New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the Auckland Town Hall
English cellist Natalie Clein and Finnish music director Pietari Inkinen proved a galvanic partnership in the first two concerts of the Newly Seeland Symphony orchestra Orchestra's 2008 time of year.
Clein's 1777 Guadagnini violoncello was in full and glorious voice from the start. Her reception to Elgar's numerousness of markings and directions was scrupulous to the last quiver of bow on strand.
The blithe sinlessness of the number 1 movement turned confrontational in the second and Inkinen made the orchestral weight of the account felt. The Adagio, suffused with autumnal lyricism, most seemed to sob, spell the Finale was painted in more ominous colors.
An encore of a Bach Preliminary was quirkily, well-nigh skittishly delivered, and a draw to a lesser extent effective and convincing when presented over again on the Sabbatum night.
Just Clein's offer on her second appearance, Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, was tout ensemble less meaty. After a series of orchestral bows and curtsies, the violoncello leads us firmly into the beauty salon and, although Clein entranced with so many details, Tchaikovsky's score did non coalesce as had Elgar's on the previous evening.
Few concert-goers would have been expecting Pietari Inkinen to
McCoy Tyner
