THE New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's Heroic Beethoven concert at the Gisborne Showgrounds Event Centre yesterday was exactly what it said on the tin.Sorry about the cliche but the orchestra itself was a visual symphony.

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Its 50 musicians were dressed in black. They sat in formation on a raised stage. Their instruments were an astonishing forest of sticks, tubes, bows, cow hide, brass and resin.The programme was accessible to everyone — from the curious to those immersed in classical music. It was rich, resonant, triumphal and bucolic. It was occasionally martial but mostly joyous.The programme opened with the The Ruins of Athens Overture, a six-minute piece that opened with a deep, resinous chord then lifted off.It set the tone for the two big symphonies, Symphony No. 2 (full title - Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op.36) and Symphony No. 5 (in C minor, op. 67).Composed during one of Beethoven darkest periods, Symphony No. 2 was surprisingly upbeat and meaty. Nineteenth century romantic Hector Berlioz described it as "smiling throughout."A small content murmur rose from the audience at the famous opening notes of Beethoven's famous 5th symphony. It was epic, stirring and cathartic — and that was just the first movement.Conductor Danail Rachev clearly felt every nuance, every colour. He jived and gesticulated to the tumultus moods of the music. Sweat flew off his brow as he drew certain sections out, dampened others. He was conductor not only for the musicians but for the audience's relationship with them.The evening was rounded off with Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5. After the big, heroic numbers, the encore was a tasty dessert. Possibly unnecessary for big, hearty meat-eaters, but hugely satisfying nevertheless.

Filmed and Edited by
Ben Cowper

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