Classical Performance: Short but incredibly complex

NZ Herald·

2 Oct, 2015 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Music director Giordano Bellincampi. Photo / Benjamin Ealovega

When I met conductor Giordano Bellincampi last year, he assured me he was "100 per cent Italian", despite having lived in Denmark since the age of 9.

Still based in Copenhagen, and now Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's newly appointed music director, Bellincampi adds our city to his busy international circuit.

He holds similar posts in Germany with the Duisburg Philharmonic ("an orchestra that, in its time, premiered Bruckner symphonies," he says) and Norway's Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. "Looking at the sun over the harbour yesterday reminded me of being in Kristiansand's Performing Arts Centre right on the sea front," he muses.

This man inspired the APO to deliver one of the finest concerts of its season last year and he confesses that, from his very first meeting with these musicians, something clicked. "Usually a visiting conductor meets an orchestra, they work together professionally, and that's that. The APO was an exception. Within minutes of our first rehearsal, I felt the potential for exploring some extraordinary creativity."

Next Thursday's Virtuoso Violin concert, featuring music by Bruch, Mahler and Schoenberg, reminds me that, little over a year ago, Bellincampi gave us an opportunity to hear some Webern pieces.

Schoenberg's awkwardly titled Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene is "very short but incredibly complicated", he laughs, pointing out that he consulted the Schoenberg Institute library to check some of the score's mathematical details.

"It's all thanks to the wonderful internet. One can so easily sit on the other side of the world and sift through manuscripts oceans away."

Last year he conducted Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy with Michael Hill winner Nikki Chooi as soloist; on Thursday, Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud takes on the same composer's G minor Concerto. Bellincampi is not at all fazed by tackling such well-known warhorses.

"For me, working on a Brahms, Mendelssohn or Bruch concerto, every soloist brings something new," he explains. "Another incredible advantage with familiar works is that as soon as you start rehearsing, the notes themselves seem to be already in the air. You can feel the shared experiences of all the musicians and sometimes those of the building itself, and it can't help but be fresh."

Rounding off next Thursday's concert is the First Symphony of Mahler.

"He's a composer-conductor who takes care to write his music so very precisely. He tells us exactly what to do. It's the first time the orchestra and I have worked on such a big piece together," he adds, reminding me that next year he will be here for the likes of Strauss' Ein Heldenleben, Nielsen's Second Symphony, Bartok's The Miraculous Mandarin and Ligeti's Atmospheres.

Although we have to wait until 2017 to feel his direct influence on the APO's programming, Bellincampi is undertaking eight concerts next year, including July's opera presentation, Verdi's Otello.

In May, he will give us a revival of Gillian Whitehead's the improbable ordered dance ("a very original and very particular piece") and is looking forward to taking on Ross Harris' new symphony in July.

Come November, Bellincampi will present the first offering from the APO's new resident composer Karlo Margetic and enthuses over hearing more music by the 28-year-old who won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award in 2013.

"My very first job was working with a very good contemporary music ensemble in Copenhagen. It's so important that today's young composers are given the best opportunities that we can possibly give them."