New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the Town Hall

By HEATH LEES

Somebody up there had it in for the orchestra this trip. Not only did their piano soloist cancel at five days' notice, but when the manager arrived to announce the replacement, the microphone wouldn't work, so he had to shout it. The air-conditioning puffed loudly, and at the back the TV screen saved electricity by being even dimmer than usual, except when it showed you the pianist.

Mind you, that was worth everything, since the last-minute replacement was Roger Woodward, Australia's frontline concert pianist who has - incredibly - not been invited to play in New Zealand for 20 years, but who forgave us all in an electrifying performance of Prokofiev's third piano concerto.

Dashing through the score from glittering pianissimo to pounding sonority (straight from the shoulder but never harsh), Woodward turned in a performance that was deftly conceived yet so highly charged it threatened to become explosive.

In contrast, Saturday night's concerto fare - Brahms' No.1 in D minor - was slow to engage from the orchestra's side, with poor intonation in the upper winds, untidy horn entries, and a blunt edge to the slicing string chords at the opening. Perhaps they were missing their usual warm-up overture.

Still, there were dazzling bassoon and oboe contributions in the second movement, and conductor Yoel Levi coaxed some magically soft playing from the strings; Woodward himself, perhaps still recovering from the previous night's Prokofiev, didn't get into proper stride until the crisp drive of the finale came around.

Each concert had a symphony in its second half, and Friday's choice was Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, which could have been a huge let-down after the pile-driving Prokofiev.

But there were some good things, at least in outline. Nodding briefly in the direction of authenticity, the orchestra duly reduced its numbers of string players, but focus and nuance remained elusive, while the over-fast tempo of the finale blurred Mozart's contrapuntal wizardry. The earlier Mozart divertimento came off better, with elegance, grace and humour, not to mention a ravishing contribution from the second violins.

Sibelius provided the second item for Saturday's double-headed programme, and his First Symphony had suitably grand moments, though the tutti passages tended to be forced rather than broadly sonorous, and strident trumpets gave an unpleasant edge.

But they did catch and hold all those unique Sibelius sounds - trembling strings, dark woodwind, aspiring melodies and a multilayered rhythmic energy that gives the impression of dancing on a volcano.

Alas, the technology didn't get any better, since the TV screen went blank as soon as the orchestra began to play. Surprising how it enhanced the concentration.