Young players shine
Garth Wilshere
New Zealand School of Music Orchestra, May 14, Wellington Youth Orchestra May 15, St Andrew’s on The Terrace, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere
LAST weekend was an exciting opportunity to hear two orchestras of young players. On Saturday night the New Zealand School of Music Orchestra presented music by Tchaikovsky, Britten and Shostakovich and on Sunday afternoon the Wellington Youth Orchestra presented, in the same venue, music by Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss and Schumann; both enterprising programmes.
One of the amazing things about both concerts was how little cross-over of players there was, and both orchestras relied, (especially the NZSM with at least 15 guests) on professional players to bolster their ranks.
Ken Young conducted the NZSM programme and caught the drama of Tchikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet Overture” and the “Sea Interludes” from “Peter Grimes” by Britten, but in St Andrews-On-The-Terrace it can be difficult for large orchestras to create integrated and well-balanced sounds, and the mystery in both those two pieces was lacking.
In the second half NZSM lecturer Martin Risely played the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. At times he struggled to be heard above the orchestra, probably more a fault of the venue than his playing. He gave a passionate but not blemish-free account of this somewhat elusive work.
The Wellington Youth Orchestra soloist was young horn player Alex Morton, a NZSM student, in Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1. After some initial uncertainty he gave a very committed performance and was particularly impressive in the last movement. The orchestra, however, less so, sounded under-rehearsed.
The concert opened with a careful performance of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. The second half was devoted to Schumann’s Symphony No. 4. Conductor Greg Squire whipped this along in fine fashion creating a great deal of excitement if not much finesse. This orchestra is, on the whole, a much younger orchestra than the NZSM Orchestra and it is perhaps unfair to make direct comparisons but the Youth Orchestra players made a fair fist of this work. The string sections, being quite small, sometimes struggled to penetrate the wind and boisterous brass, and textures were a little muddy, but they all looked as if they believed in the music and were having a good time.
LAST weekend was an exciting opportunity to hear two orchestras of young players. On Saturday night the New Zealand School of Music Orchestra presented music by Tchaikovsky, Britten and Shostakovich and on Sunday afternoon the Wellington Youth Orchestra presented, in the same venue, music by Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss and Schumann; both enterprising programmes.
One of the amazing things about both concerts was how little cross-over of players there was, and both orchestras relied, (especially the NZSM with at least 15 guests) on professional players to bolster their ranks.
Ken Young conducted the NZSM programme and caught the drama of Tchikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet Overture” and the “Sea Interludes” from “Peter Grimes” by Britten, but in St Andrews-On-The-Terrace it can be difficult for large orchestras to create integrated and well-balanced sounds, and the mystery in both those two pieces was lacking.
In the second half NZSM lecturer Martin Risely played the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. At times he struggled to be heard above the orchestra, probably more a fault of the venue than his playing. He gave a passionate but not blemish-free account of this somewhat elusive work.
The Wellington Youth Orchestra soloist was young horn player Alex Morton, a NZSM student, in Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1. After some initial uncertainty he gave a very committed performance and was particularly impressive in the last movement. The orchestra, however, less so, sounded under-rehearsed.
The concert opened with a careful performance of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. The second half was devoted to Schumann’s Symphony No. 4. Conductor Greg Squire whipped this along in fine fashion creating a great deal of excitement if not much finesse. This orchestra is, on the whole, a much younger orchestra than the NZSM Orchestra and it is perhaps unfair to make direct comparisons but the Youth Orchestra players made a fair fist of this work. The string sections, being quite small, sometimes struggled to penetrate the wind and boisterous brass, and textures were a little muddy, but they all looked as if they believed in the music and were having a good time.
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