It was heartening to see a full house welcoming back Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra for 2018.
The title of the programme — Bellincampi Bavouzet Beethoven — suggested there would no summertime pop concessions. A full symphonic two hours lay ahead, with the return of music director Giordano Bellincampi and the distinguished French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet playing Beethoven's Emperor Concerto.
Conductor and soloist both understood and conveyed the paradox of this mighty work, moving, sometimes within a few notes, from the titanic to the tender. Beethoven's primal opening chords unfurled magisterially, fuelling many beautifully turned dialogues between orchestra and soloist.
More than ever, the central Adagio invoked the idyllic world of a Chopin nocturne, and the earthy finale was dispensed with fire and grace.
Bavouzet, offering a Debussy encore, avoided the expected submerged cathedrals and watery reflections. Instead, the visionary 1904 L'Isle Joyeuse combined dashing virtuosity and subtle voicings with the pianist's palpable joy in revealing premonitions of a young Stravinsky waiting in the wings.
