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here for The Dominion helen medlyn & penny dodd
Dominion, Tuesday 24 February 2004
Excellent concert in a superb setting
WHAT: An afternoon in Seville with Wellington Sinfinia,
conducted by Michael Vinten
WHERE: Government House gardens, Sunday (22 Feb 2004)
REVIEWED BY: Lindis Taylor
What impressed the 2000-plus audience about the eventual success of this event was not just that the gods had shown favour, as deputy mayor Alick Shaw noted several times (he is also chairman of the Sinfonia board) but that the elaborate planning for the Saturday, and the rain day on Sunday, was so comprehensive.
Everything seemed to have been thought about, nothing left to chance: parking in Wellington College grounds next door, with access by the adjoining gate that I never knew to be opened in my five years at the college half a century ago, their senior pupils acting as marshalls and ticket collectors, the dispensing of picnic hampers, the battery of loos, stalls selling additional drinks and ice cream. Not to mention the demountable stage with its covering tent, and a sound system that was well-balanced.
And finally, the sudden break in the weather.
As people arrived, they were greeted by Deidre Tarrant's young dancers, then by Spanish band Los Gringos doing Latin music, and to compere the concert, the irreverent Kate Mead.
This magical space tucked into a fold in Mount Victoria, the former vegetable garden to the east of Government House, forms a wonderful natural amphitheatre surrounded by shrubs and native trees, and topped with an arcade of huge old pines.
What about the orchestra? Well, yes, that was in the same class of excellence. The programme was predictable but none the less happy for all that.
What surprised me, though perhaps it shouldn't have, was that the less flamboyant pieces sounded best - the middle movement from Rodrigo's concerto with Matthew Marshall, the best guitarist in the country, subtle and shimmering, the Pantomime from Falla's Love The Magician and Jenny Wollerman's two arias from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (that's set in Seville, in case you'd forgotten).
And of course, Helen Medlyn's provocative songs from Carmen, the Habanera and the Seguidilla, were sung not only dangerously, but with a fire and colour that nakes one wonder why we haven't heard her doing the whole show.
Matthew Ross was most accomplished in Saint-Saen's little showpiece written for Spanish virtuoso Sarasate.
But there was a certain roughness about Chabrier's Espana, and the Overture to The Barber of Seville suffered at the hands of the boxy acoustic produced by the tent.
Such an environment has its obvious problems, but conductor Michael Vinten produced a great deal of careful balanced playing in most of the programme, which had started well with Carmen preludes and ended boisterously with Rimsky-Korsakov's brilliant Spanish Caprice.
And to crown it all, Phil James, chief executive officer of NGC, the orchestra's sponsor, announced a further three-year commitment to backing this excellent Wellington orchestra.
Contact Helen, Penny, and the Hell HQ Team Here