It will certainly be interesting to see how the combination of Schoenberg and Schumann succeeds here. Although it might seem as if the NZSO is moving somewhat out of the repertoire comfort zone with the one-and-a-half doses of Schoenberg, this is somewhat misleading. Verklaerte Nacht is a solid, if unchallenging work that lies pretty firmly in the late Romantic tradition that should fit pretty snugly alongside the Schumann. I haven’t heard the Brahms in this orchestral version, but it is a finely crafted piece and Schoenberg a great orchestrator. Inkinen conducts.

8. Ross Harris: Vienna (Mahler); Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1; Mahler: Symphony No. 5

If Li Wei can breather any life into the Haydn Cello Concerto I shall be impressed, because it really is a thoroughly uninteresting work. Vienna (Mahler) is part of a commission from the NZSO, Three Pieces for Orchestra. I have to wonder where the other pieces are – it’s pretty poor of the orchestra not to play the entire work. Harris doesn’t deserve to be treated as an accessory to a dead composer, particularly as performing something like this, presumably intended as a tribute, hardly gives a fair impression of his work. Inkinen conducts.

9. Copland: Appalachian Spring Suite; Jennifer Higdon: Percussion Concerto; Lyell Cresswell: Landscapes of the Dead; Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 ‘”Pastoral”

Jennifer Higdon provides the first international contemporary music of 2010. What little music of hers I have heard is very impressive – not exactly avant garde, but certainly striking. Lyell Cresswell is an expat who has spent most of his career in Scotland; I’ve only ever heard one of his works – a trumpet concertino played by the NZSO – and that was hardly inspiring, but one never knows! Appalachian Spring Suite is Copland’s populist side. Some people seem to love it, but the only real highlight is the joyous rendition of Simple Gifts. And the “Pastoral” Symphony? Don’t talk to me about the ”Pastoral” Symphony. Alexander Shelley conducts.

10. Britten: Four Sea Interludes (from Peter Grimes); James MacMillan: Veni, Veni, Emmanuel; Ravel: Pavane for a dead princess; Strauss: Death and Transfiguration

This is probably the most complete concert of the lot, with just the one chestnut thrown in to pretend that a theme exists. The Strauss may be a little hard to swallow, but the MacMillan and Britten more than make up for this. MacMillan is probably the best known young postmodern composer around, and although I can sense a reduced audience, it should at least be an appreciative one. Alexander Shelley conducts.

11. Telemann: Burlesque de Don Quixotte; Sallinen: Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik’s Funeral March; Grieg: Two Norwegian Melodies; Arthur Foote: A Night Piece; Sibelius: Impromptu; Mendelssohn: String Symphony No. 10

This concert concerts mostly of music for string orchestra – and yet it manages to be wildly more interesting than most of the other concerts on offer. Telemann is a great, underplayed composer, although I feel that writing for strings alone does diminish the scope for his brilliant early use of instrumental colour. Sallinen is an amazing contemporary composer; Arthur Foote is completely unknown to me. The Mendelssohn manages to be simultaneously insipid and dazzling; it would certainly be no loss were the entirety of Mozart’s work to be lost in a rather bizarre fire and replaced in the repertoire by Mendelssohn’s. Vessa Matti Lepannen directs.

12. Christmas music.

Alright, it includes both Britten and Rutter, but still. You must be joking. This absolutely cannot be happening.

Paul Goodwin conducts.

Additional Concerts

At the Festival of the Arts the NZSO is adding a concert of Wagner sung by Simon O’Neill to the Mahler 8 concert already announced. This seems to be the extent of their involvement next year. Still, Wellingtonians can consider themselves lucky, because in Auckland a concert of waltzes will be performed. A concert of Rodgers and Hammerstein will be performed, for which the management had better have a really good excuse.

It seems like the year’s shining light will be the Made in New Zealand concert (as usual), which will feature two works by Ross Harris, including a Violin Concerto, along with a work by John Psathas (I get the impression that this isn’t his new marimba concerto, but that will be brilliant when it happens), something by Claire Cowan and a comparatively ancient work by Arnold Trowell from the early twentieth century.

I’m actually quite flabbergasted by the dullness of the NZSO’s subscription programme for next year. There is very little New Zealand music on display – and less that I really want to hear. Of course, if you’re the kind of person looking out exclusively for repertoire symphonies, then you’re in luck,, but there’s precious little contemporary music on display, and it’s hardly flatteringly programmed. Many of the ‘stars’ who would previously have played/conducted two concerts are next year only doing one.

1. Smetana: Sharka; Sibelius: Violin Concerto; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique”.

Why would anybody bother to show up? Really? The NZSO plays the -brilliant- Sibelius concerto nearly every year; the Tchaikovsky is stupefyingly dull. The purpose of this concert is to show off the ‘glamourous’ Hillary Hahn, who will doubtless get some kind of turgid writeup beforehand in the Dominion Post. Tellingly, the programme doesn’t even mention the Ma Vlast excerpt, the only creative moment in this programme – and in terms of programming Smetana, ‘creative’ means ‘not Die Moldau’. Inkinen conducts.

2. Strauss: Metamorphosen; Bruckner: Symphony No. 7.

Alright, I’ll admit it. I would dearly love to go and see the Strauss, but there’s a problem. There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Bruckner is far and away the worst symphonic composer to be spat into this world, and Symphony No. 7 just loses out to No. 4 in being the most terrifyingly bad symphony ever written. Inkinen conducts.

3. Ritchie: French Overture; Gounod: “Ah, Je ris de me voir”; Bellini: “Costa Diva”; Puccini: “Un bel di vedremo”, “Vissi d’arte”, “O mio babbino caro”; Elgar: Symphony No. 1.

Yes. That’s right. An Elgar symphony alongside a bunch of populist ‘high’ opera. I’m sure that Malvina Major will sing perfectly finely, even with such familiar material to work with, but I’m just not sure what exactly there is that’s really worth hearing. Tecwyn Evans conducts.

4. Mozart: Symphony No. 41; Strauss: Overture from Die Fledermaus; Lehar: “Meine Lippen, sie kuessen so heiss”, “Liebe, du Himmel auf Erden”, “Vilja”; Dvorak: Czech Suite Finale; Rusalka: Song to the Moon; Strauss: Thunder and Lightning Polka.

While the first of these Malvina Major concerts is designed to show her off as a dramatic soprano, this takes the other tack, delving through the murky legacy of singspiel to produce a concert that Hitler would really have loved. There is precious little music in this concert of any originality, although I would be somewhat curious to hear the Rusalka in any other context. Tecwyn Evans conducts.

5. Glinka: Overture from Ruslan and Ludmilla; Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3; Glazunov: The Seasons.

The first subscription concert I’d seriously consider paying to hear features an all-Russian line-up thankfully missing Tchaikovsky. Well, not really, because Glazunov was Tchaikovsky in a frock, but the Rachmaninov, played by Freddy Kempf, might just make up for it. Oh, and Alexander Lazarev, who last time I saw him was nigh on falling off the podium in excitement.

6. Dvorak: The Noon Witch; Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1; Prokofiev Symphony No. 7.

Ahhhh… Prokofiev, and some unfamiliar Dvorak. This will be a good concert, despite the Tchaikovsky, and would be pretty much perfect for Lazarev with some Shostakovich in there also. Alas,, ’tis not to be.