American violinist Hilary Hahn. Photo / Dana van Leeuwen
American violinist Hilary Hahn. Photo / Dana van Leeuwen
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's first Auckland visit since May paired new principal conductor Gemma New with American violinist Hilary Hahn. The programme fully justified its title of Truth and Beauty.
The two women made for an elegant and simpatica team in Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto.
New deftly cued herplayers with all-important balance, while a relaxed Hahn paid effortless tribute to the composer's unflagging ingenuity. Her opening melody floated as dreamily as Prokofiev had requested, and she ventured dauntlessly into the darker glades of his fairy-tale forest, with bow bouncing on strings at one point and then edging close to the instrument's bridge for an eerie ponticello effect.
Throughout, Prokofiev's sleek orchestration and sinuous lines were never compromised, with one tranquil passage offering the opportunity to marvel at the American's cool and immaculate double-stopping.
Hahn's encore, a delightful unaccompanied Bach Gigue, danced as it should but so often, in lesser hands, does not.
After the interval, New's unflinching take on Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony reminded me of how magnificently she handled his Leningrad Symphony in this hall last year with the NZSO National Youth Orchestra.
Gemma New, principal conductor for NZSO's Truth and Beauty. Photo / Latitude Creative
Drawn into the singular world of this composer, in which the emotionally brooding sits alongside the riotously satirical, one was struck by the unstinting energy of this young maestra. With her own repertoire of dramatic and forceful gestures, she created a vibrant musical canvas, starting from the almost frightening intensity of the opening strings.
The swagger of the second movement's rustic dance was as compulsive as the work's final march, lacing as it did triumph with terror.
The superb NZSO strings played their part in laying bare the very soul of the symphony in an arresting Largo.
John Rimmer's 2003 Lahar had proved the perfect launch for the evening. Volcanic in its subject and power, it asks us to remember and respect the fiery underbelly of our Pacific paradise.
What: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Where: Auckland Town Hall When: Friday
