Classical
Canvas of sound
by Rod Biss
The sort of premiere that composers dream of.
A scintillating performance of the perfect overture, a distinguished reading of a great violin concerto and a premiere of an outstanding new symphony: the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra has just given Auckland a concert to make the rest of New Zealand feel deprived.
Ross Harris’ long, complex and extravagantly textured Third Symphony opens with a scattering of ideas held together by a slowly descending bass line. Harris throws all his thoughts at us at once; it’s as though we’ve met all the characters of a difficult novel on page one. But as the symphony moves on, the textures thin out and we hear them on their own. We hear the fierceness, humour and beauty of them all, and how they interconnect in an extended canvas. And that is the right word. Harris has said that the paintings and stained glass of Marc -Chagall were a major influence on the writing of this symphony. He has miraculously translated Chagall’s surreal style, fantasy and colour into music.
Harris’ other fascination, which fits well with the Chagall influence, is klezmer music. He plays in a Wellington klezmer group and has written many tunes for them, and some of those tunes have found their way into the symphony. They are folksy and laden with blue notes and decorations that seem as though they were improvised on the spur of the moment. They may sound traditional, but Harris has written them all and the decorations that go with them. The klezmer sound also explains the presence of an accordion and an important part for solo violin, which provides a linking commentary through the whole piece.
At the heart of the symphony is an extended slow section, a deeply emotional and lyrical movement that a latter-day Mahler would have been proud of. Over a static bass, the solo violin and then the orchestral violins weave a melody derived from, but totally changing, the most used klezmer tune. Counterpoints are added and then the woodwind soloists enter and expand the ideas further.
Harris’ symphony demands stamina from the audience and virtuosity from both conductor and the orchestra. The APO under the perceptive direction of Marko Letonja gave it the sort of first performance composers dream of. The woodwind soloists played superbly and concertmaster Dimitri Atanassov played the solo violin line as though this was the symphony he had been longing for.
The concert opened with Schubert’s Rosamunde Overture, for which Letonja played the introduction slower than usual, adding touches of lyricism to the melodies. Then, in the light, chattering allegro that follows, he merely added a few points to heighten the good humour.
Feng Ning, winner of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in 2005 and winner of the Paganini competition since then, is blessed with a fantastic technique and a luxuriously rich and flowing tone. His performance of the Dvořák Violin Concerto showed he is also a truly intuitive musician, playing Dvořák, particularly the unstoppable high spirits of the last movement, with the same panache with which he tackles Paganini.
He played as encore a cantabile that, with bowed melody and pizzicato accompaniment, created the unbelievable effect of two players, as though he were accompanying himself on the guitar. Just to watch the orchestral violinists’ faces as he played told the non-violinists among us what impossible miracles he was so calmly tossing off. Ning is a master showman, and he’s a musician as well.
