Primary launch for departing NZSO concertmaster

By WILLIAM DART

It all started back in the 60s, when a Mr Wilson at Maungawhau Primary School insisted that every child be given a violin to play. One of the youngsters was a lively Fijian girl, Wilma Smith. On Friday, the same Wilma Smith is soloist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, playing Beethoven's Two Romances.

It's not quite time for farewells as Smith will continue as concertmaster until the end of the year, but this will be her last solo performance with the orchestra before she crosses the Tasman to share the concertmaster's stand at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

The eight NZSO years have been happy ones and Smith has been "touched and very aware of the affectionate response that the audiences have given me". But Melbourne is "very much a city orchestra, playing three concerts a week of the same programme. It's a very focused and rewarding way to work.

"The half-time position will also enable me to explore more chamber music repertoire," Smith explains, and we talk of Lilburn's lovely Sonata for Violin and Piano, which is high on her wish-list. "I suppose we've all grown up thinking of Lilburn as our musical founding father. Back in 1975, the Aotearoa Overture was featured on the programme of a big International Youth Orchestra I was in. Now, every time we play the work, it makes me tingle because I think of it as the beginning of New Zealand music."

It was chamber music that brought her back to this country after her studies, returning in 1987 to lead the newly founded New Zealand String Quartet. "The quartet lifestyle was pretty tough and when I lost my first child, I started thinking about life and priorities. The NZSO post came up in 1993, I auditioned and got it."

Countrywide touring must take its toll on the soul but Smith laughs, "It's always good fun although there have been some disasters. We did one of the big Mahler symphonies in Hamilton and it was too large for the Founders so they put us in an agricultural hall, draped with white fabric so that it looked like a tent. It was so cold they had four jetblaster heaters positioned around the stage and those machines made a hell of a din. In the soft parts we couldn't hear a thing except the roar. I think it's the fastest that Franz Paul Decker has ever conducted a Mahler."

Smith is hesitant about discussing individual NZSO conductors, recalling instead an encounter from her student days in Boston. "We had a young Simon Rattle who was meticulous and uncompromising and totally undaunted by the hardened old pros who'd done everything 10 more times than he had. The orchestra traditionally held an open dress rehearsal, the seats were cheap and the hall would be full. It was customary not to stop at all during the performances, but Simon still had a lot of rehearsing to do, so there was a lot of stopping and starting. We were basically booed off stage and we slunk into the wings. But I had to take my hat off to him for sheer fortitude."

And what directions does she feel the NZSO should be exploring? "The orchestra should get more involved in the historical performance practice approach - not necessarily with authentic instruments, but with conductors who work within that field. At the other end of the spectrum, we should be more aware of contemporary trends and music as we need to keep our horizons broad. The least we can do is to stay informed and do our bit."

* Wilma Smith plays Beethoven's Two Romances with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in the Auckland Town Hall on Friday at 6.30pm.