Note that this review is for the most part what I wrote and posted on this website two days later on Friday 24 April, but now modified in various ways in the light of listening to its broadcast by Radio New Zealand Concert on Saturday evening. I delayed further, to listen to the broadcast on Monday afternoon of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's performance (presumably also performed on the Wednesday). The New Zealand Symphony... read more

I was thrilled to learn that Russian-born Halida Dinova had returned to New Zealand to give more concerts, as I'd been bowled over by her playing on the occasion of her last visit two years ago. On that occasion she played in Lower Hutt at the Little Theatre on a piano that had been pronounced "past its expiry date" and made it sound like one of the world's most... read more