A rehearsal of the Rite of Spring by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra turned more feral than usual today when percussionist Lenny Sakofsky burst right through the skin of his drum.
It’ll be all right on the night, we hope.
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“It’ll be all right on the night, we hope.” – … it was! – pretty solid, some impressive conducting from visiting conductor Jaime Martin, quite expansive with some good orchestral detail, just slightly restrained in some ways, perhaps, but certainly with enough moments of real menace, eerieness and fire to make it genuinely worthwhile.
Sometimes, I’ve almost had the impression that the “Rite” has still been just a bit too pure and concentrated and cataclysmic for broader audiences (… here), even after all these years, but this time people applauded very vigorously and enthusiastically indeed. Still a terrific piece: always was, always will be. (The NZSO, as always, a very fine orchestra too, awaiting the debut next year of its new Music Director, Edo de Waart, conducting the Mahler 3). The hall (Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington) was packed, this concert (which also featured Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending” and Walton’s “Cello Concerto”, in keeping with NZ’s historic English connections) sold particularly well; plenty of young people too, which was encouraging to see. Three more performances to go, in other centres, so hopefully the drum will hold out long enough. đŸ˜‰