Auckland Philharmonia at the Town Hall

By HEATH LEES

TOWN HALL, Auckland - Gillian Whitehead, the composer-in residence with the Philharmonia, is too confident a composer to shy away from clear outlines and cyclic shapes.

Her new work the improbable ordered dance which was premiered at the start of last Thursday's Royal SunAlliance concert, falls into the listener-friendly pattern of a central, dance-like section framed between an evocative prologue and a gently fading epilogue.

Water-effects from the percussion give birth to low, woodwind cells that build to an exciting panorama of sounds, mixing and matching a number of Pacific, drum-based elements with the Western art-music influences of, among others, Bartok and Berg.

Whitehead doesn't shun melodic eloquence either, and has a gift of writing cello-dominated string passages that combine a warmly romantic sound with a muscular direction and contemporary edge. As the final drone faded away, the effect in the hall was deep and satisfying.

Less profound was the third violin concerto of Saint-Saens, whose fondness was for Mendelssohnian charm spread on top of a highly traditional treatment of its three-movement form.

But when the violin soloist is Pierre Amoyal, a quality of greatness is bestowed on such material and satisfaction is guaranteed. Amoyal has a beautifully warm and silky tone at the top, and a rich, viola sound low down. His vibrato is only a light, colouring agent, yet it gilds the melodic lines of, for example, the lilting barcarolle of the second movement, while elsewhere his amazing technique allows rocket-launching runs that zoom to breathtaking heights, but with every note finely placed.

In an unscheduled but spine-tingling duo, Amoyal teamed with the orchestra's leader, Justine Cormack, for a memorable performance of the slow movement from Bach's Two-Violin Concerto.

"Very long and very simple," was conductor Harth-Bedoya's nutshell statement of the problems of keeping Schubert's "great" C-major symphony alive.

Apart from some unwelcome blare from the trombones, it was highly absorbing, with a neat and tight woodwind contribution, unhurried but responsive strings, and some fine playing from horns and trumpets.


Auckland Philharmonia

Town Hall

Reviewer: Heath Lees Gillian Whitehead, the composer-in residence with the Philharmonia, is too confident a composer to shy away from clear outlines and cyclic shapes.

Her new work the improbable ordered dance which was premiered at the start of last Thursday's Royal SunAlliance concert, falls into the listener-friendly pattern of a central, dance-like section framed between an evocative prologue and a gently fading epilogue.

Water-effects from the percussion give birth to low, woodwind cells that build to an exciting panorama of sounds, mixing and matching a number of Pacific, drum-based elements with the Western art-music influences of, among others, Bartok and Berg.

Whitehead doesn't shun melodic eloquence either, and has a gift of writing cello-dominated string passages that combine a warmly romantic sound with a muscular direction and contemporary edge. As the final drone faded away, the effect in the hall was deep and satisfying.

Less profound was the third violin concerto of Saint-Saens, whose fondness was for Mendelssohnian charm spread on top of a highly traditional treatment of its three-movement form.

But when the violin soloist is Pierre Amoyal, a quality of greatness is bestowed on such material and satisfaction is guaranteed. Amoyal has a beautifully warm and silky tone at the top, and a rich, viola sound low down. His vibrato is only a light, colouring agent, yet it gilds the melodic lines of, for example, the lilting barcarolle of the second movement, while elsewhere his amazing technique allows rocket-launching runs that zoom to breathtaking heights, but with every note finely placed.

In an unscheduled but spine-tingling duo, Amoyal teamed with the orchestra's leader, Justine Cormack, for a memorable performance of the slow movement from Bach's Two-Violin Concerto.

"Very long and very simple," was conductor Harth-Bedoya's nutshell statement of the problems of keeping Schubert's "great" C-major symphony alive.

Apart from some unwelcome blare from the trombones, it was highly absorbing, with a neat and tight woodwind contribution, unhurried but responsive strings, and some fine playing from horns and trumpets.