Concert review: Cyber audience together in feeling the love

Behzod Abduraimov.

Misfortune conspired against my getting to the Town Hall for the first concert of Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Great Classics series.

All was not lost, however. Along with viewers around the world, I was able to experience the evening, streamed live over the internet.

The Emperor meets Brahms offered Teutonic mainstream masterpieces, enlivened by a Spanish conductor, Pablo Gonzales and the 23-year-old Uzbekistani pianist Behzod Abduraimov.

Brahms' Academic Festival Overture was a rousing opener. Gonzales drew a full, celebratory sound from the orchestra, creating a real sense of anticipation as we waited for each well-known tune of this valedictory medley.

The cohesion and purposefulness of the playing made me want to see more of musicians interacting with conductor; and close-ups did not always feature the instruments being played. The young Abduraimov, in Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, was the star of the show and treated as such by the camera.

He presented the impetuosity of youth, craning over the keyboard while dispensing ripples of passage-work. You felt the weight of Beethoven's massive chords and the physical liberation of a high-energy Finale.

Abduraimov's Adagio, with subtle rubato, hinted at Chopin Nocturnes yet to be written. Here, responsive camera work underlined the flow between soloist, strings and woodwind.

"If Auckland can persist, we may get something else out of him," was the promise of commentator Charles Pierard, but an encore was not forthcoming. Interval was agreeably filled by an informative Radio New Zealand Concert interview with the conductor.

The first few pages of Brahms' Fourth Symphony found Gonzales searching out every inflection, with the camera enjoying the intricate waves of cellos and violas.

If opportunities were missed with highlighting solo instruments in the Andante moderato, then emotional impact was never compromised.

The third movement had an aura of formality, prefacing a truly majestic Finale, lightened mid-movement by Laura van Rijn's shapely flute solo.

It had been a stimulating night in, with the company of a vast cyber audience, enjoying the APO and appreciating its determination to reach out beyond the concert hall. Catch this concert while it's still online.

What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Thursday