NZ Herald Premier Series: Beethoven's Triple

Conductor: Giordano Bellincampi
Violin: Tianwa Yang
Cello: Gabriel Schwabe
Piano: Nicholas Rimmer

Beethoven: Triple Concerto
Bruckner: Symphony No.7

The conductor Bruno Walter once said that ‘Mahler was seeking God; Bruckner had found God’. Vast as a mountain, this cosmically spacious symphony is a cathedral in sound. Bruckner dedicated it to the memory of his idol, Wagner, and calls for the otherworldly sound of a quartet of Wagner tubas.

To precede it, a rare performance of Beethoven’s lightest, most charming concerto. The slow movement gives a tantalising glimpse of what a Beethoven cello concerto might have been, but more exciting is the vivacity of three superb soloists playing off each other and the APO.