One of the dependable joys of Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra concerts over the past few seasons has been Roy Goodman's voyaging through the Beethoven symphonies.
On Thursday, the principal guest conductor offered the Eighth to start the orchestra's Choral Masterpieces, firing the audience for the hedonistic main bill - Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Under Goodman's baton, Beethoven's favourite symphony was unstinting in its revelry.
The opening Allegro bounded from phrase to phrase, its shifts of tempo perfectly caught, with the conductor making much of the delicious rhythmic disorientations.
Beethoven's tongue-in cheek Allegretto bubbled with insouciance and precision, while Goodman took the Minuet out into the fields for a rustic romp.
The last time Auckland Choral presented Carmina Burana in the Town Hall, it was thwarted by the conductor's intrusive commentary, the limitations of Orff's pianos-and-percussion accompaniment and uneven solo contributions.
