Mahler's score lays bare his soul

James Judd is a conductor who knows his Mahler well.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is back in town this weekend playing Strauss, De Castro-Robinson, Sibelius and Tan Dun, but its final offering, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde jumps the queue when I catch up with conductor James Judd.

"It's a self-portrait of Mahler himself," Judd says, "and there is not a piece of music for orchestra and voice with such subtlety and extraordinary illumination of the text."

Judd knows his Mahler and speaks in superlatives - Mahler deserves them and so do soloists Keith Lewis and Helen Medlyn.

"Helen and I have done Mahler before," Judd says. "She is a deeply musical partner and one who always puts the voice at the service of the words."

Saturday's pairing of Mahler with Tan Dun's Death and Fire is sharp programming, even if the concert's faux-funk title of Earth Wind and Fire seems forced.

Dun's colourful score was inspired by the paintings of Paul Klee: "We have Eastern music being inspired by Western paintings and, with Mahler, Western music by Eastern poetry. Tan Dun uses the orchestra with such virtuosity and tremendous care. Everything he asks for, including the voices of musicians, is playable."

Eve de Castro-Robinson's Releasing the Angel, for soloist David Chickering, will have its premiere on Friday.

"It's a very nicely judged work, with a lot of freedom for the cellist, clear and transparent in its use of the orchestra," Judd says.

The orchestra's commissions this year are proving very successful, with works so far from Ross Harris, Chris Cree Brown and Michael Williams. Judd hopes they will eventually form a library for players and orchestras overseas.

We talk briefly about Richard Strauss' Oboe Concerto, which Australian Diana Doherty will play on Friday.

Judd, who often goes back to the composer's original manuscripts, points out the miracle of Strauss' rich music "coming straight from his head on to the paper ... they weren't piano scores that were orchestrated".

Manuscripts are revealing. Judd remembers how "the slow movement in Mahler's original score has the first line . . . right in the middle of this huge page, immediately giving you this beautiful picture of loneliness".

Mahler's Fourth Symphony is one of the works the orchestra will take on its first European tour next month, playing the BBC Proms in London and Snape, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, and in Japan.

Others pieces include Lilburn's Third Symphony and scores by Gareth Farr and Ross Harris. And the orchestra will be joined by Jonathan Lemalu for more Mahler - a selection of songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn.

"The whole tour is incredibly important," Judd says, "and the orchestra's many Naxos recordings have created a great sense of anticipation for the NZSO.

"New Zealand itself has a huge kind of sex appeal overseas. You can't pick up a foreign newspaper without seeing an article about New Zealand - whether it's about the wine, the film industry, the place, or the culture.

"There's a real focus and it's been increasing over the past three or four years.

"I've always been impressed by the quality of teaching here. You cannot, with a population of four million, turn out so many fantastic musicians unless there is pretty good teaching going on at ground level."

Would that the arts could get a fraction of the publicity that sport receives, I suggest. But Judd's response is an enthusiastic, "I love sport ... the NZSO can't win the World Cup but it can get reviews, not only in New Zealand but in the foreign press and that is our way of showing the public that you have got the All Blacks of culture here."

* New Zealand Symphony Orchestra performs at Founders Theatre, Hamilton, Thu 8pm; Auckland Town Hall, Fri 6.30pm & Sat 8pm