The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra was fully justified in titling this concert Johannes Moser plays Shostakovich, as the German-Canadian cellist's blistering account of the composer's first concerto must go down as one of the highlights of the concert year.
The 1959 score deals out subtle politics, revisiting Stalinist nightmares, with principal horn Samuel Jacobs ably taking the role of the stalking KGB throughout. Moser fired the outer movements with terrifying intensity.
Early on, a violent thrust of his bow almost toppled a violin stand as, with eyes fixed on the audience, he gave out the ominous theme that would dominate the next 30 minutes. The Canadian's lyricism in the heartrending slow movement was shaded with melancholy and possibly reproach, soaring over sonorous strings.
Two years ago in this same hall, Moser's encore was an unaccompanied Bach sarabande, marking the then recent Orlando massacre. Here, an Elegy by movie composer John Williams felt alarmingly trite, a slice of comfortable Californian anguish after the genuine soul-baring we had just experienced.
After interval, conductor Peter Oundjian's own choice of an hour's music from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet made for a rather lengthy evening. Favourite pieces were not overlooked; the knights had a particularly rousing dance and there were dazzling orchestral pyrotechnics when Mercutio and Tybalt duelled. The final act had Romeo and Juliet almost dashing from bed to tomb, where the NZSO's superb strings were in impressive attendance.
