Auckland Philharmonia at the Aotea Centre

Interval talk at the Auckland Philharmonia's Thursday night concert seemed to centre around Nicaraguan conductor Giancarlo Guerrero.

More than one audience member was transfixed by the man's platform manner - essentially sedate, but drawing out his players with a finger-only wave one minute, a facial grimace the next and, to top it all, a mesmerising baton tremolo.

Conducting Beethoven's Egmont Overture and Second Symphony without score, the overture was grand and dramatic.

Its heroic opening chords burst on the Aotea stillness and, if the Allegro sometimes seemed underplayed, Guerrero made up for everything in a boisterous coda to end all codas.

The orchestra sounded less comfortable in the Second Symphony. Guerrero did not linger over the opening Adagio molto yet, despite the intriguing dialogue of strings and woodwind, the tempo bordered on the diffuse. The best playing came in a finely sculpted Larghetto; the least happy was in the Scherzo, with its treacherously fragmented textures.

Standing in at short notice for an indisposed Salvatore Accardo, American violinist Mark Kaplan proved a godsend, and a impressive piece of troubleshooting from the orchestra's new manager of artistic planning, Antony Ernst.

The lithe American gave the Beethoven Violin Concerto intellectual rigour without sacrificing its emotional clout.

The few nervous bars faded to insignificance alongside Kaplan's silvery-sweet high register work and dazzling cadenzas.

Although the orchestra seemed to be less than inspired in patches, particularly in the first movement, Guerrero achieved wonders in the Larghetto, weaving his players around the soaring soloist.

The sprightly Kaplan delivered the final Rondo with an infectious joie de vivre, which was echoed by the orchestral musicians.

I was not expecting an encore, but Kaplan returned and asked us whether we wanted Bach or Paganini. The Italian composer received a roar of approval and Paganini's A minor Caprice was dashed off with elan.

Scales zoomed into harmonic heaven and, in a truly diabolic moto perpetuo, the American achieved an alchemy that few manage with these works, turning mere notes into music. A rare treat.