Sydney Symphony’s latest concert was a triumph tinged with sadness, for it was to have marked the much-anticipated debut of eminent British conductor Sir Andrew Davis, who died in April.

Young Canadian conductor Nicolas Ellis stepped in to lead a program featuring exciting Japanese virtuoso Nobuyuki Tsujii in a performance of Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. As a moving bonus he added Davis’s orchestral arrangement of JS Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue, BWV582 as a starter.

Davis studied as an organ scholar so he brought a fresh eye to his arrangement of Bach’s keyboard masterpiece, his touch more nuanced and transparent and less romantic than the more familiar orchestration by Ottorino Respighi and Leopold Stokowski. He also chose interesting combinations of instruments – piccolo with xylophone, celesta with harp and oboe – for the intricate fugue section and Ellis, a protégé of Yannick Nézét-Séguin, held it all together with firm control.

It made for a fittingly joyful tribute to the former Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony who will always be fondly remembered for his celebratory handling of the Last Night of the Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall.