Auckland Philharmonia at the Aotea Centre

Reviewed by WILLIAM DART

It's rather easy to take Schubert's Unfinished Symphony for granted. Too often that lilting cello theme in the first movement comes across as winsome and pretty when it is, in fact, one of the composer's most yearning pieces of lyricism. There was, however, no danger of this happening on Thursday night, with Italian conductor Marco Zuccarini at the helm of the Auckland Philharmonia.

This was Zuccarini's first appearance with the orchestra, and his Schubert was delivered with an Italian passion and flamboyance. The opening bars were mysterious murmurings: portents of a drama yet to come. And when it did, full passionate bowings were the order of the night while crescendos and decrescendos criss-crossed like giant breaths. If Schubert marked a chord "sforzando", believe me, the earth shook.

Zuccarini caught the second movement in darker hues than some might, with a sense of real deliberation to it. Listening to those fragile clarinet and oboe solos negotiating their way among the storm and stress that surrounds them, one felt that Schubert's score had been invested with a certain emotional vulnerability.

Soloist Thomas Hecht's fondness for the Beethoven C minor Concerto shone out from his meticulous articulation of its opening theme. Although there would be a few momentary insecurities as the work progressed, the opening of the second movement was beautifully gauged and the dialogue between soloist and orchestra effortlessly sustained throughout. The final Rondo was every bit the romp that it should be

Tchaikovsky's F minor Symphony is one of the first works in which the Russian composer would hurl open the floodgates of emotion, and it provided Zuccarini with the perfect opportunity to lead his players headlong into a glorious fray of sound. With allowances made for some orchestral roughness - brass passages needed a fuller, warmer tone, and there were one or two raw moments in cellos - this was a galvanising experience. The violins almost literally sobbed in the first movement, the woodwind wove wonders in the second, the third offered powerhouse pizzicato and the Finale was a storm-tossed wonder. A concert to remember.