New Zealand Symphony Orchestra violinist Amalia Hall. Photo / Supplied
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra violinist Amalia Hall. Photo / Supplied
James Judd delivered a somewhat edgy welcome from the podium for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's Passione concert.
This was "a kind of NZSO super-spreader event", he declared, responding to gusts of laughter by adding that what was about to be spread was "great music, joy, positive energy and happiness".
Energy was in boundless supply for Richard Strauss's Don Juan. Judd has never shied from the full-on pursuit of the robustly romantic, and its opening pages were spectacularly exultant. Yet, later, the score's love themes languished in full Straussian opulence.
And so we had been musically welcomed in style.
John Corigliano fashioned a number of concert works from his Academy Award-winning score for The Red Violin, including the night's Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra.
While big-screen origins show, with a recurring melody that might have been a love child of Korngold and Prokofiev, one admires the American's shrewd blend of conservative elements with more radical decorations.
NZSO conductor James Judd. Photo / Supplied
Playing from memory, Amalia Hall was a superb soloist, catching every mercurial mood shift; fierce in her virtuosic volleys, she was also unstinting in her many flights of lyricism. One memorable muted solo did indeed float as its composer requested.
The orchestra, remarkably responsive throughout, joined her at encore time in a joyful scamper through the finale of Mendelssohn's violin concerto, the dotted rhythms of its second theme slyly connecting back to the Corigliano.
After interval, when some souls must have been longing for the symphonic and substantial, we were given yet another rejig of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.
Of course, it was brilliantly played but, ultimately, 41 minutes of ballet music without dancers to watch brings its own frustrations.
Things are looking up for the NZSO's next visit, a long three months away, with American violinist Hilary Hahn, some New Zealand compositions and two symphonies. However, with three concerts over three consecutive days, it will be the proverbial feast after a famine.
