The annual Settling the Score concert has become a popular fixture on Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's schedule, presenting the 10 top classics that RNZ Concert listeners have chosen on the network's annual poll.
With half of the Town Hall stalls set up cabaret-style, an enthusiastic audience enjoyed MC Wallace Chapman marshallingthe countdown, while Australian conductor Guy Noble took care of the music.
Chapman came up with a smooth enough line of banter. Once again, we heard about his less-than-distinguished participation in the second violins of a Nelson orchestra and his problems with "ongoing systemic intonation issues". Early on, there was a fleeting stab at a bawdy aside, discussing Schumann and horns, and Chapman introduced the orchestra's first item, a bracing saunter through Grieg's March of the Dwarfs, by comparing Norwegian trolls to Kiwi hobbits.
In previous years, this concert has greatly benefited from the unexpected. In 2013 there were the geothermal rumblings of Gillian Whitehead's Resurgences and, 12 months ago, the Schumann Konzertstuck that pulled the orchestra's triumphant horn section from the back row to front of stage.
This time, the surprise was 4'33", John Cage's celebrated slice of silence, which had Chapman roving the orchestra for comments. "Great patience," was one cellist's assessment when asked about the particular demands of the piece.
In performance, of course, it did highlight Cage's original premise of just how much noise there is around us - as cellphones chirrupped, chairs creaked and the audience roared at Noble's flamboyant maestro turn, punctuating the piece's three "movements".
Vaughan Williams' inevitable The Lark Ascending was delivered by an extremely nervous young Lauren Bennett, while concertmaster Andrew Beer dashed off the Finale to Bruch's G Minor Concerto with crowd-pleasing gusto.
Chapman's ultimate "Big Reveal" came in the final 20 minutes, climaxing in the winning Finale from Sibelius' Fifth Symphony, its impact somewhat dampened in isolation from the symphony's preceding movements. How many, like me, had already lost their heart to the runner-up, Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia, with Martin Lee's cor anglais making the most of the "bizarre oriental melody" that Chapman had alerted us to.
What: Settling the Score Where: Auckland Town Hall When: Thursday
