Wellington Chamber Orchestra with rewarding and interesting music from Britain and Armenia
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An “Enchanted Evening” from The Virtuoso Strings with Jonathan Lemalu
By Peter Mechen, 03/12/2018
It had all the makings of a large and vital extended-family affair, with the usual concert rituals and parameters given a relaxed and informal spontaneity that readily brought musicians and audience together. I liked the buzz of excitement in both the foyer and the auditorium, one growing out of a sense of being in a friendly crowd and anticipating the delights to come!
This was “Some Enchanted Evening”, a presentation... read more
Creative, thrilling and heart-warming conclusion to Orchestra Wellington’s 2018 season
By Peter Mechen, 01/12/2018
Well, it was quite a night for Orchestra Wellington! – in front of an enthusiastic and appreciative audience at the Michael Fowler Centre on Saturday evening the musicians put everything they had into making the final night of the orchestra’s 2018 concert season one to remember. We were presented with a line-up of pieces which, if perhaps not all sure-fire crowd-pleasers, perfectly expressed the desire of the orchestra’s organisers... read more
NZSO in splendid Beethoven: the first and the last, under Edo de Waart
By Rosemary Collier, 23/11/2018
Such is the popularity of Beethoven’s Choral Symphony (no.9) that the Michael Fowler Centre auditorium was sold out. There were two empty seats next to me, but I did not see many others.
The gentle prologue to Beethoven’s first symphony (the symphony premiered in 1800) almost sounds like an ending, and reminds one immediately of Haydn, the great master of the symphony, who was still around for the first 40... read more
Edo de Waart reaffirms his comprehensive Mahlerian authority and insight with Number Seven
By Rosemary Collier, 09/11/2018
The concert was one of Edo de Waart’s ‘Masterworks’ series. A mammoth symphony of over 80 minutes in length was obviously not everyone’s cup of tea: the front block of seating downstairs was virtually empty. But it was a tour de force for conductor and orchestra. The huge variety of musical and instrumental content and the diversity of sounds, timbres and musical ideas bore out Mahler’s well-known saying that... read more
Great performances of unfamiliar Bartók and major Dvořák introduced by young geniuses
By Lindis Taylor, 27/10/2018
Each year, one of Orchestra Wellington’s concerts is embellished by a contribution from Arohnui Strings, the Sistema-inspired children’s orchestra based in the Hutt Valley. They took their places at the beginning of the concert in the place of most of the regular strings of Orchestra Wellington, interspersed by a few of the professionals to lend some body to the sound. The nerves and excitement of the young players infected... read more
Exuberance and poetry from pianist and conductor Lars Vogt with the NZSO
By Peter Mechen, 26/10/2018
Review for "Upbeat" RNZ Concert (with David Morriss)
Monday 29th October 2018
There's always great interest whenever somebody decides to take on the dual role of soloist and conductor in the performance of music - we had Freddy Kempf here with the NZSO a few years ago playing the entire cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos, for example, which, from all accounts , was a great success. And now, with even more... read more
Admirable concert of well-chosen music from Wellington Youth Orchestra under Mark Carter
By Lindis Taylor, 14/10/2018
The last musical occasion I was in the Riley Centre (alias, the school hall) at Wellington High School was, I think, for the splendid International Viola Congress in 2001, led by the indomitable Professor Donald Maurice (as was the most recent one in Wellington in 2016). My recollection of the acoustic then was confirmed on Sunday. The orchestra has tended to confine itself in recent, post-Town Hall years, to... read more
Monumental NZSO concert of Russian masterpieces with cellist Johannes Moser
By Lindis Taylor, 13/10/2018
This Russian programme might have been expected to be a winner, but it wasn’t, in terms of audience size.
However, in terms of musical quality and sheer excitement, it was a tremendous success. It’s a surprise to me that Shostakovich’s 1st cello concerto didn’t fill every seat; does that suggest that our musical horizons are getting narrower every year? For it’s a truly stupendous work, and we heard one of... read more
300 years of riches from the NZSM Orchestra – What is it about Bartok’s Second Violin Concerto this year?
By Peter Mechen, 02/10/2018
Though primarily a vehicle for displaying the stellar talents of violinist Claudia Tarrant-Matthews, winner of the NZSM Concerto Competition for 2018, this concert gave considerable added value in terms of the wide range of repertoire, not to mention the quality of the NZSM Orchestra’s committed, focused and excitingly-played performances of the same. Following Tarrant-Matthews’ astonishing traversal of one of the twentieth century’s truly great concertos, we heard an evocative... read more
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