In their Landscape concert on Saturday the Opus Orchestra caught the colour and feeling for places and scenery reflected in contrasting ways by five composers.
Opus' performance was thoroughly professional, with striking cohesiveness and constructive musical expression in their playing.
Much of the credit must go to conductor Peter Walls because of the way he has inspired this ensemble along a path of steady musical development.
In the Aotearoa overture, written by Douglas Lilburn, the orchestra gave eloquence to its idiomatic New Zealand sounds. Like the Lilburn work, Elgar's Romance for Bassoon and Orchestra arose from an affection for a native land, and Ian Parson's graceful solo was just the thing to represent the gentle side of an English countryside.
Lara Hall's tonal mastery of her solo violin combined deftly in the moods and spirit of Dvorak's Romance and Tchaikovsky's Memories of a Dear Place. In Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, Opus drew five aspects of rural life into a most satisfying whole.