NZSO National Youth Orchestra at Auckland Town Hall

They are the cream of our young musicians, meeting once a year, under the wing of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, to savour orchestral life in the professional lane.

The NZSO National Youth Orchestra's Saturday night concert revealed the extraordinary results possible after a week's intensive work with an experienced conductor like Simon Streatfeild.

Beethoven's Egmont Overture was a thrilling experience, dominated by a high-powered string sound. Throughout, one marvelled at the single-mindedness with which the players pursued the trials Beethoven had laid before them.

Claire Cowan's Trains of Thinking was an ambitious, if not totally focused piece. Its minimalist leanings were clear; the orchestra carefully illuminated the pinpoint details of its opening pages and responded with enthusiasm when its resident composer demanded an outburst of Ravelian sumptuousness.

Less satisfactory were mid-work passages where fragmented textures exposed rhythmic predictabilities and the occasional tentative tone from musicians.

However, with the return of the full orchestra, complete with seven percussionists, the horns let rip, strings cascaded around us, and we were transported into the world of Richard Strauss.

Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier Suite was a virtuoso turn but, even at its most lush and all-enveloping, Streatfeild ensured that his young musicians showed a feeling for individual lines and dialogues. Ben Morrison's violin solos were the epitome of Straussian lusciousness.

After interval came Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony, the score in which the composer bared his soul after years of Stalinist oppression.

Once again, Streatfeild's insistence upon standards reaped rewards. Cellos and basses were immaculate in their sombre opening theme, brass suitably trenchant later on.

If the tension sapped slightly here and there in this vast movement, fervour and musicianship did not.

The Allegro was savage enough to warrant a storm warning in advance, while Emma Richards' persuasive horn was just one of the many fine solos to invest the third movement with a special character.

After an edge-of-the-seat Finale, with woodwind at their dashing best, it was time for cheers all round.

Streatfeild justly praised his orchestra as a jewel in our country's cultural crown, and we were treated to a little present, the dazzling Slavic hornpipe of Gliere's Russian Sailors Dance.