Before the Sydney Opera House opened in 1973, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra gave concerts in the Sydney Town Hall. They have returned occasionally since then, and are resident this year while the Opera House Concert Hall is being refurbished. The Town Hall auditorium is spacious, crowned visually by the world famous organ, with a high ceiling. As a result, the acoustic is ‘wet’ and detail can get lost in the resonance. (Sound in there is a nightmare when microphones are involved.) On the plus side, and it is a major plus, at last we can clearly hear the bass end of the spectrum. In the Concert Hall, the bass never cut through enough to anchor harmonies (a problem that is even worse in the Joan Sutherland Opera Theatre). Both the advantages and, to a lesser extent, disadvantages of the Town Hall acoustic were noticeable at this concert.

Alexandra Dariescu. Photo © Marco Borggreve

Maurice Ravel’s G Major Piano Concerto (the one for two hands) opened the program, featuring the Romanian-born British pianist Alexandra Dariescu. With her formidable technique, expressive approach and delightful stage presence, Dariescu wowed the audience. (Her two encores, including...