Auckland Philharmonia at the Bruce Mason Centre

By WILLIAM DART

Schumann's symphonies are a challenge for any conductor and orchestra, and none more so than his Spring Symphony in B flat major.

The Auckland Philharmonia, under Marc Taddei, did not quite meet this challenge in the last of the Midwinter Masterpieces concerts, although there were some effective moments. The opening pages, though they could have been a little more on the maestoso side, were well-manoeuvred, with their quirky, off-beat woodwind chords.

Once into the Allegro, poor intonation in the strings started to irritate and remained an irritation as the work progressed. The dancing tune of the Finale, in particular, only really caught one up when it was entrusted to woodwind later in the movement.

The Scherzo seemed curiously lacking in resolve for molto vivace, and the emotional intensity of the Larghetto (one of Schumann's loveliest outpourings) did not travel from stage to auditorium.

Perhaps the fault for this disappointing performance lay partially in the curious formatting of the concert, opening rather eccentrically with the symphony and closing with an overture, a feature that Miguel Harth-Bedoya made much of in May when this series was launched.

After interval, Arvo Part's Festina lente, translated rather loosely by the conductor as "fast slow" (the proverb in question is "Hasten slowly") was thoughtfully dedicated to the memory of Dorothea Franchi who died in the previous week. Although the violas provided a firm anchor for the proceedings, this score needed a greater fullness of sound and cohesion to register fully and the dry, spry acoustics of the Bruce Mason Centre were not an asset.

Justine Cormack's account of the Mozart G major Violin Concerto was musicianly. She played from memory, with only passing moments of panic when a certain semiquaver sequence came along in the Finale. Conductor, soloist and orchestra were in their happiest accord here and the performance was graced by some shapely woodwind contributions.

The concert ended with the work that should have opened it, Beethoven's second Leonora overture and, despite distracting podium mannerisms which one could hear as well as see, Taddei inspired the orchestra to a rousing finale.