This month a town hall audience was cruelly denied the thrill of Shiyeon Sung, Auckland Philharmonia’s principal guest conductor, sparring with the charismatic Jean-Efflam Bavouzet in Bartok’s Second Piano Concerto, thanks to the October 17 concert’s unavoidable
cancellation.
The evening had promised to be a highlight of this season, with orchestral works by Martinu and Mussorgsky also on the bill of fare.
On Thursday, October 24, the Korean maestra proved her enviable versatility as she triumphed in the more traditional terrain of the orchestra’s Mozart & Dvorak programme.
The overture to Mozart’s The Magic Flute offered the zestiest of welcomes. During its first spellbound minute, Sung drew all manner of detail and colour from its opening Adagio before we were caught up in the irrepressible high spirits of the Allegro.
Yeyeong Jenny Jin, winner of last year’s Michael Hill International Violin Competition, had herself chosen the same composer’s Third Violin Concerto for this concert.
The work’s fast movements were an unmitigated delight; crisp, clear and shapely, delivered with a Mozartian inner propulsion. Conductor, orchestra and soloist were in perfect accord with a rendition that had the intimacy and finely-wrought lines of chamber music.
If the Adagio did not quite achieve the buoyant grace that can melt hearts, by transmuting its melody into a succession of sighs, Jin certainly surprised us at encore time with an unusual sonata movement by Ysaye. His exuberant Rustic Dance had her revelling in its tumbling metres, fierce double- and triple-stopping and scattergun pizzicato.
After interval, Sung’s illuminating response to Dvorak’s D minor symphony attested to its status as one of the great 19th century scores in this genre.
The first movement’s rich thematic journey was laid out with a sharp sense of character and impressive orchestral virtuosity; while the ensuing Poco Adagio was a soulful idyll, with cool chorales and luxuriant birdsong.
The lilt of the Scherzo was irresistible as Sung countered tune against tune and metre against metre, before doing full justice to the architectural splendour of Dvorak’s finale.
