KEY POINTS:
The Invitation to the Dance concert saw the signing-off of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's successful Vero Aotea series for another year.
It was a matter of relaxing and celebrating the spirit of the dance under the fastidious baton of Mischa Santora.
Weber's Invitation to the Dance sparkled with joie de vivre, and Dimitri Atanassov's shapely violin solos were a major asset. Indeed, it was so enchanting that applause erupted before its closing bars. To have Piazzolla's Muerte del Angel and Oblivion delegated to a small tango ensemble was an inspired idea and Atanassov fronted a slick band of tangueros and tangueras.
Putting steps to the notes, dancers John Flower and Felicity Rogers showed the style that got them to the semifinals in last year's World Stage Tango Championships in Buenos Aires. All this may have hit the spot, but was it in the right spot?
Resetting the stage before and after was irksome, and if tango-time had been scheduled just before interval such distraction would have been halved.
The orchestra returned for Ravel, and Nicola Baker's lingering horn solo immersed us in the melancholy beauties of his Pavane pour une infante defunte. Santora led La Valse to an alluringly demonic climax, although its impact was muffled by the Aotea's acoustics.
After interval the conductor spoke up for Leonard Bernstein as a serious composer, leading the orchestra into the Symphonic Dances from Bernstein's West Side Story.
This score has some of the most energised and energising concert music around; the musicians clicked fingers, shouted "Mambo!" and, with split-second precision, balanced the score's shake-up of sentiment and salsa.
Encompassing everything from big-band riffs to Puccinian tears, this is a major orchestral workout.
Percussion had a fiesta, brass were lustily brazen, woodwind evoked a rainbow of colours and strings provided the most luxurious of shagpile when the music turned lounge.
Three dances from Khachaturian's Gayaneh seemed stolidly trite alongside the hip Bernstein. However, they were certainly presented with the best packaging possible and there was an undeniable excitement in seeing the players attack the slashing rhythms of Sabre Dance.
