William Dart review: Auckland Philharmonia at Auckland Town Hall

Trumpet soloist Tine Thing Helseth and conductor Lawrence Renes of Auckland Philharmonia at Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Sav Schulman

Auckland Philharmonia’s Totally Trumpet concert put the lie to that hardy old cliche that contemporary music is inevitably box office poison.

A full town hall was palpably captivated by Penderecki’s 2015 Trumpet Concertino, delivered with grace and humour by its charismatic soloist, Tine Thing Helseth.

Admittedly this is a much more audience-friendly affair than the Polish composer’s early avant-garderie. Moments of frothy geniality had Helseth roving over and beyond the stave with athletic abandon, including an effortless cadenza poised over sumptuous orchestral chords.

Auckland Philharmonia at Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Sav Schulman

At its most disarmingly approachable, it occasionally echoed the ironic cafe music that the late Nino Rota composed for so many Fellini films; at its coolest, a Larghetto section showcased Helseth, on moody flugelhorn, in delicious dialogue with orchestral woodwind soloists.

Conductor Lawrence Renes, a man with sterling contemporary credentials, marshalled proceedings with sure style.

Tonight was, in fact, a two-concerto deal, offering the rare opportunity to hear a 1955 work by Soviet composer Aleksandra Pakhmutova. This was a rather stolid, robust outing, showcasing some sweet-toned cantabile from Helseth in between rousing tarantaras and hearty note-spinning.

Helseth’s third coup came at encore time, spellbinding us with the utter simplicity and emotional directness of a Norwegian folk song.

Orchestrally, what more cheerful welcome could we have had than the overture from The Bartered Bride? Here, the musicians clearly enjoyed Smetana’s bustling build-up, erupting into syncopated whoops of joy.

After interval, maestro Renes easily persuaded us that Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony has been unjustly over-shadowed by its composer’s two earlier works in that genre.

Auckland Philharmonia at Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Sav Schulman

And it only took a page to do it, gliding from finessed, delicate Lento to an exhilarating Allegro rush. Throughout its massive first movement, textural clarity and all-important balance were never threatened and Renes captured the many fluctuations of tempo with unswerving subtlety and rightness.

Auckland Philharmonia at Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Sav Schulman

Holding nothing back in Rachmaninov’s propulsive finale, he also evoked an almost Ravelian atmosphere in the central Lento, its shimmering orchestral colours including the rapturous solo violin of acting associate concertmaster, Allison Lovera.