Wonder Wu Man star of concert

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s Reimagined could well be its most imaginative concert of the season.

Stravinsky’s Pulcinella may be a curiosity for those accustomed to the wild primitivism of his earlier Rite of Spring. Here, it was delivered with the perfect style, grace and humour by young Taiwanese conductor TungChieh Chuang.

A smaller orchestra put the focus on telling solo contributions, particularly from Andrew Beer and Camille Wells, while the tingle and crunch of dashing dissonances left us in no doubt that we were in

1919 not 1719.

The evening ended with a teenage symphonic debut.

Shostakovich’s

First Symphony bristles with the energy of youth, from the strutting marches of its first movement to the sonic thunder of its finale.

Bede Hanley’s passionate oboe solo through a sea of evasive harmonies in its heartrending Lento might have been a chilling portent of strife to come.

Lou Harrison’s 1997 Pipa Concerto introduced the star of the evening, soloist Wu Man, who brought the ultimate authority to a score written expressly for her.

This woman is a peerless virtuoso, transforming her Chinese lute into a balalaika one minute and a mandolin the next, and exploring its percussive potential in an instrument-tapping trio with Ashley Brown’s cello and Gordon Hill’s bass.

This exuberant work made its poignant Threnody to the late Aids activist Richard Holt Locke all the more moving.