★★★★½ Brit and Aussie impress, but Robertson’s take on the Finn outflanks them all.

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
October 9, 2105

National identities were very much to the fore as Chief Conductor David Robertson returned to Sydney for his latest series of concerts. Here it was that most Australian of composers, the late Peter Sculthorpe whose Sun Muisc II got things off with rather a lot of bangs, followed by the underplayed master of the British jazz-age, William Walton with his sun-kissed Violin Concerto in a rare opportunity to hear one of the SSO’s two concertmasters as stirring soloist. But it was the Second Symphony of Jean Sibelius, that most quintessential of Northern landscape painters that sent the eager crowd into the night with a touch of spring in their hearts.

Sculthorpe’s Sun Music series from 1968 were originally a Helpmann ballet, which some in the audience might recall seeing and could well be overdue a revival. The second movement was once entitled Energy and with ostinato rhythms pounding out on timpani, bongos and timbales it was easy to see why. Over this battery, the violins screamed long, single high notes, reflective of the torrid Australian sun in all...