It was fiesta time with Spaniards both on the podium and at the keyboard for an all-Beethoven celebration that was tinged with sadness for Sydney Symphony Orchestra fans.

The concert marked the return of Javier Perianes performing a Beethoven piano concerto, coupled with one of the nine symphonies. Last year, it was the Fourth concerto paired with the Pastoral, this year was the turn for the First concerto (actually the second chronologically) and the mighty Fifth Symphony under the formidable baton of MSO Chief Conductor Jaime Martín.

But first came a long-delayed new work in the SSO’s 50 Fanfares Project, Christopher Sainsbury’s String Talk which had originally been intended for the 2020 season as an insert to be played before the Ode To Joy movement of Beethoven’s Choral Symphony.

That plan came a cropper with the pandemic. Sainsbury, who lives on the Central Coast of NSW and draws on both his Aboriginal and Irish heritage for inspiration, felt that the new pairing with Beethoven’s Fifth would not have been his choice – the Pastoral would have been more suitable.

That said, this was a lovely curtain raiser, serene and tonal with some lovely solo moments for Concertmaster Andrew Haveron and Associate...