A week ago, Nikolaj Znaider was playing Mozart and Elgar in Brisbane in a Queensland Orchestra's scones'n'cuppa tea and symphony concert. On Saturday, Auckland had the same programme, with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, as full evening fare.
Clocking in at well under two hours, it was a
mite on the short side, although there was no short-changing when it came to musical quality.
One might have imagined the wily Giovanni himself stalking through the opening pages of Mozart's Don Giovanni Overture, such was its theatrical immediacy, and Znaider peppered the zesty Allegro molto with the tastiest woodwind colourings.
Znaider conducted Mozart's First Violin Concerto while playing the solo part and such was the fascination of watching him combine two roles that it almost atoned for what was a rather string-heavy band. The opening Allegro moderato saw the violinist spinning Mozart's lines with remarkable freedom and fluency; a diversion to the minor had just the right plaintive elegance, the expansive song of the Adagio became a silvery-toned aria.
While Mozart's final Presto may not have been the fastest on record, it had punch and purpose.
Cadenzas throughout were stylish and apt, although an encore would not have gone amiss - perhaps a selection of some of the composer's Country Dances.
After the interval, it was clear from the care taken with the theme of Elgar's Enigma Variations, from the sigh of falling strings to finely dovetailed woodwind, that this would be a first-rate performance.
As we moved through Elgar's portrait gallery, meeting his friends pictured within, detail was all, from the gracious charm of Alice Elgar in the first variation and the coyness of the later Dorabella to the blustering brusqueness of one country squire named William Meath Baker.
Nimrod of the ninth variation emerged, magically, from the hush of utter stillness and worked to a thunderous climax and, although one missed the mighty organ in the Finale, Znaider in extrovert mode was astounding. So much so that one almost heard a flutter of Stravinsky's Firebird in the brass retorts of the 11th variation.
