Her retirement left a huge hole in the musical life of our schools and community. As a tribute to the decades of service Clace gave to the sinfonia, the third offering was her own work, Tutaki (2006), inspired by the changes that occur in people upon meeting, whether natural phenomena and wildlife or human encounters.
Thirty-odd orchestral allusions to various meetings are structurally linked by a viola soloist, played here by Jamie Oemcke. His confident style and rich, sonorous tone provided a beautiful commentary through the piece. My only regret is that Clace's compositional output was small - we would be much the richer for more work like this.
To complete the first half of the concert, we heard Chaminade's ubiquitous Flute Concertino in D major (1902) with soloist Emma Minchin. A relative newcomer to Palmerston North, Minchin left the audience in no doubt about her formidable talent. Her rendition was powerful and articulate with a technical agility and brilliance of tone that made this a highlight of the afternoon.
She followed with an encore penned by her former teacher, flute professor Ian Clarke of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, entitled The Great Train Race. This piece experiments with alternative avant-garde techniques and sounds from the instrument and Minchin's breathtaking performance was deservedly received with rapturous applause.
The second half was devoted to Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 1, his 13th work in this genre.
If this sounds confusing, his first 12 were works for only strings, the 13th being the first to incorporate brass and woodwind. Composed when he was only 15, the work certainly gave the impression of youthful exuberance and the orchestra delivered a punchy performance culminating in a finale. This gave timpanist Tim Jones the encouragement he doesn't need to bring the afternoon to a rousing conclusion.
