We moved from geysers and mudpools to rural Bohemia for the first movement of Dvorak's Cello Concerto, dispensed with admirable poetry and fire by the APO's exceptional principal cello, Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismark.
After interval, the last movement of Bruch's G minor Violin Concerto did not quite gel for soloist Natalia Lomeiko. Perhaps this gypsyish finale needs the whole work to give it context.
Vaughan Williams' famous lark has ascended more impressively than it did this time around. Lomeiko, playing from a score, needed more relaxed and pliant phrasing to create a convincing flight of passage for The Lark Ascending.
The concert ended with a welcome celebration of the font of all music, the human voice, as Patricia Wright enchanted us with Dvorak's Song to the Moon and the last of Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs.
The soprano sang Hesse's autumnal text with a rare understanding, while its luxuriant setting never lacked Straussian sheen. Orchestra and conductor immersed themselves in the sumptuous tapestry; we, along with RNZ Concert listeners throughout the country, were fortunate to be their audience.
What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Thursday
