Flautist a hit with audience

Bridget Douglas. Photo: supplied
Bridget Douglas. Photo: supplied

Dunedin Symphony Orchestra
King's and Queen's Performing Arts Centre
Saturday, May 11

REVIEWED BY MARIAN POOLE

A large house showed their appreciation for a matinee programme of tried and true orchestral works conducted by Kenneth Young and with special guest flautist Bridget Douglas.

The evening opened with Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture which rolls along nicely, before heraldically proclaiming its arrival and dissipating all the squalls encountered along the way.

Honnegger's Pastorale d'ete (1920) is a sweet impressionistic little work evoking a pleasant midsummer's day. Birds tweet in the trees; a gust of wind rouses the listener; the cellos and double basses maintain a resonant and rhythmic ostinato and life after warfare has resumed an air of peaceful idyll.

Flautist Bridget Douglas gave a lively performance of one of Johann Quantz's many works for flute. Flute Concerto in G (1745) gave the concert its alliterative title "Bridget plays Baroque''.

It is, as would be expected, replete with ornaments and opportunities for the soloist to show their worth. The first movement, "Allegro assai'', is a busy test of technique, the second movement, "Arioso e mesto'', is a welcome delve into the lyric qualities of the instrument, while the third movement, "Presto'', reiterates the urgency of the first.

Douglas' professional status in New Zealand music is well deserved. Her performance won enthusiastic applause from the audience.

John Ritchie's Snow Goose (1982) allowed the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra to pay tribute to New Zealand Music Month and the audience another chance to hear Douglas' interpretative skills.

She highlighted the work's tragic romanticism alongside its astringent harmonies which save it from becoming merely melodramatic.

Mozart's Symphony No 40 in G minor reveals a composer well versed in his trade but sadly the orchestra lacked the interpretative depth to bring off its repetitive and somewhat nagging themes.

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