Concert review: I Musici di Roma, Auckland Town Hall

I Musici di Roma was formed in 1952 and its leader says it is like a big family. Photo / Supplied

Chamber Music New Zealand's CEO, Euan Murdoch, delivered a hearty "Buona sera" welcome for an evening of Italian music with the celebrated I Musici di Roma.

First up was a Rossini Sonata a Quattro, delivered with all the charm and flair that Murdoch had promised. The earthy good humour of its fast movements was particularly refreshing. However, a recurrent sourness of intonation, especially in the first violins, was less appealing; perhaps the result of this being the sixth New Zealand concert in seven days.

Cellist Pietro Bosna was soloist in Rossini's Une Larme. Fully up to the piece's lyrical expectations, he also enjoyed teasingly keeping us on tenterhooks until the music bursts into its final bubbling denouement.

A Donizetti Allegro, its mercurial shifts of mood exquisitely managed, was followed by Paganini's fearsome variations on The Carnival of Venice. Leader Antonio Anselmi took the solo part, with a fervour and almost devilish flamboyance worthy of the great Paganini himself.

For those wanting more Baroque music, the second half opened with two 20th century composers intent on evoking that golden age of Italian music.

Marco Enrico Bossi's sprightly Goldoni interludes were ignited by a scurrying Gagliarda that never flagged. Respighi's Aria emulated a Vivaldi or Corelli Adagio although passing blurs in intonation did impact on the richly sonorous playing.

A Concerto Grosso, commissioned from Luis Bacalov to celebrate the group's 60th anniversary, was somewhat underwhelming. While Bacalov writes effectively for the strings and I Musici played with gusto, the piece was embarrassingly banal.

Nino Rota's Concerto for Strings may not be a major work, but it received the fullest, most thrilling performance of the evening, right through to a Finale that could easily have pattered away behind a fantastical escapade in a Fellini film.

Encores were generous. In between a raging Vivaldi storm and an infectious Rossini Bolero, the Italians paid an appreciated if occasionally shaky tribute to Douglas Lilburn with his first Canzona.

REVIEW

What: I Musici di Roma
Where: Auckland Town Hall, Monday.