NZSO’s Immerse weekend shines with Stravinsky and contemporary works – William Dart

Andre de Ridder leads the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra through Stravinsky, Schumann and Fisher premieres. Photo / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

• The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s weekend of Immerse concerts featured dazzling performances by maestro Andre de Ridder.
• Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Schumann’s Spring Symphony were highlights, showcasing orchestral power and creativity.
• Salina Fisher and Jerome Kavanagh Poutama’s Papatūānuku impressed with its blend of ancient and contemporary sounds.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s weekend of Immerse concerts should have been cause for unqualified jubilation, celebrating the orchestra’s return to the Town Hall after three months’ absence.

Yet relatively conservative programming brought back wistful memories of 2023’s Immerse festival, featuring contemporary composers John Luther Adams and Bryce Dessner and Wynton Marsalis’ Blues Symphony.

2025’s opening Enchanted concert was introduced by newly appointed chief executive Marc Feldman. Making a Disney connection with Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice somewhat hardened my heart to the admittedly dazzling performances unleashed by maestro Andre de Ridder.

Enchantment did come after interval with Stravinsky’s Petrushka, a veritable sonic explosion that put one in a seat at the work’s 1911 premiere, thrilling to the jolt of the new. This was cinema without any need of pictures, a fairground drama with its many brilliant cameos emerging from and melting back into the pulsating fray.

Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending provided a lulling launch on Saturday, with Vesa-Matti Leppanen’s violin not quite projecting the exultancy required. Around him, the Axminster lushness of it all made one long to hear its more modest chamber orchestra setting.

Jerome Kavanagh and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra blend taonga pūoro with orchestra in Papatūānuku. Photo / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

On both evenings, de Ridder profusely thanked the Auckland Philharmonia for its commissioning and 2023 premiere of Salina Fisher and Jerome Kavanagh Poutama’s Papatūānuku.

This score’s mix of ancient and contemporary had lost none of its magic, Poutama working through an array of taonga pūoro against Fisher’s imaginative orchestral surround. Poutama’s many flute-like instruments revealed his virtuosity in evoking avian soundscapes, often through effective orchestral dialogues.

It is pleasing to see how Papatūānuku has grown since its 2023 premiere, when Poutama spoke its message of nature and nature to us in English; on the night, any messaging was delivered in eloquent song, and in te reo.

After the interval, Schumann’s Spring Symphony gave us a long-awaited Allegro vivace, with de Ridder and his players positively basking in its bold dotted rhythms and the sheer orchestral power of it all. A power that, suitably harnessed and moulded, created a Larghetto of the purest poetry.