A fair-sized audience in the Dunedin Town Hall thrilled to the first half of Dunedin Symphony Orchestra's concert on Friday night.
Poulenc's Concerto in D minor for Two Pianos and Orchestra, with guests Terence Dennis and Tom McGrath and under the direction of Tecwyn Evans, happily if momentarily on home turf.
Poulenc's work is a brilliant array of harmonic innuendo, at times lulling and at others acerbically pointed.
It is essentially a Romantic work but to its credit lacks the self-indulgent sentimentality of that era.
Poulenc is true to his predilection for wicked and clever references to diverse music genres, to buck the conceits of Tradition.
He revels in and exploits the new influences in society and music impacting on his 1930s Parisian artistic circle.
Sounds of the Indonesian gamelan rub along with European atonality and purposefully over-the-top Hollywood.
Under the inspired baton of Tecwyn Evans, guest pianists Terence Dennis and Tom McGrath and the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra produced a cohesive, scintillating and highly memorable event.
Peter Adams' Huriawa opened the evening and proved a good companion to Poulenc's energy.
His use of golden era Hollywood lyricism and his clarinet and wind laments successfully conjured Huriawa's magic and its Maori history.
Unfortunately, Adams' channelling of Wagner sounded contrived and actually detracted from an otherwise successfully emotive work.
In comparison, Brahms' very traditional Symphony No 3 was lacklustre. Though it has large majestic sweeps and was beautifully performed, with only the ''Finale'' having any energy, the work remains underwhelming.
Not one of Brahms' best works.
Dunedin's orchestral talent pool created a stellar evening in celebration of Matariki. Long may this standard of local creativity continue.
