Concert a rich bounty

Press, 21 July 1980, Page 4

Concert a rich bounty

■ BY

MARGARET BUCHANAN

The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Peter Zwartz, gave another of its subscription concerts in the Town Hall Auditorium on Saturday evening to a loyal and supportive audience. Christchurch, and in fact all of New Zealand’s con-cert-goers, can be proud and deeply grateful for the. calibre of such an artist as Diedre Irons, the piano soloist in the Schumann Concerto. Politics have recently affected not only sport but, in a smaller way, the arts also. Irina ’ ;: Plotnikova’s planned visit to New Zealand was suddenly cancelled, and abig change to the programme was necessary. Miss Irons did more than justice to the beautiful but demanding . nature of the Schumann' piano._; concferto. Although -there seemed to be a lack of atmosphere at the beginning of the first movement, this may have been because of the scattered audience: rather than a lack of direction from the baton. Such a.concerto played by a 7 sensitive, and . able performer always gives a rich bounty of pleasure, and the auditoriurh was filled with clear ringing notes, beautifully phrased and well executed. The woodwind section

had great demands. made upon it and the clarinets especially excelled in the slower . poignant variation. The cadenza was played brilliantly, with a delicate start made to an exciting coda. In the following intermezzo, the singing crystalclear lines of the piano were contrasted with the splendid,noble tone - of the cellos, which once again represent 2 ed the string section td best advantage throughout the programme. ' .Heart and strength were displayed by Miss Irons in the finale (allegro vivace) and a generally good balance was maintained xyith the- orchestra, with only’ a small hint of intonation problems apparent in some oboe solos. Humperdinck’s overture to “Hansfel and Gretel" had opened the programme, and the four horn players had obviously, done their homework here, - for- the . serene "Cradle Song”®.-was > extremely well done. The orchestra played this well known popular work adequately, although the strings were on occasions swamped by the -enthusiastic fortissimos of brass and woodwind. " Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G, Op. 88, made up the second half of the' programme, and it is such a myriad collection of good

tunes and divine melodies that it is difficult to appraise them all. The woodwind played sensitively in the adagio, the Chalumeau register of the two clarinets highlighting the delicacy of the flute duet. At times the trumpets tended to be forced on the rare occasions they were herrd, in the second moveplent. The nostalgia of the violin solo showed Dvorak’s “heart-on-sleeve” nature in the abundance of beautiful melodies sometimes heard once, but more often played several times, the enjoyment increasing with .each repetition. The allegretto grazioso (third movement) has a wistful waltz as its main theme and here the metric dozen violins had to play like 20 to make the lovely tune sing, and sing it did. The middle . section lacked ■ the sensitive phrasing required to realise the full potential of its magical melody, but the coda ■ showed fire and verve that was sometimes lacking in .this symphony. A few rough edges were soon forgotten with the arrival of the finale, allegro ma non troppo, heralded by the trumpets with a fanfarelike opening; and the onward drive was compelling and exciting, a satisfying close to an attractive programme.