Review: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Cedric Tiberghien

It is five years since Karlo Margetic won his first composition prize and Ouroboros, which opened the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Thursday concert, is prime evidence of the 22-year-old's prodigious talent.

The scenario of a snake swallowing its own tail has inspired all manner of curling and twisting motifs. Margetic manoeuvres his orchestral canvas to pulsating climaxes and also finesses style with intricate string writing and carefully gauged piano.

The APO, under Stefan Lano, delivered it with the pride of ownership.

Ravel's Piano Concerto set off with the crack of a whip and, in the first movement, Cedric Tiberghien took us from jazz-tinged Nocturne to the jungle rhythms of a primitivist toccata. The French pianist's duetting with Martin Lee's cor anglais put a stamp of elegance on Ravel's second movement, before the third proved a spine-tingle of a race to the finishing line.

Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony may have drawn lusty "bravos", but more fire was needed in its Soviet stoicism.

The moderato was a leaden trawl, while the second theme was simply a lyrical oasis.

The scherzo plodded, earthbound and literal in its three-to-the-bar delivery.

A day later, Tiberghien flew solo when he opened the Auckland Museum's Fazioli International Piano Recital series.

Brahms' Opus 76 Piano Pieces proved a subtle opening ploy, apart from some noisiness when the instrument was sorely tested by Tiberghien's fortissimo. Otherwise, he was fastidious in the B minor Capriccio and ingenious in exploring the intricate voices of the A minor Intermezzo.

Last week he had confessed to me how, were I to ask for his favourite pianist, he would give five jazz names for every classical one. On Friday, he let us imagine what Bill Evans may have sounded like, had the American pianist ever played Brahms.

Liszt's Vallee d'Obermann captivated with its luminosity and, from a selection of Bartok, some volatile collages of Csik folk-tunes darted with capricious glee.

In Brahms' Hungarian Dances Tiberghien played as if he were two pianists merged into one. He evoked trembling cimbalons in the fourth dance and beguiled us with his gypsy rubato in the sixth, ending with the cool sonorities of Ravel's La Vallee des cloches which had served as the perfect encore 24 hours before.