South American Salsa at the Twon Hall

By TARA WERNER

TOWN HALL, Auckland - There is something about the Paraguayan harp that is mesmerising. It must be to do with its gently melodious nature, and the amazing range of colours it produces.

Closely modelled on the Spanish harp of the Baroque period, the modern equivalent is popular all through South America, played in a wide variety of regional styles.

These contrasting musical flavours had a champion in Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, an imaginative and virtuosic harp soloist whose South American Suite for harp and orchestra gave this Auckland Philharmonia concert a special piquancy.

Some amusing introductory remarks between Ortiz and conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya provided an interesting background to both harp and music, and then Ortiz launched headlong into his suite.

While the orchestration may have been somewhat banal, the harpist's musicality was obvious from the start, with all five movements an appealing mix of styles. The work, coincidentally, reflected the programme as a whole - a rich musical salsa containing a highly flavoured South American mix.

None of the scores in this programme could exactly be called profound, (especially Sones de mariachi, the raucous opening work by Blas Galindo, portraying a good natured fiesta), but at least this Friday-night concert was entertaining.

Sonorous harp aside, the common element was definitely percussion - the noisier and louder the better. This element dominated in Alberto Ginastera's ballet suite Estancia, a highly nationalistic work reflecting country life on the Argentinian pampas, and even more so in the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas' film score Le noche de los mayas.

The latter had the contemporary percussion group Strike aiding and abetting the orchestra in solid waves of rhythm. Primeval and riveting music, maybe, but also somewhat crass, however disciplined the performance.

A decidedly popular menu, but this sort of programming made one long for more gentle and mellifluous fare such as the Bachianas Brasileiras from Villa-Lobos, or a spicy tango or two by Piazzolla.