Chamber Orchestra

Press, 19 July 1988, Page 4

Chamber Orchestra

The New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, directed by Donald Armstrong, at the Great Hall, Arts Centre, July 18, 8 p.m. Reviewed by Philip Norman.

If the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra had finished its concert at interval last evening, I would be phoning this review in from cloud nine. Three glorious performances of works by Corelli, Lutoslawski and Haydn provided a singularly memorable hour of quality musicmaking. It was a case of roll over Neville Marriner from the outset. Who needs the Academy of St Martins in the Field, least of all as Concert Programme polyfilla, when an ensemble of the class of the N.Z.C.O. is close at hand?

Corelli’s Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 4 was dispatched with unfailing vigour and polish. Led by lines of stunning clarity from the first violinist and director, Donald Armstrong, the group provided what amounted to an object lesson in ensemble cohesion.

With a change of pace and a tightening of emotional tension, the N.Z.C.O. turned its attention to Lutoslawski’s “Musique Funebre.” The reading of this moving composition was' achieved with conviction. The four movements were moulded dexterously into a single broad shape. V r

From the merest whisper of sound to the crashing 12-note chords of the climax, the work’s essential intensity was retained throughout. The highlight of the concert, though, proved to be the extraordinary reading of Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. I in C by the guest soloist, Andres Diaz. This talented Chilean cellist turned what was a fairly humdrum piece of writing into an elegant showcase of string sounds. His articulation was effortless and his sense of style unerring. With a smooth tone and liquid pulse, the substance of all three movements was dressed in gracious Classical finery. Diaz’s account of the Adagio movement was especially notable. It is rare to hear such a tender, finely modulated tone. After the spellbinding first half, the second-half fare arrived as something of an anti-climax. What goes up, must come down; the. pendulum swing of quality slipped back through a technically competent reading of Vivaldi’s Concerto in G Minor for Two Cellos (soloists Andres Diaz and Allan Chisholm) to a relatively bland accont of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. The nadir was struck with a bump when the N.Z.C.O. elected to tack a pretty Tchaikovsky waltz on the end of the otherwise well-balanced programme.