Instead of Prokofiev's popular Third Piano Concerto, Stier has opted for the less well-known Second. "It still makes formidable demands on the pianist and we could not have had a better man for the job than Alexander Gavrylyuk."
Ukrainian Gavrylyuk, as well as winning a host of international competitions, has recorded the complete cycle of Prokofiev concertos with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Stier hails Ottorino Respighi, whose Fontane di Roma and Feste Romane complete Thursday's concert, as "one of the most important composers of the last century".
He stresses the spectacle of these scores, with 10 percussionists on stage, but it turns out that his fondness for them comes from boyhood memories. "One of my first concert-going memories was when I was 7 or 8 and heard Feste Romana; my father was playing the organ."
On Thursday week, the APO's second appearance of the season finds Stier fulfilling one of his dreams for the orchestra, conducting Scriabin's The Divine Poem which inevitably gives the concert its title, Divine Poetry.
This 1903 work is the ultimate in lushness and opulence, written by a composer who urges his musicians, at various times, to play audaciously, mysteriously and voluptuously.
Sustaining the Russian mood of the March concert is Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia, which has not been played in Auckland for many decades, and Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto.
Stier confesses that he adores this Shostakovich work but cannot resist describing it as grumpy.
He finds it impossible to pick a favourite from his great moments with the APO which include The Sacre Dance Project, the concert version of Strauss' Elektra and his mighty Mahler Ninth. His response is simple: "All I can say is 2012's going to be better."
Performance
What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Thursday at 8pm
