String warmth and orchestral flair
Orchestra Wellington conducted by Marc Taddei with the New Zealand String Quartet and Inbal Megiddo (cello). Music by Elgar and Bartök. Michael Fowler Centre, June 27. Reviewed by Max Rashbrooke.
Although classical music is a supremely international phenomenon, it still has its parochial quirks. Edward Elgar’s reputation is one of them: while his work is a national treasure in his English homeland, it is not uncommon to encounter, for instance, French and Italian music-lovers who have literally never heard of “Nimrod”, let alone the rest of the Enigma Variations or his other works.
Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro for Strings arguably suffers from this dynamic, much-loved in England but relatively seldom played elsewhere. And that’s a shame, as Orchestra Wellington and the New Zealand String Quartet demonstrated on Saturday night.
The performance was marked by a pleasing elasticity of line, Marc Taddei’s fluid conducting creating room for the elegance and good spirit that distinguish this concerto-grosso-style work. The first movement also contained an elegiac viola solo, courtesy of the quartet’s Gillian Ansell, and overall there was a good balance between quartet and wider ensemble. Scurrying energy in the second movement and a sure handling of the final-movement fugue added up to a performance of warmth and charm.
The one Elgar composition that does travel well, of course, is his Cello Concerto, regarded by some experts as the zenith of its genre. Here, the celebrated solo spot was taken by a member of the orchestra, Inbal Megiddo.
One advantage of having a fully home-grown soloist is that the connection with the orchestra should be especially secure, and here it was exactly that, individual and ensemble almost organically close. As the soloist, Megiddo took a thoughtful, considered approach, seemingly aiming for a restrained romanticism rather than the more doom-laden or anguished interpretations that this wartime work has drawn from some performers. The audience’s reward was a performance of delicate lyricism and deep emotional conviction.
After the interval, the concert continued on its theme of home-grown soloists with Bartök’s Concerto for Orchestra, a work that gives starring moments to almost the entire ensemble. The performance was, nonetheless, something like the inverse of the first half.
There was no shortage of delightful moments: the suspenseful openings of the first and third movements, for instance, or the gentle lilt of the second. In the fourth movement, the viola-section solo was beautifully done, while elsewhere there was much to enjoy in the carousel-like energy of the playing.
So scattered is the music, however, that it takes extra skill to knit it all together, and that wasn’t always the case here. Ultimately the Bartök felt like fractionally less than the sum of its parts – the reverse, perhaps, of the two Elgar works.
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