Southern Sinfonia 2009 Season Reviews

Celebration of Haydn an outstanding success

Southern Sinfonia and City of Dunedin Choir, British conductor Simon Over and four of New Zealand's top young soloists celebrated the 200th anniversary of Haydn's death in a Glory of Haydn Concert in the Dunedin Town Hall last Saturday evening. The concert was well supported and the audience was full of praise for the Haydn work.

Dances of Brittany (1956) for string orchestra by New Zealander Larry Pruden opened.

The three-movement work displayed compact string texture and some impressive nuance, particularly in the slow and sustained second movement, where lower voiced strings delivered lingering melodic passages with prominence.

Brahms' Symphony No. 2, one of his best-known symphonic compositions, was well-paced, achieving warm full-bodied sound.

This is the first time the Sinfonia has performed the huge work and it is musically courageous for a city the size of Dunedin to have an orchestra prepared to attempt a symphony of this magnitude.

Missa in Augustis (Lord Nelson Mass) is one of Haydn's grandest works, and Over certainly had the orchestra and particularly the hundred-voice choir fired up to deliver a magnificently vibrant 45-minute performance.

The choir, under musical director David Burchell, was on a decidedly homogeneous high.

The performance was gilded by clear top soprano intonation and excellent attention to dynamic shaping, with vowels which swell noticeably, not just occasionally but throughout.

Soprano Rebecca Ryan, an Otago graduate, has returned from working as a singer in Europe.

The beauty in her voice was particularly apparent in the Benedictus, and intelligence and passion in text interpretation shone throughout, with exquisitely refined shaping in long phrases.

Baritone Jared Holt, although lacking weight at his lowest register, displayed extraordinary breath capacity in negotiating the long melismatic phrases which challenge soloists in this work.

Mezzo-soprano soloist Claire Barton and tenor James Rodgers also delivered with well-defined phrasing and articulation.

Equal balance of soloists also contributed to the outstanding success of this Haydn celebration.

The Glory of Haydn Concert was held in the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday 12 September and was reviewed for the ODT by Elizabeth Bouman.

Clarinettist warms up winter

"Summer in Italy" was a wishful title for Southern Sinfonia's mid-winter matinee concert yesterday afternoon in the Glenroy. Snowflakes had been falling, but the packed auditorium was very cosy, and plenty of good music added warmth and cheer to the day.

Werner Andreas Albert conducted the recital, opening with seven variations of the Legend then, Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky by Arensky. Twenty-two strong players negotiated the variations, weaving the familiar melody through numerous rhythmic and harmonic settings, but despite impressive tone and pizzicatos they were not always as tightly presented as could be expected.

Guest of the Sinfonia for the new two items was Australian clarinettist Paul Dean. His performance was visually captivating as well as virtuosic, as he shaped and shaded every scalic run and bravura passage with panache and an unbelievable fluidity.

The Rondo movement of Weber's Clarinet Concerto No. 1 became a Scherzo, bright and chirrupy from the opening motif and with great contrasts of nuance. Seldom does one hear such perfection in sotto voce from this instrument.

Introduction, Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra by Rossini was first performed in 1824 and has become standard virtuoso repertoire for the woodwind soloist.

Just perfect for Dean, the work is crammed with embellishments and showy motifs, all of which he delivered with technical wizardry and witty characterization. The orchestra worked hard, admirably complementing their soloist throughout.

Symphony No. 4, Op 90 (The Italian) by Mendelssohn completed the afternoon. The opening Allegro Vivace set the pace with sparkling colour and vibrancy, contrasting with the relentless forward marching which underpins the second movement.

Bright, sunny music continued through all movements reflecting the composer's comment to his sister (1830) - "this is the jolliest piece I have ever done, especially the last movement."

Southern Sinfonia Summer in Italy concert, 19 July 2009, Glenroy Auditorium. Reviewed for the ODT by Elizabeth Bouman.

Violinist Captivates audience

Tchaikovsky's D Major Violin Concerto was a moving and passionate performance and there was certainly an abundance of power in the Sibelius symphony.

The programme began with Festival Overture, written in 1939 by New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn. It was an exuberant work, colourful with moments of resolute brass, quite strident at times, creating an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation - exactly the right repertoire to precede the very popular Tchaikovsky concerto.

Bulgarian Bella Hristova, who at the age of 24, has won numerous awards (including the 2007 Michael Hill International Violin Competition), was an amazing young soloist.

From the very first bars of the familiar opening subject, she stamped her identity with profound intensity of interpretation, and the cadenza was brilliantly crafted with sturdy harmonic notes a feature of each climax. Sonority and resonance from her 350-year old violin was consistently strong, never lost or swamped by the orchestra.

Flowers and prolonged applause rewarded this delightful young lady who had been giving masterclasses and inspirational lessons to young musicians in the city during the week.

The entire second half was taken up with Symphony No 2 by the great Finnish composer Sibelius.

This 40-minute work contains everything - passages of pastoral lyricism, despondency, national dance and sudden outburst of violent statements.

The diversity included big sweeping passages, at times, reminiscent of T chaikovsky's 1812.

Speaking to the audience before this work, Australian conductor Brett Kelly said how much he had enjoyed rehearsing with the Sinfonia and Hristova.

Effective tight blend in the chorale-like segments, generally well-negotiated demanding string passages in the Vivacissimo Close, excellent wind sectional interplay and the triumphant finale of this majestic work were a credit to the Sinfonia and their guest conductor.

The Passion and Power Naylor Love Celebrity Concert in the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday 27 June 2009 was reviewed for the Otago Daily Times.

Sinfonia matinee series off to a lively start

The first of the Southern Sinfonia's matinee series concerts was performed to a sellout audience in the Glenroy Auditorium yesterday.

The Sinfonia was conducted by international guest conductor Roy Goodman and the programme, entitled Baroque and Beyond, featured 25-year old Australian violinist Kristian Winther.

A bright, pulsating opener was Vivaldi's Sinfonia for Strings in CRV 144, which Goodman directed from the harpsichord. Winther showed individuality as a confident soloist, with body language spontaneous smiles and subtle facial expressions reflecting his joy in achieving.

Concerto for violin in E Major BWV 1042, by J S Bach, showed innovative dynamics, with softer passages in the Adagio retaining warm tone from the soloist, and fine overall balance in the ideal intimacy of the venue.

Similarly, in Handel's Violin Concerto in B Flat HWV 288, Winther stamped his individual character on the solo work, all confidently delivered with refreshingly youthful energy and wit. String sectional intonation was not as uniform at times in the Handel - probably due to a very warm auditorium after the interval.

The "Beyond" repertoire came from Wagner's one-movement work Siegfried Idyll. A sustained, full-bodied work, but with no percussion or dominating brass, Idyll featured some fine solo woodwind themes, lovingly articulated.

Dances Concert antes (1941), by Stravinsky, was lively, restless final work. Syncopated and extrovert, it is music to move to. Goodman's expertise and attitude led the Sinfonia extremely successfully through this colourful and vociferous work.

The Baroque and Beyond Concert in the Auditorium on Sunday 7 June 2009 was reviewed by Elizabeth Bouman for the Otago Daily Times.

Norma key to concert's success

The Awesome Norma Concert in the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday 2 May 2009 was reviewed by Elizabeth Bouman for the Otago Daily Times. Here is a brief extract:

"Awesome Norma, the city's grand organ in the Dunedin Town Hall, was a huge success on Saturday with organist David Burchell and the Southern Sinfonia conducted by Werner Andreas Albert. ... The Sinfonia's soloists excelled ... Burchell displayed virtuosic mastery on the instrument, and the strings and timps responded to the call for full strength or subtelty, often through pizzicato, generating layers of effectual texture beneath the organ statements ...

... Burchell and Norma delivered everything from impeccable pianissimos to full-powered thunderous chordal onslaught, and the Sinfonia matched with acceptable balance, and a particularly glorious passionate tone in the second movement. Prolonged applause followed the exciting finale..."

Concert reveals full splendour of Norma

Southern Sinfonia Awesome Norma Concert, 2 May 2009, Dunedin Town Hall. Reviewed for The Star Community Newspaper by Brenda Harwood.

The extraordinary range of sound produced by Norma, the Dunedin Town Hall's giant pipe organ, was revealed to a delighted audience in the Southern Sinfonia's Awesome Norma concert on Saturday night.

Featuring organist David Burchell as soloist, the concert showed the brilliance and versatility of both instrument and performer. Conducted by Werner Andreas Albert, the Sinfonia gave a strong showing throughout the concert, particularly in the popular Saint Saëns Organ Symphony.

Then concert opened pleasantly with a modern work, Clocktower, by Australian composer Philip Bracanin.

There it was into fantasia territory with Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani - a complex piece of many moods.

Burchell showed a delicate touch in quiet passages but allowed Norma free reign as the piece grew in exuberance, with very satisfying results.

Orchestra and organist were both excellent in the Saint Saëns Organ Symphony, which began with restraint and built to a massive crescendo that revealed Norma in all her power.

It was a delightful evening of music featuring two of Dunedin's "musical treasures".