Auckland Philharmonia at the Town Hall

By WILLIAM DART

There is an almost unbearable sense of anticipation in the town hall on Thursday night as we look across a stage of empty orchestral chairs at the hundred-plus young choristers in the choir stalls. Conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya enters, to prepare us for the Mahler to come; the choir illustrate various points with full, sonorous voices.

Minutes later, with the orchestra on stage, we are immersed in the full power and glory of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony.

There are gruff outbursts on the lower strings. One by one, Mahler's primal themes pass by; those dotted rhythms propel the music relentlessly onward. Mid-movement, the utter rage of a massive C minor chord almost leaves sonic ripples in its wake. It's clear that Harth-Bedoya has a true Mahlerian's ability to gauge and underline the emotional volatility of this score, my favourite moment being when the strings work through their gemutlich glissandi only to succumb to a stern march.

In the second movement, Harth-Bedoya measures his tempi carefully, noting the composer's admonition, "without haste": the result is an unruffled, warm string tone. In the third, he lingers over the occasional astringency but holds nothing back when the music turns wild. The players' attack here is unflinching, and the Auckland Philharmonia is a well-equipped group of musical warriors.

Helen Medlyn enchants in the fourth movement, floating Mahler's stirring words of simple faith over dark, translucent chorales, allowing herself just one moment of flamboyance when she throws her head back on the final "life".

Then there's more fury with the opening roar of the fifth movement and a moment of eeriness when the side-doors are opened, and the sounds of a spectral band can be heard issuing from the supper room.

Mahler's "last tremulous echo of earthly life" (brilliantly evoked by the orchestra's brass, flutes and percussion) brings back Medlyn, with soprano Deborah Wai Kapohe and the three choirs - the Tower New Zealand Youth Choir, Tower Voices New Zealand and the New Zealand Secondary Schools Choir. While the soprano's initial lines don't take wing quite as effortlessly as they should, Wai Kapohe seems to gain confidence alongside Medlyn in "O Schmerz".

This was an exceptional concert, another triumph for the Auckland Philharmonia ... and there is talk of a CD in the wind ...