Pianist's sinuous grace shines through

Pianist Ingrid Fliter was triumphant. Photo / Sussi Ahlburg

Lilburn's Drysdale Overture may have set off with a bit of a jolt, but good on Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra for putting the local first in its My Country concert, the last of its Bayleys Great Classics series.

German conductor Christoph Altstaedt responded vividly to what Lilburn described as a "sunlit rondo, nostalgic of childhood memories."

The piece unfolded in big, generous phrases and, when the strings shifted from Moderato to Allegro, you felt the players' enjoyment, engaging in the composer's characteristically bristling duels.

Violas acquitted themselves splendidly, too, when the mood turned dolce for Lilburn's melancholic second theme.

The APO gave us Chopin's F minor Piano Concerto three years ago under Roy Goodman with the charismatic Peter Jablonski as soloist.

Tonight, the Concerto's tentative opening phrase suggested that Altstaedt could learn from the older conductor's rigorous marshalling of his forces; however, in general, the orchestra provided a simpatico underlay to the intensely poetic Ingrid Fliter.

Fliter is an internationally acknowledged Chopin player and it showed. She took risks with an almost alarmingly malleable rubato but they came off, bringing effective tension to the music.

She luxuriated in the elegies of the Larghetto; in the middle section, the Argentinian pianist floated over tremolo strings, dispensing Latin fire.

Chopin wanted the finale to be rendered "simply and gracefully" and Fliter took him at his word. There was also humour in her sinuous lines, offset by such odd orchestral touches as an unexpected whoop of horn fanfare and the clickety-click on col legno strings.

After interval, a soulful launch by clarinets and cellos augured well for Dvorak's G major Symphony. Later pleasures included some almost Tchaikovskian passions in the Adagio and the final indestructible G major blaze of the Finale.

Alas, it was not a good night for the first violins, whose consistently edgy tone came to a head in the lilting third movement, in which too many opening phrases suffered from bumpy beginnings.

The triumph of the evening belonged to the marvellous Ingrid Fliter. The opportunity to hear her play Haydn, Schubert and Chopin at Auckland Museum tonight should not be missed.

What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Thursday