REVIEW
Who: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.
Where: Auckland Town Hall.
Reviewer: William Dart.
The French instalment of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's The Splendour of the Baroque series saw Roy Goodman and his musicians rendering eloquent and entertaining homage to the Muse of Versailles.
Goodman bustled on to the stage, Palladium style,
smiles flashing to the gallery. The musical welcome was an energising Charpentier Prelude.
Venturing the hoary pun of "We will Baroque you", Goodman was rewarded by gales of laughter.
Leclair's A minor Violin Concerto offered Gallicised Vivaldi. Soloist Luigi De Filippi occasionally sounded less than comfortable although the orchestra was in spruce mode.
Laura Vaughan's flowing viola da gamba lines had inevitable competition from well-groomed strings in a Marais Sarabande, although grace and tonal beauty were never wanting in the Australian's performance.
Goodman introduced Rameau's Dardanus by confessing his utter admiration for the French composer. Delicious orchestral items framed Miriam Allan, who sang Iphise's Cesse, Cruel Amour from the heart, with thrilling ornamentation.
After the interval we were plunged into chaos - deliberately - in Le Cahos from Jean-Fery Rebel's Les Elemens. The opening bars pre-empt John Williams' crunching theme for Jaws by 328 years, and Goodman ensured that Rebel's thumps and shrieks caught the shake, rattle and roll of the elements with French elegance. The third of Couperin's Lecons des Tenebres dealt out music that balanced the devotional and the worldly.
Jane Edwards and Allan were duetting angels, with heavenly accompaniment from Vaughan and Goodman.
Couperin's verses were punctuated by the extinguishing of six candles and there was more drama to come in Marais' Le Tableau de l'Operation de la Taille. Luca Manghi orated an incisive account of a gallstone removal, while Vaughan and Goodman proffered Marais' musical rendition of the same.
Two frolics by Lully, for Turks and demons respectively, were frank toe-tappers, and the bracing ceremonial of Rameau's Nais overture was a final bow to Goodman's hero.
But Rameau was clearly not the only hero of the evening. After the final grand chord, the orchestra shouted "Vive le roi", in appreciation of the conductor whose dynamism has shaped the APO's most rewarding Spring series for years.
Your last opportunity to catch this extraordinary Englishman is on Thursday.
Do not pass it by.
