KEY POINTS:
Simon Trpceski is one charismatic Macedonian. Guesting with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the weekend, the 28-year-old pianist arrived with two potential pot-boilers and transformed them into pure gold.
On Friday, Saint-Saens' light but stylish G minor Concerto was a frothy delight. The Bachian ruminations of its introduction were laid out by Trpceski with just the right combination of intellect and passion, paving the way for conductor Yoel Levi and his orchestra at full tilt.
Throughout, Trpceski tendered the sort of virtuosity that leaves one gasping; syncopated octaves, molto furioso, one moment and chromatic scales whirling like snakes on amphetamine the next. The melody of the first movement yearned with chic; the second and third movements were incisively elegant romps.
Similar alchemy took place on Saturday, with Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini as Trpceski performed this perennial party piece with the impetuosity and zeal of a youthful athlete. It set off coyly, as well it might, but by the sixth variation, Trpceski was dazzling us with vertiginous chromatics and, in the celebrated 18th, he surrendered to the rich emotionalism of Rachmaninov's writing, inspiring Levi and the orchestra to do likewise.
Encores were generous; each evening paired an understated gem by Mendelssohn or Chopin with a rip-roaring Prelude and Pajduska by his fellow Macedonian Zivojin Glisic. Delivered with the utmost virtuosity, this was like a musical tumbledryer with Bartok spinning around in the company of composers from George Winston to cut-and-paste Antheil.
Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony on Friday avoided the longueurs often associated with this work, thanks to Levi's sterling advocacy. Nothing was held back for the chest-thumping emotions of the first movement, yet the Alpine fairy of the second was given premiere danseuse status, with music to match.
On Saturday Shostakovich's Twelfth Symphony was unrelenting in its visceral power. But for all the decibels, it was not all belligerent megaphone music; subtle ironies emerged between the broad strokes, occasioning vivid contributions from solo brass and wind players, spurred on by Levi.
While Friday opened with Ravel's La Valse, teetering, as it should, on the edge of Viennese delirium, Saturday had a more low-key launch. Kenneth Young's Remembering is the latest of the orchestra's mini-concertos, written for the concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppanen.
Few composers today would set off with a flagrant G major chord, but Young does so, with no sense of compromise. Strauss and Dutilleux are just two influences in this exquisitely shaded music. Leppanen forged the most idyllic of pathways around the edges of Young's sumptuous harmonies, making the most of the telling interplay with his orchestral confreres.
