There were a number of good reasons for looking forward to Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Lark Ascending concert.
One was hearing our own Douglas Lilburn in the company of his most admired composers, Vaughan Williams and Sibelius, another being the return of Swedish conductor Tobias Ringborg, whose 2018 evening of Bernstein,Rachmaninov and Korngold with the APO is welcomingly fresh in the memory.
Williams' hardiest of perennials lent the programme its title and was rendered with the perfect balance of sinew and grace by violinist Amalia Hall, surrounded by simpatico strings, with piquant woodwind on the side.
This was the only concession to the more traditional fare usually featured in the orchestra's Bayleys Classics series.
Lilburn's Third Symphony had made for a bold, stimulating overture, its cool, terse textures showing that the New Zealander was also looking to composers such as Copland and Stravinsky.
An energetic Ringborg clearly enjoyed the scurrying criss-cross of woodwind lines here, as they darted around playfully, sometimes tinting their counterpoint with a whiff of jazz. This finesse spread through the orchestra; from time to time, imposing clusters of dissonance were like punctuating pillars and, later on, a trio of trombones measured their tread with ominous deliberation. Throughout, proceedings were peppered with the satirical snap of snare drum.
After interval, we had the rare opportunity to hear the complete Sibelius Lemminkainen Suite, a 50-minute sonic saga, the ultimate in primal Nordic thrills.
Written some years before the composer's first symphony, its second movement, The Swan of Tuonela, is a well-known showcase for cor anglais and sumptuous string sonorities. Tonight, an eloquent Martin Lee and the APO strings did not let us down.
Watching Ringborg take on this immense Scandinavian immersion trip, constantly replenishing its spectacular bowl of sound, he might have been telling us that we were experiencing a revolution, as one Finnish composer found his own way to rebel against the all-powerful shadow of Wagner.
