KEY POINTS:
When English cellist Richard Harwood took on Strauss' formidable Don Quixote with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra last June, deputising for an indisposed Paul Watkins, it was his second visit to our country.
A few days before tonight's return appearance with the APO, the 28-year-old rekindles memories of a 1993 New Zealand tour with the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra for which he was soloist in the Elgar Cello Concerto.
"I had my 14th birthday while I was here," says Harwood, "and it was my first experience of what touring might be like. And what a way it was to start, away on the other side of the world."
The critic of Nelson's Evening Mail must have been prescient, describing the young Harwood as "an international name of the future". The cellist comes to us this week from a sell-out performance of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, returning to Europe to make his debut in Vienna's Musikverein.
Boyhood was a special time for Harwood. He was blessed in having an inspirational teacher in Joan Dickson. "She knew everyone in the world of British and European classical music. She introduced me to William Pleeth and Zara Nelsova, who represented a cello tradition that no longer exists."
The 1692 Rugeri instrument he will be playing tonight used to belong to Dickson and, as it happens, was also played by a teenaged Steven Isserlis.
"We have something like a wonderful marriage," Harwood reflects when I ask about his relationship with his cello. "And it seems to grow with age. I have been lucky enough to play this cello since I was 14, just a few months after that first trip of New Zealand. I particularly like its resonance of tone in the upper register and, in the lower strings, there is such a wide palette of colours."
It is this Rugeri we will hear when Harwood gives us Schumann's only concerto tonight. "The Schumann is not a work in that big explosive style that we so often hear," he points out, "but a piece that looks in on itself as it expresses very deep, internal emotions. There's a real sweep to the first movement, and the second movement is poignant and peaceful, as if it's accepting some kind of resignation or loss."
Next Monday, Harwood will launch the APO's Lion Foundation Twilight series with music by Schumann, Brahms, Shostakovich and Frank Bridge, accompanied by the Australian pianist Caroline Almonte.
For Shostakovich's Sonata, written in 1934, just before the composer came up against the Soviet battering machine, Harwood had the privilege of two lessons with the great Rostropovich. "He was full of stories and anecdotes about the sonata and playing it alongside its composer."
It is difficult to get the cellist to pick a favourite but Harwood does single out Monday's Frank Bridge Sonata. "It's a great work, written during the First World War and overflowing with emotion. There is a beautiful sadness to it and although Bridge's harmonies probably seemed quite experimental at the time, today they are simply rich and lovely.
"It has been unnecessarily neglected and if this is a New Zealand premiere," Harwood laughs, "then it's about time it was played."
What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, tonight at 8pm
And: Richard Harwood and Caroline Almonte in recital: Town Hall Concert Chamber, Monday 6.30pm
