There was a palpable sense of celebration as the 11 musicians of the Turnovsky Jubilee Ensemble took the stage on Friday evening.
Just a week into an exhaustive national tour that takes up most of this month, these players are distinguished alumni of Chamber Music New Zealand's annual contest for secondary schools, which celebrates its half-century this year.
A crisply delivered Third Brandenburg Concerto reminded us that chamber music did not start with Haydn string quartets.
It was perfectly buoyed by Rachael Griffiths-Hughes' shapely continuo playing, reaching a peak in the harpsichordist's splendid improvisation leading to the two chords of the Adagio.
Enthusiasm and a sense of occasion, however, did not quite atone for rough intonation when themes were passed along the line from soloist to soloist, or the vexing edge in the first violins that marred this half of the concert. Britten's Simple Symphony irritated me in the 1970s when I was forced to teach it to sixth-formers. This overly cute specimen of juvenilia, with pieces titled Boisterous Bouree and Frolicsome Finale, needs more polish and, probably, bigger forces.
