Auckland Philharmonia at the Auckland Town Hall

By WILLIAM DART

In his first concert with the Auckland Philharmonia, Michael Christie proved himself a phenomenal asset. The young American conductor came to us with glowing credentials and they were there for all to hear, from the opening bars of Mozart's Thamos in Egypt.

Introducing the work as one he had "found by mistake by hitting the wrong track on his CD player", Christie went through its four movements in some detail and then lovingly realised them in performance.

He drew taut, disciplined playing from the strings, a poignant oboe solo from Martin Lee and, in this second movement, showed an enviable ability to shift the all-important focus imperceptibly back and forth between strings and woodwind.

Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani is a work of charm and sophistication and we were warned by the conductor that it might be a little on the scampish side ("one foot in the church, one foot in the carnival").

A Town Hall organ that is not quite yet in fully restored bloom provided the perfect sonorities and John Wells brought out its most piquant colours with the crispest of articulation.

Vadim Simongauz was resolute on the kettledrums and the strings smoothly ran the gamut from "sweet and intense" (the composer's first, and significant, indication) to their various Allegro scurries.

The revelation of the evening was Saint-Saen's much-maligned Organ Symphony.

Here is a piece that, in the wrong hands, can lurch from the limp and lifeless to crashingly vulgar. There were no such worries with Christie, who created supple, airy textures a real drive in the Allegro moderato, punctuated by some spot-on brass work.

The colours that clustered around the organ when first appeared were crystalline, particularly when wind and brass merged and, by the second movement, Christie was showing us he is not afraid to let his musicians have their input and enjoy what they are playing.

The Bachian spirit was in full and muscular force, the Grand Finale as grand as eardrums could cope with.