Maestro and pianist Howard Shelley celebrates 30 years with the Tasmanian Symphony.

Federation Concert Hall, Hobart
May 1, 2015

In his 30th year collaborating with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Howard Shelley shows no signs of slowing down. Taking the roles of both conductor and soloist in this concert, Shelley spread high spirits with his Hobart audience.

The orchestra opened in fine form with five movements of Dvorák’s Legends, Op. 59 B122. Dvorák wrote the work for piano duo from 1880-81, but orchestrated it immediately. Despite moments of trivially poor intonation at the outset, the Molto moderato was wondrously sentimental and Allegro con moto flowed smoothly; it felt unnatural not to clap after this movement had finished. In a jumbled order, Legends came to a close with the impassioned third movement Allegro giusto.

What a joy – and challenge – it must be for a maestro to physically produce the music he conducts. So it was for Shelley during Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No 1 in G Minor, Op. 25. His lidless piano was positioned to face the orchestra, and at times Shelley would burst from his seat to conduct – one swift movement between two challenging musical roles. Other brief moments saw him conduct with his left hand while playing with his...