Have gone to the 20th anniversary of the Manukau Symphony Orchestra (MSO). We've heard them since they played in the Papatoetoe Town Hall.
They had commissioned a piece of Gareth Farr, interesting, but won't work well via CD/Spotify I'm afraid. Usually a problem with modern music. Next piece was Mozart's Violin Concerto No.3 in G, K.216. I'm not a Mozart fan usually, unless played in period instruments, but Loata Mahe gave a great solo, really individual performance.
The big piece was Mahler. The first Mahler for the orchestra, and a really great performance from Uwe Grodd and the orchestra. Uwe was able to draw the music out of the orchestra, especially the beginning of the first movement was very well done. I liked the third movement, first half of fourth movement also went exceptional. Great night.