A frequent soloist with the APO, Ning Feng has come a long way since winning the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in 2005. Photo / Lawrence Tsang
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's final town hall concert for 2019 may have been titled Conflict & Triumph, but it opened with the subtle strains of a new commission from Salina Fisher.
The seven fragile minutes of the young New Zealander's Murmuring Light created its own impressionist world from the play of
light - as her 2015 Rainphase did from water.
Conductor Giordano Bellincampi mixed timbres like a master painter, from intricate string writing to unfamiliar piano effects. Birds were ever present, in both individual song and in clustering sonic flocks.
Ning Feng has come a long way since winning the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in 2005. As a frequent soloist with the APO, he has shown an almost alchemical talent in transforming second tier concertos to gold status but here, playing Beethoven, we were in solid masterpiece country.
With every note given its due weight and nuance, it was Feng's sweet unfaltering lyricism that registered most vividly; not only in the Larghetto but throughout the dramatic reach of the first movement. It seemed significant that he chose Fritz Kreisler's very romantic cadenza and gave us understated, almost whispered Bach at encore time.
