With this concert’s three works all having somewhat dark backgrounds, one would think the audience would leave the concert in melancholy. Happily, such was not the case, for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, under its chief conductor and artistic director, Dr Nicholas Milton, gave a brilliant and memorable performance.

Umberto Clerici. Photo © Laura Stanca

As well, there was a new sound from the orchestra. The cellos and second violins swapped places and the six double basses stood sentinel on risers at the rear of the ensemble, behind the woodwinds. These changes gave the orchestra a fuller, richer sound, and the basses, being up the back with large wooden panels behind them acting as an additional soundboard, gave a very solid foundation to the ensemble overall.

Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius, wrote Finlandia in 1899. Finland, then, was in the grip of Russian oppression and perhaps Sibelius was in a mood of rebellion and protest, writing a piece that became something of a de facto national anthem, popular not only in Finland, but also internationally. The Russian authorities banned its performance in Finland for around six years.

Right from the solid, confident opening fanfare from the...