The MSO continues its post-tour spring season with a meaty program of German repertoire, led by international conductor and current Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko.

As the MSO’s management continues to deal with the fallout from its response to political commentary by guest performers, it is perhaps worth noting that Petrenko was briefly Principal Conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation, but resigned that position in 2022 shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Petrenko also works regularly in major opera houses such as Glyndebourne, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Zurich Opera House and the Met. It is fitting, then, that his Melbourne program opens with Wagner’s Overture to Der fliegende Holländer. The work’s shimmering opening fifth also pays homage to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, making it a fine curtain-raiser to the second half of the program: Bruckner’s monumental Seventh.

Petrenko guides the orchestra deftly through the overture’s depictions of the ocean’s elemental power, aided in particular by a horn section in top form – auguring well for the rest of the evening. The work’s numerous dynamic contrasts are delivered with clarity and precision,...