I hadn't expected to be doing another piece on music so soon, but I couldn't let this concert pass.
Appended to the graduation fetivities, the Graduation Gala concert - the final in a competition between over 30 UoA student - is a highlight in the Auckland classical music calendar. It's easy to see why. The three soloists, backed by the Auckland University Symphony Orchestra, were truely amazing and I still can't believe that $9000 in prizes, a full orchestra, the hall and it's Steinway, and a qualified judging panel, came at absolutely no cost to the audience.
The only hint that the concert was free was the freedom in choosing my seat. There was a spot three rows from the front, in an ideal place to see the performers (I love being on the open side of the paino) and the violin section.
All the contestants had opted for concertos (or in one case 3 movements of a symphony) that had room for florishes of skill and personal flair: the basoonist opened with Weber's Bassoon Concerto in F major, J.127, Op.75. I've been partial to the basoon ever since Fantasia's raspberry-blowing soundtrack and Weber throws together a landscape of technicality and texture in three movements of ear-pleasuring delight.
I had planned on writing about the other performers, but I return to this draft with too much time passed to summon enough recollection to do it justice... have a listen though as I did dig up the links at the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd6D2dYTbD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgAKKMCl114
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