Review: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra at Auckland Town Hall

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Thursday concert featured its principal guest conductor, Roy Goodman, making his last appearance for this season; predictably, it was a night to remember.

Weber's Euryanthe overture was ideal material for Goodman's high-energy showmanship and the composer's "con fuoco" directive saw the piece taken at a fiery gallop. Yet, for all the high spirits, there was radiant poetry in the ghostly largo for muted violins.

All in all, this was a performance so captivating that some may have gone home determined to investigate the complete Weber opera - a little-heard masterpiece that has the great Mahler among its admirers.

Perhaps if Raphael Wallfisch had played it "safe" and come to us with the Dvorak cello concerto, the audience may have been larger; nevertheless, Thursday's punters must have found Dohnanyi's 1904 Konzertstuck an exhilarating experience.

This score matches moments of Straussian opulence with the sort of harmonic swoons that Erich Korngold would export to Hollywood, making Wallfisch's essentially restrained interpretation highly effective. When he delivered full-on intensity in the adagio, it was gripping; the cadenza, with solo cello weaving through the orchestral cello section, was evanescent magic.

And Dvorak fans were not forgotten at encore time, with a sweetly-toned, unaffected rendition of the composer's Silent Woods.

Goodman made a name for himself, two decades ago, with his Hanover Band, sprucing up Beethoven's symphonies.

Little surprise then that for Thursday's Eroica he had brought along his own orchestral parts.

This paid dividends in the buoyant opening allegro which allowed those Viennese waltzes concealed in its bars to come out and dance.

The slow movement had a real march to its step and seemed more Mahlerian than ever. At one point Goodman lingered tellingly over a note; at another he signalled a solitary horn to burst out of the texture.

All in all, this was the freshest Eroica I have heard for many a year and it seems far too long a wait for Goodman to return next April.