The first instalment of Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Templar Great Classics series drew impressive numbers to the town hall, with the debut of enterprising big-screen relay in Aotea Square that could in time draw a sizeable potential audience.
The musical postcards of the concert's title were transatlantic, dashingly launched by George Gershwin's An American in Paris. The composer's brother and fellow songwriter, Ira, saw this score as creating a new American music through native gusto, wit and awareness; all of which registered vividly in Giordano Bellincampi's hip musical direction of his ace orchestral team.
From bustling Parisian traffic, with taxi horns and clippety-clop woodblocks to Huw Dann, soaring and sinuous in his bluesy trumpet solo, this was the most convincing account of the work I have ever heard in the flesh.
One might criticise the loosely strung-together structure of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue but there's no gainsaying its energy and chutzpah, crammed full of moments that coax the same smile of recognition as might a fondly remembered holiday snap.
Australian pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska was a spirited soloist, more volatile than some in cadenza mode, with Steinway power sometimes proving no match for brass and reeds in full swing.
