Benjamin Beilman dazzles in Auckland Philharmonia Nielsen concert – William Dart
Was one really surprised when Benjamin Beilman and the Auckland Philharmonia mesmerised us with Mendelssohn a fortnight ago? Certainly not after reading, earlier in the month, the ecstatic reviews of the American performing that composer’s Violin Concerto over the Tasman.
Tonight, however, Auckland was honoured with an Australasian exclusive – an all-conquering account of Carl Nielsen’s 1911 Violin Concerto.
Prompted by Giordano Bellincampi’s championing of the Danish composer, Beilman only recently added this work to his repertoire.
Seamlessly flowing from the fierce to the tender in Nielsen’s opening Praeludium, he conveyed the intense joy of discovery, of revelling in what Leonard Bernstein once described as Nielsen’s chief appeal: his constant unpredictability.
Before too long, Bellincampi unfurled some high-energy orchestral splendour in a full-scale chivalric Allegro, spurring on some unbridled folkish fiddling from Beilman.
Yet this substantial movement showcased all manner of subtle dialogues between the soloist and the musicians around him.
Mellifluous woodwind ushered in a hauntingly chromatic Poco Adagio, slyly spelling out the name of the great Bach and igniting the sweet melodic bloom of Beilman’s 1740 Guarneri del Gesu instrument.
The previous movement had provided ample opportunity for this violin to deliver on Beilman’s signature style, described by one critic as “muscular with a glint of violence”.
If Mahler had written a violin concerto, then Nielsen’s closing Rondo would have made a proud finale, although the teasing capriciousness here remains unique to its composer. It was delivered on this night with a wry, throwaway humour, on either side of a devastatingly brilliant cadenza.
Beilman’s Prokofiev encore took a ravishingly simple melody through a series of deft variations.
Opening the concert, Lilburn’s Drysdale Overture, immaculately played and injected with Bellincampi’s dynamic urgency, would be the perfect launch for the Nielsen to come.
After the interval, we were presented with a beautifully contoured reading of the work that lent this concert its title, Mozart’s Symphony No 39.
Steven Logan’s timpani set a stately pace for a rather grand Adagio, progressing to an Allegro that was a model of poise, balance and shapeliness.
While the closing Allegro was a bubbling delight, it was rather upstaged by the delicious frisson of Jonathan Cohen’s bold and playful clarinet adventures in the minuet’s trio.