Auckland Philharmonia at the Auckland Town Hall

It was the Auckland Philharmonia's reputation for fostering New Zealand music that made Ross Harris apply for the orchestra's composing residency this year.

Of course, he says in a jocular tone, he wanted "to write for an orchestra which would play my music in front of an audience in a good hall".

But, deeper down, "the Philharmonia's tremendous support of New Zealand music goes a long way back. For composers, it represents a tradition of encouragement."

At 60, Harris is one of our senior composers, with works ranging from the cerebrally challenging to highly approachable pieces like the song-cycle Wild Daisies and the orchestral Music for Jonny.

Tomorrow evening the Auckland Philharmonia premieres Harris' symphony and, although he admits it makes some demands on the audience, "there's also a huge amount of energy and activity in the fast movements".

"I don't think there is too much trouble experiencing the exhilaration of musicians being busy, playing energetically."

Clearly, he wants his music to appeal to listeners on more than one level.

"John Psathas and I heard a Beethoven Rasoumovsky Quartet played at Government House last year," he explains, "and we both said how amazing it was that a general audience could enjoy the jolly tunes, but you could listen more deeply. That's got to be the key to how one works."

Harris' symphony "has a huge tradition attached to it and I've taken it on board. It picks up where certain aspects of Mahler and Shostakovich left off, particularly when it comes to grotesque humour."

With score in hand, I point to Mahlerian trumpet fanfares, and a prowling bass a la Shostakovich. The composer laughs. "The first page has got all the first movement in it; that's the germ from which it all grows."

Harris agrees that colour is important when I mention the effective muted brass writing and a sprightly xylophone entry.

"Contrast is important, too," he adds, switching quickly from one world to another. "Doors open and close but there is always this connecting thread."

He chooses his adjectives carefully when he describes the slow movement as "just a lyrical line against expressive string repetitions".

"After all the hectic activity of the first movement, it is nice to let some space into the music."

As for the final scherzo, it's "a bit of a Pandora's Box and should go like a bat out of hell".

Harris allows for the subtle influence of Shostakovich here, and is happy with the "helter-skelter quality" of this three-minute movement made up of "fragments of tunes, marches, dances and wild things".

And Harris has done more "patching", with Cento, a piece for the AP's 25th anniversary concert in November.

"I was asked to base it on pieces the orchestra has made its own," Harris explains. "So I did the Berio thing with all these excerpts at the original pitch and tempo and not a single note of my own in it.

"Eight minutes of musical quotation, including some Goldenhorse and a combination of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique with the Invercargill March. I have never had so much fun in my life."

Now free of teaching commitments, after 30 years at Victoria University, Harris feels his music has "taken off with a wider field of interest, making me wonder whether university is a bit of a hindrance for a composer."

"But then maybe my attitudes have changed too," he adds on reflection.

*What: Auckland Philharmonia
*Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, tomorrow, 8pm. Composer Ross Harris and conductor Steven Smith will discuss the programme in a free pre-concert talk at 7pm