Review: The Wallfisch Band at the Auckland Town Hall

There was a spirit of an end-of-semester concert permeating the town hall during the Wallfisch Band's Venetian Carnival.

Two hours of Locatelli and Vivaldi concertos represented a week of intensive workshopping by charismatic violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch, three Dutch colleagues and eight local musicians.

The Fourth Concerto of Locatelli's Opus 4 wooed us with a light, generously-bowed Grave. Wallfisch, as soloist, experienced a few moments of jittery intonation providing hunting horn effects, but her indomitable style carried her through.

A Vivaldi Concerto for two violins and two cellos ("Double trouble", Wallfisch quipped) danced on well-sprung rhythms and energies that did not flag in a Locatelli Concerto for 4 Violins, even if some rough solo contributions did not always match Wallfisch's lead.

Wallfisch was in her element in Vivaldi's well-known A minor Violin Concerto.

Its Largo, lissom in its phrasing, was beautifully understated and, in the final Presto, she could have been driving her band in the Baroque equivalent of the Indy 500.

After interval, the high point of the concert proved to be Locatelli's Il pianto d'Arianna.

Talking harmony now, Wallfisch warned us we would be voyaging on a sea of many flats and mused on what sound might best capture the feeling of hope, concluding that an up-bow would pretty much fit the bill.

Locatelli's shifting textures exerted an extraordinary emotional power with Wallfisch's finely contoured solo catching the quicksilver moods of a forlorn heroine. The finesse of the ensemble playing was revealed in an echoing Grave and the frenzied Allegro that followed.

While a Vivaldi Concerto for two violins showcased the lively and responsive teamwork of Wallfisch and Miranda Hutton, the closing Locatelli Concerto, the first of his Opus 3, was Wallfisch's big solo turn.

The Largo, we were told, was so sweet it would charm a canary off its perch in a swoon of pleasure.

We were secure in our seats, but there was no denying its deliciousness, even if Wallfisch's virtuoso work in the final Allegro, complete with theatrical sigh and shrug mid-movement, was not always quite so persuasive.