New Zealand Herald Premier Series: Reflections

Conductor - Giordano Bellincampi
Oboe - Bede Hanley

Debussy - Prélude à L’Après-midi d’une faune
Gary Kulesha - Oboe Concerto (world premiere)
Prokofiev - Symphony No.7

In another example of the APO’s growing international reputation, the Canadian composer Gary Kulesha has written a new concerto for our Principal Oboe, Bede Hanley.

Debussy’s little masterpiece is languid, ecstatic music of a hot summer afternoon lying in the grass. It’s also quietly revolutionary. Modern music began here.

Prokofiev’s last symphony is direct and tuneful, in the best Russian tradition, but there’s more to it than that. It was written by a sick man, in dark straits, and below the nostalgic surface is a yearning for his lost happiness.