With the audience spilling into the choir stalls, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra signed off its Splendour of Beethoven series with a sure-to-lure combination of the Violin Concerto and Fifth Symphony.
Anticipation was justified. Conductor Baldur Bronnimann had been the soul of dynamism last Thursday and 19-year-old violinist VeronikaEberle was coming to us with wunderkind credentials.
Bronnimann's signature was all over the Concerto, from the precision of the opening bars, with woodwind at their chiselled best, answered by strings who knew the import of every note Beethoven had given them. The second movement benefited from his infinitesimal attention to phrasing and detail. Nevertheless, there was not quite the same communion between orchestra and soloist as there had been seven nights previously.
Eberle was a cool if elegant presence but she needed to engage more with her audience. Although her response to the score was scrupulously considered, by pulling back the tempo at crucial points some momentum was taken out of the first movement's central section. There were strained moments in the Kreisler cadenzas, although few could rival the magic with which she ushered the main theme back for its final flowering.
The Larghetto was a mite slowish, graced by careful moulding of lines, especially in the fragile perdendosi passage. Only in the Finale was one conscious of intellectual processes taking precedence over the visceral zest that this rollicking Allegro needs.
After interval, Bronnimann had the orchestra to himself for Beethoven's most popular symphony.
From its very first four-note blast, this Fifth was a mighty one. The conductor forged a sense of inevitability throughout, especially in a remarkably spruce and shapely Andante con moto.
There were signs of tiredness in the ranks, although when trombones led their colleagues into the exultant Finale, there was an air of well-deserved celebration.
