Orchestras playing major works of Mahler and Bruckner

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with Simone Young, Conductor Baiba Skride,
Violin Sibelius Violin Concerto Bruckner Symphony No. 8 
Wellington, August 2, Dunedin, September 2, Auckland, September 5 
Auckland Philharmonia Schoenberg, 

Accompaniment to a cinematographic scene Bruch, Violin Concerto No 1 Mahler, Symphony No 1
October 8

This has been a year of big symphonies for both the NZSO and Auckland Philharmonia.

Recently the NZSO presented Mahler’s Symphony No 5; the APO’s played Bruckner’s Symphony No 7. Next month the NZSO begins its tour of Wellington, Dunedin and Auckland with Bruckner’s Symphony No 8 while the APO will present Mahler’s Symphony No 1. These are two of the great symphonies that mark a transition from romantic music to a more personal musical repertoire. Mahler in particular is really the first composer to create a body of work that is essentially autobiographical.

Conducted by Vasily Petrenko, the Mahler 5th was a journey into the vast romantic landscapes which the composer creates filled with dramatic events. It was also a journey into the mind of the composer filled with angst and reflection. At several points the music seemed to be filled with the detail and splendour of Klimt’s painting “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” (The Woman in Gold).

The APO's playing of the Bruckner No 7 under Gunter Neuhold brought out the majestic nature of the music. They created soaring spaces conveying the dramatic architecture of Nature. The music carefully assembled vast spaces filled with light, the music sometimes brooding, sometimes joyous and always spectacular. Both concerts also featured remarkable soloists.

The NZSO concert with the Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski playing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No 2 had him initially relaxed and laconic in his playing but soon immersed in the music with some pugilistic sweeps as he almost attacked the piano.

He was totally aware of the other musicians and conductor, enjoying the competitive exchanges between piano and orchestra. His duo with NZSO cellist Andrew Joyce provided a thrilling example of how musicians can transform music into moments of emotional transcendence.

Thy APO concert featured Isabelle Faust playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in a performance that ranged from the lighthearted to the dramatic.

Displaying incredible technical ability, she expressed the emotional richness of the work, at times meditative and at other times extravagant.

Conducting Bruckner’s mighty Symphony No. 8.with the NZSO will be Australian Simone Young, who has been much praised and internationally lauded for her visionary conducting of Bruckner’s symphonies.

She has conducted Bruckner with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra with whom she has recorded of the complete symphonies of the composer. The reviewer David Quinn noted of her conducting the symphony “Simone Young really has the measure of this score.

"She conducts with a fine appreciation of its breadth and nobility but there is also urgency aplenty at times, not least in the Scherzo, where she generates excellent momentum and energy." Along with Simone Young will be another international star, the Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, who has been described as one of the most exciting young violinists since Itzhak Perlman. She will be returning to perform Sibelius’s demanding Violin Concerto.

The APO concert featuring Mahler’s Symphony No 1 will be conducted by Giordano Bellincampi and will also present international star Viviane Hagner, playing Bruch’ s first Violin Concerto which is most well-known work combining a captivating blend of romance and Gypsy vivacity.

Gustav Mahler’s astonishing first symphony is the music of a young man first discovering his musical universe. It begins with the primeval sound of the forest, and the world awakening: it tells stories of love, death, nature; it ends with the sheer elation of being alive.