A late change of program meant that instead of the lush romance of Rachmaninov 2, listeners got a scintillating performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s explosive first concerto when Ukrainian-born Australian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk raised the roof of Sydney Town Hall with Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s last concert in the venue before moving back to the newly renovated Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

Alexander Gavrylyuk. Photo © Mike Bovan Holt

No reason was given for the change, but perhaps the switch of Russian composer was a reflection of the 37-year-old virtuoso’s feelings about the current bombardment of his home town, Kharkiv, by Putin’s troops.

Whatever the case, this was a thrilling performance with Benjamin Northey carefully ensuring piano and orchestra were perfectly in sync throughout the helter-skelter, constantly shifting 15 minutes of the single movement student work that Prokofiev dedicated to his teacher in St Petersburg, “the dreaded” Nikolay Tcherepnin.

Gavrylyuk  dispatched the solo cadenza with power and faultless articulation and there was a sense of defiance in the middle section where he played against the ominous beat of the orchestra....