full house at Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's The Planets, the second instalment of its Bayleys Great Classics series.
Yet Austrian conductor Hans Graf bewitched the audience from his very first downbeat, with the enchanted sound worlds of two Debussy Images. An impeccable Rondes de Printempswas a shimmering tapestry of flecks and efflorescence, its shifting unpredictability revealing the composer's subtle radicalism.
One does tire of Debussy's perky quotations of a well-known English folk tune in Gigues, even bobbing away on xylophone and trumpets at one point, but poetic amends were splendidly made with Camille Wells' expressive oboe d'amore solos.
Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme may lack the life-and-death struggle that underpins the composer's better-known concertos for piano and violin, but its steady procession of set pieces, each with its own elaborations, is in the same spirit as a succession of solo turns in one of his ballets.
Soloist, Li-Wei Qin deserved all the accolades of a musical premier danseur, injecting character and individuality into his playing down to the last cadenza-like eruption. Instead of the expected Bach encore, a Lamentatio by the contemporary Italian Giovanni Sollima was a welcome surprise. For almost five minutes, the Australian cellist ran the virtuoso gamut, from vocalised lament to furioso outbursts, and held us rapt.
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Oscar Wilde was frequently critical of imitators, and Holst may well have echoed the Irish wit's opinions, had he lived to see The Planets being endlessly purloined by film and TV composers. Yet, the implacable march of its opening Mars certainly chilled during this performance and, two movements on, Mercury inspired a sizzler of a scherzo.
The cooler climes of other planets revealed beautifully gauged woodwind playing, with Kenneth Hill's vibrant bass oboe particularly appreciated. So, too, were the women of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, off-stage sirens in Holst's closing portrait of the mystical Neptune, wending their lyrical way between washes of celesta and harps.
What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Where: Auckland Town Hall Reviewer: William Dart
