Review: Ebullient Goodman keeps concertgoers entertained

Roy Goodman. Photo / Supplied

The ever-ebullient Roy Goodman explained the premise behind Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Thursday concert in a running commentary as the stage was reset after the opening item.

We were being treated to three pieces written by foreign musicians for London audiences, the first having been a D major Symphony Op 18 no 3 by Johann Christian Bach.

This work started life as an operatic overture and Goodman mentioned echoes of Gluck in its Andante, although alert ears would have picked a premonition of Mozart's Figaro Overture in its Finale.

Goodman coaxed an idiomatic performance from his players, positioned in two orchestras which exerted a visual as well as an aural appeal. Most entertaining of all were his endlessly inventive gestures, with a range of sweeping waves and fluttering fingers for every phrase.

Goodman had confided that Haydn's D major Cello Concerto was not so engaging on the orchestral side, yet Chinese cellist Jian Wang was handsomely ushered in.

There was much that captivated in Wang's playing, with a shapeliness of line that even allowed for a few slivers of portamento.

Although intonation was not always steady, expressiveness was given the utmost priority, often arising from moments of rare collegiality with the orchestra. John Wells' elegant harpsichord continuo was a major factor in the work's success.

The first encore, a thoughtfully rendered Bach Prelude, was followed by the elegiac Moon Reflected on Second Spring by the blind street musician A'Bing.

Handel's Water Music, dispatched with particularly lusty horns, was the expected party piece of the evening, even if its al fresco jollity can seem somewhat restricted within the concert hall.

From the sprightly overture, the orchestra was clearly in the hands of a master.

Goodman also took part in the music, with his trusty Roland C-30 synthesiser, which provided the perfect surrogate chamber organ under the Camille White's spellbinding oboe elaboration of the Adagio from Handel's first suite.