Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Thursday concert was not totally the "French Twist" that its title promised. However, the first half of the evening, pairing Debussy's Prelude a l'Apres-Midi d'un Faune with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet playing Ravel, had enough joie de vivre for a lifetime of Bastille Day celebrations.
Conductor Andrew Gourlay captured Debussy's evocation of sylvan eroticism well. A slight lapse in the opening flute solo proved a momentary distraction, once we were ensnared by the intoxicating rush of harp. There was a sense of time frozen into idyll, with lush strings and beautifully pointed woodwind playing.
Listening to Ravel's 1930 Piano Concerto one could be forgiven for hearing George Gershwin in its tangling figuration and bluesy asides. This first movement is part nightclub, part circus. The gates open with the crack of a whip and bitonal tingle, riding on to a sense of delirious anticipation against Bavouzet's dizzying glissandi.
The French pianist has just the right musical gestures to season this subtly piquant music. More than ever, the Adagio felt like a farewell to the carefree 1920s. Bavouzet's opening solo was a measured meditation, cleverly manipulating our sense of metric security. Only a laboured horn solo, against some the pianist's pearliest flutterings, detracted from the movement's eloquent dialogues.
If the razzle-dazzle of Ravel's Finale were not enough, with its splashing runs of triads and the orchestra enjoying what sounded like hunting escapades, Bavouzet's encore almost stole the show. An 1887 concert study by Gabriel Pierne was an exquisitely manicured dash through terrain terrifying to most pianists. We wait for Bavouzet's definitive recording.
