Auckland Philharmonia at Auckland Town Hall

By WILLIAM DART

The Auckland Philharmonia's composer residency is the most established in the country, a symbol of the importance the orchestra has always placed on New Zealand music and those who write it.

Over the past 14 years the post has attracted names like Ivan Zagni, Eve de Castro-Robinson, Martin Lodge, Gillian Whitehead and John Rimmer. The contemporary classics created have ranged from Zagni's Breath of Hope to Whitehead's Alice.

When the AP play Dylan Lardelli's These dark hands ... tomorrow night it will be the second premiere this year as the residency is at present divided between two younger composers - Wellingtonian Lardelli and Auckland's Anthony Young.

Both came to the post with some profile - Young as a finalist in the recent Douglas Lilburn Prize and Lardelli as winner of last year's Asian Composers' League Prize.

Both young men are eager to single out mentors. Lardelli names Ross Harris, "a living and breathing composer who was making a living from it", and Young cites John Elmsly for his "spirit and attitude towards music in general". Lardelli is first to praise the AP for "the opportunity to be involved with professional performers, something you don't really find in a university".

Young singles out players who encouraged him. "Justine Cormack was always welcoming," he says. "When we were rehearsing my piece, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya was making suggestions, I could see her watching me, thinking: 'That's not really what he wanted'."

Talk to the AP players and you sense how much they treasure their composers. For bass player Daniel Stabler, a composer himself, the residency means "we get exposed to new ideas and new methods of approaching our instruments". Stabler, who emigrated from the United States in 1997, was amazed at the number of visible composers we have compared with his homeland "where there are so few opportunities, with thousands of composers competing for them".

As to whether Young and Lardelli see themselves as competitors, Young admits he has always had a competitive spirit, although there is the worry he could end up writing pieces "so I can prove something over someone else, which might be bad".

Lardelli agrees - it is tough, it seems, being a young composer at Victoria University.

Both pursue music outside the corridors of academia. Young has gravitated to musical theatre and out Howick way he has been musical director for productions that include Jesus Christ Superstar, as well as hoofing it up in the chorus of 42nd Street.

Lardelli plays cello in a band made up of members from the Phoenix Foundation and the Black Seeds, alongside musicians for whom scores are just patterns on paper. "Sometimes you feel that if we could notate what we were doing," Lardelli says, "we'd save all that time and energy spent telling every single person what they are doing."

The conversation branches into rock music, as you might expect from two 25-year-olds. Young expresses a fondness of 80s synth pop and Lardelli chimes in with, "Do you like Kraftwerk?"

This has been Young and Lardelli's orchestral year, getting paid for doing it and knowing there will be an audience of hundreds - thousands if you count Concert FM broadcasts.

Young's The Farewell, launched by the orchestra in June, revealed a composer skilled in writing for a general audience, although he wonders whether his music "might not be challenging at times" and there is always the worry of distancing himself from the audience.

Lardelli, who admits he's a bit of a cerebral chap, does "bear the audience in mind, but it's more important that I write something the performers enjoy" - an enjoyment that should flow from stage to auditorium when the AP reveal the mysteries of Lardelli's score.

Performance

* What: Auckland Philharmonia

* Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, tomorrow 8pm