Orchestral concert

Press, 13 September 1982, Page 6

Orchestral concert

First subscription concert by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, in the Town Hall, September 11. Reviewed by Heath Lees.

Perhaps it was the fact of starting a new season that gave the orchestra an added edge on Saturday evening. Perhaps the sight of a well filled hall helped, too. Another factor might have been the imaginative programming that abandoned Haydn, Mozart, and even Beethoven in favour of the refreshingly different . trinity of Men- > delssohn, Spohr, and Elgar. Some of the credit must certainly go to John Curro’s meticulous and sensitive control from the podium.

For whatever, reason, ,it was a highly, enjoyable concert, and an auspicious beginning to the orchestra’s

new season. Both the titles and the notes in the deluxe, gala programme refused to mention that the opening Mendelssohn symphony was the "Italian’’ — a curious omission since the music is so heavily programmatic throughout.

However, despite a certain labouring of the scherzo, and some too obvious first-move-ment slitherings by the violins en route to the relative minor, the over-all effect was of Mediterranean warmth and vitality underpinned by professional concern for neatness and grace. It was good to hear , the Spohr clarinet concerto, and Mark Walton’s enormous range of tone-colour bestowed a quality of excellence upon it. One cannot

blame the orchestra for slipping occasionally into the role of listeners, but this did make for a laggardly accompaniment in the first movement and an unduly selfeffacing contribution until the finale, which fairly crackled with excitment and produced . some astonishingly skilful articulation by the soloist:

Elgar’s “enigma" variations drew out the full complement of players to the platform, and fine contributions by them all. The difficulties of projecting a steadily unfolding symphonic shape while giving weight to the individual nuances of each character were overcome with apparent ease, and the result was a satisfying performance of real quality.