Classical review: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Auckland Town Hall

Soloist Michael Houston. Photo / Kate Whitley

The movie connection proved a shrewd one for Film Classics, closing Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Great Classics series, and just the occasional empty seat was visible from my vantage point.

An extremely populist programme opened with Argentinian conductor Alejo Perez inspiring a full-bodied, emotional response from the strings in Samuel Barber's celebrated Adagio.

The violas were particularly fervent when their voices rose in music more evocative to some, I suspect, of chilling post-9/11 New York devastation than the Vietnam War battleground of Oliver Stone's 1986 movie Platoon.

Some may have assumed we were in for the Elvira Madigan theme with a Mozart Piano Concerto on the bill - if so, they might have been disappointed to be presented with the composer's K.503 rather than the well-known K.467.

There was no need to be, at all.

Soloist Michael Houstoun seemed to enjoy the ceremonial flurries and brilliant passagework of its first movement while, within a few bars of the opening, Perez showed an admirable sensitivity to a momentary excursion in the minor.

The pianist's own characterful cadenza included La Marseillaise given something of an 1812 workout, reminding us that another Tchaikovsky work was in the line-up after interval.

The delicate trills and traceries of the Andante more than made up for the pleading lyricism of K.467's Elvira Madigan "theme" and the final Allegretto was a dancing joy.

Six extracts from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake may not have been a substitute for the complete ballet danced in the theatre, but the inexhaustible triple-time ingenuity of its waltz drew spontaneous applause.

Nevertheless, Perez artfully balanced graceful dances, including a dashing Czardas, with a thrilling and exultant Finale.

For better or worse, Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice does come with inevitable cinematic baggage, so often associated with a flustered Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, coping with an army of belligerent broomsticks. Perez and his players proved it deserves more respect.

The work's rollicking theme may nudge, but Dukas' orchestral palette is pure ravishment, nowhere more so than in its final whispered pages, only slightly undercut by that fortissimo four-note signing off.

What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Thursday