Australian orchestras sometimes fall down when it comes to sharing the interstate love. When did Sir Andrew Davis last conduct outside of Melbourne? Or David Robertson get a gig in Brisbane? Asher Fisch, however, manages to buck the trend, having recently helmed the MSO, and now Sydneysiders have the chance to catch the man who’s credited with the transformation of the West Australia Symphony Orchestra into the finest German Romantic orchestra this side of – well, Germany – in signature works by Brahms and Richard Strauss.

Before opening up his Teutonic trinket chest, Fisch treated his audience to a taste of the new. The Israeli-born, US-domiciled composer Avner Dorman wrote After Brahms originally as a piano piece for Orli Shaham, wife of SSO Chief Conductor David Robertson – a neat connection. She’s recorded it on her brilliantly intriguing Brahms Inspired disc on Canary Classics (CC15) and will play it as part of her Sydney recital this July. The work is inspired by Johannes Brahms’ late piano works, playing around with the rhythmic and harmonic ideas inherent in these profound and much-loved pieces. After Brahms – Three Intermezzi for Orchestra, may be a beefier incarnation but the idea is the same.

The...