New Zealander Ross Harris (b1945) studied with Douglas Lilburn and taught at the Victoria University in Wellington. Since 2004 he has successfully pursued a freelance career, nurturing a particularly strong alliance with the Auckland Philharmonia, which has given the premieres of all five of his symphonies to date. The Fourth dates from 2011 and is dedicated to the memory of Mahina¯rangi Tocker (1955-2008), the Maori/Jewish composer, poet and songwriter. She and Harris were close friends and each of the symphony’s five movements subtly incorporates one of her songs; sorrowful reminiscence and local colour combine to particularly potent effect in the concluding lament (echoes here of late Mahler and Berg, too). The work as a whole plays for just under half an hour, during the course of which the principal viola is assigned an increasingly important role. Harris evidently possesses a richly stocked imagination and his deeply felt, rewardingly meaty portrait-in-sound is as exuberantly inventive as it is meticulously crafted. It’s a description which also holds true for the Cello Concerto that Harris completed that same year for the Chinese virtuoso Li-Wei Qin. This is a 24-minute, single-movement canvas of no little cumulative power, satisfyingly sinewy logic and immaculately laid out for the medium; indeed, it’s a work that grows in my estimation every time I return to it.

Both performances are admirable. Garry Walker and Brett Dean secure exemplary results from the Auckland orchestra, and Li-Wei Qin lends hugely eloquent advocacy to the concerto. Most truthful sound and useful presentation, too. An enterprising pairing that can be welcomed with open arms.