Program:

Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture

Schuman piano concerto in a minor,

Strauss Ein Heldenleben.

Conductor: Edo De Waart.

Soloist: 陈萨（Sa Chen）

  The string section created a transparent and silky sound in the overture with exceptionally good intonation and ensemble, though occasionally the lower strings were not strong enough on the important dotted or triplet rhythms. The winds were tight and well blended and surprisingly the horns didn’t take the overture as some kind of warm up material. When did this orchestra became so stylish and precise? It certainly was largely because of Edo De Waart as I was told afterwards. On the concert he looked as if he was part of the music, not some kind of metronome or show-off that sticks out from the orchestra, and one can hear clearly that he knew exactly what he was doing.

  I enjoyed very much guiding Sa and her mother in Wellington, I enjoyed a lot the gift she gave me, and I enjoyed ENORMOUSLY her Schuman concerto! I could only say one word: Brilliant. I loved the clarity of her playing, especially in the left hand (This is something that does not happen in New Zealand very often). From her playing I felt as if I can see the piano score in my head. I always believed that projection is not about volume but clarity, precision and sharpness. Sa proved my opinion. She was musical yet controlled and logical, knowing exactly the reasons behind every phrase; this was an excellent attitude towards any German concerto. She is definitely going to have a long-lasting career, I bet on it.

  I was also pleased with the orchestra during the concerto. I could still remember vividly how awful it sounded when林昭亮（Zhao-liang Lin）came to play the Brahms concerto: It was so grey, totally boring and about to fall apart. This time with Edo, the orchestra achieved what should be achieved in a concerto, and thus helped Sa a lot.

  Somehow, the inward sound from the Mendelssohn concerned me that it wasn’t quite right for Strauss. But the NZSO simply BLOWN ME AWAY. It was solid, passionate and florid. The strings surprised me the most, with such an expensive and flowing sound, they were just flawless. On top of that was Vessa’s solo, he was the surely the “Helden” of the second half. Hard intonation for the winds but it was rare to hear them actually play out, they were always “shy”, especially the horns. I must say the horn section in NZSO is the weakest, but they were reasonable in Ein Heldenleben. The timpanist didn’t drown the orchestra (he loved doing that) and the brass section always had a perfect concept of balance.

  This was certainly the best NZSO concert for me.