Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe stand for a new breed of piano duos, performing with a razzamatazz that makes Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim seem decidedly old school.
Anderson & Roe certainly drew the punters in Auckland, although we were denied the Mozart, Brahms and Stravinsky mentioned in localpublicity. The sole substantial repertoire was a shimmering Hallelujah Junction by John Adams, still fresh in some ears from the soundtrack of the movie Call Me By Your Name.
This was the launch of a voyage to transcendence, we were told, but hopes were dashed when the pair moved from two Steinways to one for Anderson's own variations on Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. I struggled to hear the influence of "otherworldly late Beethoven" in its bland harmonies and doodling trills. The so-described avant-garde dueling gospel of the Beatles' Let it be was a flashy showpiece that, for me, trampled the very soul of the song.
The evening opened with their own recasting of Leonard Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, in which stomping feet and less audible hands-on-piano-case percussion didn't compensate for the tang of the original clarinet and orchestra.
Also marking Bernstein's centenary, a suite from West Side Story was burdened by a welter of heavy bass rumblings and enough glissandi for a Guy Fawkes celebration.
Bizet fared worse in their 13-minute Carmen Fantasy, inspired by an operatic heroine whom Roe told us was a very saucy minx, whose carryings-on had provided juicy material for them. It was relentlessly busy and so sad to hear Carmen's heartrending Card aria laced with tinkling cocktail lounge decorations.
I hoped that Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits would be an oasis of blessed calm. It was but the price to pay was hearing the tempo pulled like taffy. For me, the magic happened in the first of three encores, a deft take on Piazzolla's Libertango, played and plucked outside and inside the instrument.
Anderson & Roe play Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre on Saturday as part of the NZ Festival.
What: Auckland Arts Festival — Anderson and Roe Piano Duo Where: Auckland Town Hall Reviewer: William Dart
