Auckland Philharmonia at the Auckland Town Hall

By WILLIAM DART

An Antonio Marquez Danzon had just the right degree of hip ambience to open Fiesta Latina, the second instalment of the Auckland Philharmonia's Spring series. The first few pages needed a minimum of direction from maestro Miguel Harth-Bedoya - it was a little like last dance of the night at a chic cantina, with piano and clarinet flirting over plucked cellos. But, when the full orchestra insisted on joining in, Harth-Bedoya was in his element, piling frenzy upon frenzy. And this was but the first of many show-stoppers during the evening.

The conductor obviously enjoys these shortish, percussion-driven pieces and on this occasion there were some good ones. Blas Galindo's Sones de Mariachi brought the street bands of Mexico to the town hall stage, with a nod to American minimalism along the way while Cachita by Rafael Hernandez was an energy blow-out, especially during those moments in which the four percussionists seemed to go toto loco.

And what audience could resist Harth-Bedoya's suggesting that "of course we could play a little more if you really really want it"? A roar to the affirmative was followed by a zingy arrangement of La Cucaracha that would have had cockroaches forming a conga line. Even more of a blitz on the senses was Hernandez' El Cumbanchero, which ran the gamut from Bongo fury to tongue-in-cheek Zarathustra.

Guitarist Jason Vieaux has offered generous encores too; an arrangement of Fernando Bustamante's Misionera that made one marvel so many notes could come from the one instrument, and a samba saunter through Jorge Morel's Danza Brasiliera, in which percussionist Lenny Sakofsky was a stylish accomplice.

Vieaux was first-class. One movement of Ponce's Concierto del sur made me want to hear more of this work, such was the range of sounds he drew from his instrument.

The major offering, Roberto Sierra's Folias, written only last year but fairly conservative in idiom, could not have had a more beguiling soloist. A few passing blurs in a difficult orchestral part were more than compensated for by Vieaux's consummate handling of a virtuoso solo part that had Bach and flamenco sharing the same hacienda.