A personable Rumon Gamba introduced the first concert of Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Pushing Boundaries with a passion, authority and humour that suggested this might be the APO's most successful winter series yet.
The Adagio from Mahler's unfinished last symphony is almost unbearably poignant - there was also a sense of goose-bump inevitability. Its surging theme, laced with delicate portamenti, released its swansong over orchestral swells, more like human breaths and sighs than mere notes on paper.
A smaller orchestra set off Haydn's second cello concerto at a crisp canter, providing the perfect springboard for Torleif Thedeen, whose nimble, nicely-shaded passagework was only occasionally tinged with strain.
Balancing this busyness were more reflective moments, with the Swedish cellist and orchestra in the sweetest of harmonising; a lyricism that burst into full bloom for Thedeen's encore, Pablo Casals' celebrated peace offering, Song of the Birds.
Early on, Gamba had asked who were first-timers for The Rite of Spring and, after interval, astonished and even terrified, they may well have been swept well out of their classical comfort zone.
