Hakola likes sprawling narratives and bucolic humour, with an output ranging from a cartoon opera to an oratorio inspired by the arthouse cinema of Tarkovsky.
This 2001 concerto was a postmodernist grab-bag. Kriikku was a stunningly virtuosic soloist, diverting the audience with some gung-ho dancing and a finger-wagging admonishment to us to be patient while he turned the page during a hellfire cadenza.
The finale, a frenzied klezmer hoedown, almost set the audience alight, but the real substance for me had come in the second movement. Here, "hidden songs", described by Hakola as having been "left to mature in the cellars of the mind", were laid out in tantalisingly unpredictable harmonic settings, justifying the quiet irony of the composer's directive - adagio amoroso.
After interval, conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya had the chance to reveal the focus and precision he brought to the NZSO's 2014 premiere of Golijov's opera Ainadamar.
One could question why Lutoslawski's 1954 Concerto for Orchestra might be considered bold by today's concertgoers.
Nevertheless, Harth-Bedoya and his players dazzled us throughout the score's crisp 29 minutes, from the menace of its opening drums 'n' strings to that final burst of post-Bartokian splendour.
This performance alone is well worth checking out in RNZ Concert's broadcast of the event on Friday, Nov-ember 20, as part of its Sound Lounge.
What: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Friday, November 6
