NZSO delivers an evening of crisp and confident playing
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jun Markl with Samuel Jacobs (French horn). Music by Young, Mozart, Strauss, Mendelssohn and Schumann Michael Fowler Centre, October 24 Reviewed by John Button
On paper, this programme looked a bit of a jumble but, in the event, it worked extremely well.
And having been toured to five North Island centres before this concert, everything was down pat, with wonderfully crisp and confident playing and a tight cohesive relationship with the conductor – the German/ Japanese, French-based, Jun Markl.
The concert opened with a new work from Ken Young.
Te Mapouriki – Dusk explores in musical terms the legacy of James Cook, and is a beautifully crafted work that uses the orchestra as befits someone who has both played in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and has continued a distinguished career as a conductor.
Never overscored, the work establishes a wonderfully suspenseful atmosphere before exploding into dramatic confrontation. One listen is not enough – we need to hear it again. Mozart’s ‘Paris’ Symphony – No from 1778 – is a wonderfully lavish work (with a full wind section) that, for all its brevity, dazzles from first note to last; beautifully played and conducted.
Richard Strauss composed his first horn concerto when he was 18, and if the orchestral writing is not as distinctive as it was to become, his horn writing is superb – his father was a top horn player – and it needs a formidable soloist.
And NZSO principal horn Samuel Jacobs is such a player. He tossed off the many difficulties as if they do not exist, made a glorious sound and to further prove the point, he played an encore on the even more difficult valve-less horn with the same surety and effortlessness. Incredible!
And the second half was still to come.
After a lovely performance of Mendelssohn’s rarely heard overture Calm Sea And Prosperous Voyage we heard Schumann’s Symphony No 1 – Spring ina performance of precision and clarity that gave the lie to the conventional view that Schumann couldn’t orchestrate.
An evening of highly contrasted music-making, beautifully brought off.