Under the baton of young British conductor Alpesh Chauhan, the MSO presents three works linked by the fact that they were all composed to accompany stage depictions of well-known European fairy tales.

Overall, it is smart programming that produces a particularly entertaining evening of orchestral music making. It was somewhat surprising to find Hamer Hall only around 60 percent full on this occasion, however.

Maybe the marketing tag “An Evening of Fairy Tales” misfired for some potential concert goers who perhaps thought that it meant they were in for lots of light, even insubstantial, musical content. If so, they underestimate the nature of the literary genre – which often dealt with dark themes and had significant psychological depth – as well as the sheer quality of the music it inspired.

Alpesh Chauhan. Photo © Benjamin Ealovega

The program commences with the Prelude to Humperdinck’s ‘Märchenoper’ (fairytale opera) Hansel and Gretel, a work that certainly didn’t underestimate the potential genre. Rather, it famously applied a large amount of Wagnerian style and substance to its setting of the children’s story.

The quartet of horns opening the work (given a mellifluous rendition here by a section on top of its...