KEY POINTS:
To Experience symphonic music played by young musicians who have come together from throughout the nation is a joy like no other.
In times when our young people are easily distracted by all the trivialities that society hurls in their way, the sight of 100 players devoting their all to Ravel, Bartok, Debussy, and the music of one of their peers is inspirational.
The NZSO National Youth Orchestra's Monday concert revealed, as always, the special relationship that develops with a guest conductor - and the dynamic Yannick Nezet-Seguin came up trumps.
Ravel's La Valse is not the easiest curtain-raiser and, although there were some shaky first steps, once it swept firmly on to the dance floor there was no stopping it. Nezet-Seguin and the players ably captured the sweep, the passion and the utter delirium of it all.
The spotlight was turned on the orchestra itself in Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. The strings were particularly secure, from those opening cello fourths to the full-voiced song of the violas in the Intermezzo. Woodwind sauntered past in cheery pairs for the Giuoco delle coppie and the brass ensured a lusty close.
Karlo Magetic's Belt Sander was a celebratory dash, oozing energy. The demands were of the split-second variety with splashy percussion and, for well-tuned ears, a suspicion of something Spanish caught in the mix.
Magetic made his mark, as a schoolboy, by carrying off Chamber Music New Zealand's Sounz Prize two years ago. Now, two years on, the orchestral canvas seems made for him.
The jewel of the evening was La Mer, in which the French-Canadian conductor ensured his charges evoked every billow and ripple of Debussy's sea. Woodwind and brass were elegantly moulded and a strong cello section showed no fears with that treacherous five-part chorus in the first movement.
Concertmaster Amalia Hall's idiomatic solos were the soul of subtlety.
The musicians bade us a Gallic farewell - a poised walk through a Ravelian fairy garden from the composer's Mother Goose Suite - making us impatient to hear what the orchestra will have for us next year.
