OPINION Did Thursday night’s capacity audience somehow know Auckland Philharmonia ’s Bellincampi & Brahms concert might well be the pinnacle of this year’s Bayleys Great Classics series? Without the distraction of a warm-up overture, we were plunged into the dramatic expanses of Brahms’ mighty Piano Concerto No. 1. This magnificent lion of a work starts with a roar but, within pages, tenderness takes over.
The crucial balancing of these two emotional extremes was expertly gauged by conductor Giordano Bellincampi and soloist Alexander Melnikov. A meltingly beautiful adagio had Bellincampi almost physically embracing its long and unruffled phrases, ensuring a heavenly stillness when Melnikov, with a jeweller’s precision, laid out his hauntingly mysterious harmonies. The dashing dance of the final rondo also accommodated more wistful interludes of telling finesse, as well as some particularly vigorous fugal fun.
Melnikov was a cool customer, quelling unwanted applause at one point with just an admonishing finger. When the final bars of his encore - a lingering, soulful Brahms intermezzo - were brashly interrupted by a cellphone from the circle, he took a bow, with the hint of a smile, miming an imaginary smartphone in his right hand. Four years ago I commented on how Bellincampi’s utter adoration of Brahms’ Symphony No.
2 came through both on his face and in the sweep of his hands as he effortlessly underlined the subtle rhythmic play of its joyous first movement. .