Steven Isserlis (cello) and Stephen Hough (piano)

By WILLIAM HART

AUCKLAND TOWN HALL - How brave of Isserlis and Hough to start their Auckland concert with a contemporary offering, and Lowell Liebermann's Second Cello Sonata proved the perfect showcase for them.

In a musical mix ranging from antique cadences to rushes of Lisztian virtuosity, the two dispensed the appropriate colours throughout, although the work was at its most convincing in the central section, where Isserlis' Stradivarius, gut strings and all, could sing out to best advantage.

The intricate nuances of Hough's opening phrase in Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata made me realise that this could well be the night of a thousand pianissimos. Isserlis took his lead from the pianist with a performance of intense poetry, although at times sharper articulation would have been welcome. There was a subtlety here that warranted a more intimate venue.

The spiritual serenity of Liszt's Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth was followed by Rachmaninov's mighty G minor Sonata. It was unsettling - deliciously so at times - to watch such obvious physical effort evoking such a subdued soundworld, adding a veil of muted melancholy to the work.

The burst of melody in the second movement (a sibling to one of the more lush themes from the Second Piano Concerto) touched the heart, but more than once - and this is partly the result of a piano-heavy score - one wanted to hear more of the cellist.

Isserlis announced encore-time with the words, "This is where it gets horribly twee". He wasn't lying. A composition by Hough was followed by one of the cellist's own pieces, which was even worse.

Haunted House revealed the whimsical side of Isserlis, the writer of children's books, with a spoken commentary and the cello providing everything from creaking doors to wolf-whistles.

In a kiddy concert it might have been tolerably amusing, but it was a jolt after such a high-minded programme.