Concert Review: Berio to Ibert, with humour

Claire Scholes has a disarming naturalness. Photo / Supplied

We could do with more humour in our concert programmes. And conductor Peter Scholes seemed very pleased to tell us that the opening work in Auckland Chamber Orchestra's Folk Songs concert on Sunday was a joke on a piece that was a joke in the first place.

Franz Hasenohrl's transcription of Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel turned out to be a witty frolic, as a small ensemble scaled down a mighty symphonic poem to a slightly quaint quintet.

It was a trim and sprightly performance from all, with the versatile violin of Dianna Cochrane valiantly deputising for banks of Straussian strings.

The concert's title had come from the 1964 Folk Songs of Luciano Berio, a work written for and stamped with the personality of the great Cathy Berberian.

Claire Scholes gave a touching account of the cycle and it was mostly delivered with a disarming naturalness, the considerable heft of her full mezzo voice reserved for effective outbursts of passion.

A certain nervousness in the opening Black is the colour was soon put aside as we were charmed from country to country towards the final, exultant Azerbaijan Love Song.

A small band of instruments provided sympathetic accompaniment, with some intense viola solos from Greg McGarity and airy woodwind contributions from Adrianna Lis and Andrew Uren.

After interval, Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony proved just a little too challenging for the group, with roughness of timbre, intonation problems and a certain rhythmic inflexibility taking their toll.

There were glimmers of what it might have been when the mood moved to langsam, but in general, this score demands greater polish and subtlety to come off the page.

The concert ended with a visit to the circus courtesy of Jacques Ibert's Divertissement.

Although some piquant dissonances were not as sharply pointed as they might have been, Peter Scholes had a feeling for Ibert's throwaway, almost music-hall, humour.

Among the appreciated solo turns were trumpeter Huw Dann, with and without various mutes, and pianist David Kelly, who launched the Finale with a splendid splash of dada dissonance.

Concert

What: Auckland Chamber Orchestra.
Where: Raye Freedman Centre.