Review: The Firebird - NZSO National Youth Orchestra

Monday, 30 July 2018, 12:44 pm
Opinion: Max Rashbrooke

The Firebird
NZSO National Youth Orchestra
Friday, 6 July
Reviewer: Max Rashbrooke

The annual NZSO National Youth Orchestra concert is a regular treat: it’s astounding how good these young musicians are. This clever, well-structured performance with a distinct French-Spanish theme was carried out under the watchful eye of guest conductor Jaime Martin, and started with Manuel de Falla’s Suites No. 1 and No. 2 from The Three-Cornered Hat. I enjoyed it hugely: it had a restless, scurrying energy, and conjured up intense, slightly hallucinatory images of farces playing out on sun-soaked streets.

Martin was a reassuring, warm presence, bringing out the best in these young players; some of the flute solos were particularly fine, and there was some great, raspy percussion and a surging and tumbling feel about the whole thing. The woodwinds, in contrast, were a little uneven.

Next up was Andre Jolivet’s Bassoon Concerto, the solo performed by former youth orchestra member Todd Gibson-Cornish. The concerto itself I don’t personally think is a great work, but Gibson-Cornish showed exceptional technical agility, with a mature rounded sound, the ability to shift moods and that sense of having a little bit of extra time up his sleeve to push and pull the rhythm around. Also worth singling out in the orchestral accompaniment was the pianist, Siyu Sun, who had a fantastic tone.

After the interval came redwood, a short piece by the youth orchestra’s composer in residence Josiah Carr – well played but, to my ears, not very convincing as a musical painting of the forest.

Finally the orchestra turned its attention to The Firebird, displaying – as with the rest of the performance – their many strengths and occasional weaknesses. There was some wonderful horn playing, some razor sharp percussion and a lovely silvery tone in the Lullaby. On the other hand there were times where one could see Martin having to do some rather obvious in-flight adjustments, as it were, at one point virtually forcing a louder sound out of the bassoon player, for instance. But if there wasn’t technical perfection, there was still stylistically adept and heartfelt playing on show throughout, and it’s not hard to imagine more following in Gibson-Cornish’s footsteps and finding places in major orchestras.

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Max Rashbrooke

Journalist

Max Rashbrooke is a journalist and author working in Wellington, New Zealand, where he writes about politics, finance and social issues.

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