Rautavaara's Lintukoto was a great big bear-hug of a welcome for an audience that spilled into the choir stalls at the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Thursday concert.
The Finnish composer's vision of a heavenly haven, the "isle of bliss" of its title, dealt lushness to lose oneself in, and Roy Goodman
coaxed his players to lay out a sonic Shangri-La.
A murmur of sul ponticello dissonance from the strings was easily quelled by phrases that could have slipped out of a Warsaw Concerto, and the APO responded marvellously to Rautavaara's expansive singing lines.
Lara St John seemed at pains to stamp her personality on Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, a work that measures its emotions with an almost classical restraint.
Even discounting smudged notes, the first movement was constantly ruptured by the Canadian violinist's insistence on jolting accents and endless swooping between notes, peaking in the melodramatic build-up to the second subject theme and some guttural outbursts in the cadenza.
The Andante was more restrained and thoughtful, with a suitably subdued heroic strain in its middle section. But an exciting Finale was again undercut by the soloist's over-indulgence with portamento, occasionally reducing semiquaver figuration into a scoop of sound.
St John dashed off the Gigue from Bach's D minor Partita as an encore, its crowd-pleasing rush and bustle almost obliterating the piece's all-important structure.
After interval, Roy Goodman took just 40 minutes for a refreshing visit to the country, courtesy of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.
Happy feelings were certainly awakened with the first movement. This conductor knows how to draw the colours from Beethoven's palette as well as singling out an unexpected line or instrument with conviction.
The brook in the second movement had a real lilt to its ebb and flow, despite a certain edge in the violins.
Cellos sang broadly and confidently, woodwinds provided the most tuneful of chorusing birds.
Goodman always enjoys himself on the podium. He was in particularly jolly form for the third movement when the oboe took off in some off-kilter merriment followed by the full band joining in the dance with a lusty, rustic stomp.
Concert
What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Where: Auckland Town Hall
