German orchestra back for seventh visit

Werner Andreas Albert says orchestras should not have to depend on too much sponsorship.

Werner Andreas Albert knows the Auckland Philharmonia, player by player. Tomorrow's concert will be his seventh visit in as many years.

This affable German has been responsible for local premieres (he is quick to praise Martin Lodge's Aer as "a very good composition by a composer who knows exactly how to write for orchestra") and one controversy, with Lutoslawski's Chain 2 in 2001.

"I like that," he laughs. "Sometimes you have to wake up people a little bit, you know."

Albert is internationally renowned for his extensive recordings of music by Hindemith, Benjamin Frankel and Korngold, much of it with various Australian orchestras. He finds Erich Korngold a particularly fascinating figure.

To many, this is simply a man who penned some of the fruitiest Hollywood scores of the 1930s and 40s. But Albert knows more of his work, such as a Sinfonietta that Korngold wrote when he was 14.

"Korngold was developing in a wonderful way," Albert muses, "but then, in 1938, being Jewish he had to leave Europe and go to the States. Maybe he was welcomed too much in America and didn't have the same challenge of competing with other composers."

Tomorrow night, the inaugural Michael Hill winner, Joseph Lin, will be soloist in Korngold's Violin Concerto.

"This work is very influenced by his American style," says Albert. "It's a wonderful, poetic score with a lot of romanticism and it should have a major place in the repertoire.

"It is not very often played in Germany, where people seem to prefer the Brahms and other major concertos. But I have always felt that when I go to a concert, I want to hear something new. I don't want to hear Brahms all the time."

Talking Korngold leads to film music in general and, inevitably, Albert's award-winning recording of Benjamin Frankel's score for The Battle of the Bulge.

And I've always felt there was something essentially filmic, too, in Edwin Carr's The End of the Golden Weather, which is also on tomorrow's programme.

Albert agrees it is "very atmospheric and for most of the time is in impressionistic colours".

Many musicians well remember Ted Carr's distaste for most music written in the past 50 years. How does Albert feel about composers who look backwards rather than forwards?

"Perhaps sometimes there is a real desire on the part of the composer, or perhaps he's just sick of being more avant-garde than anyone else," is his first response.

Then the name of Penderecki comes up - the Polish composer is a good friend - and the conductor points out the huge gap between Penderecki's astringent early works and the later, almost Romantic, symphonies.

Penderecki has never explained his shift of style. "He has a wonderful sense of humour," Albert explains. "When you ask him something, most of the time you get a smile, and then he asks you if you liked it and when you say you do, there's a twinkle in his eye. But he won't go into the reasons.

"Maybe it's development, old age or wisdom. I'm not sure."

With the first rehearsal only minutes away, Werner Andreas Albert seems more keen to talk about the here and now, and spring to the defence of the troubled Auckland Philharmonia.

"They are marvellous musicians and a really fine orchestra," Albert says. "They deserve much more support. Auckland is your biggest city, and there shouldn't be any question mark over its orchestra."

He points out how Australian orchestras are too dependent on sponsorship now they are no longer part of the ABC.

"I come from Germany, where government and cities are responsible for culture, and I think this is the healthiest approach. It is dangerous to rely on private support. If sponsors are doing well, the support is there, but in hard times, it may not be.

"Culture should never rely on whether we are doing well. If we aren't, we should invest more into our arts than ever before."

Performance

*Who: Werner Andreas Albert, with the Auckland Philharmonia
*Where and when: Aotea Centre, tomorrow, 8pm