This final concert in the TSO’s 6pm Series for 2025 presented a study in the art of orchestration in its subtlest form.

Veteran composer and conductor Richards Mills has enjoyed a long and distinguished association with the TSO, the legacy of which is a fine series of recordings of contemporary Australian music.

Richard Mills conducts the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Photo supplied

Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose (Ma Mère l’Oye) Suite, provided the opportunity for the orchestra to display its refined touch in music that demanded finesse, delicacy and precision.

Ravel’s suite has an innocence and a sense of the wonder of childhood. The conductor’s direction was beautifully sensitive and scaled back initially with carefully judged orchestral balances. Throughout he exercised admirable control of dynamics resulting in expansive louder moments that made their full effect.

TSO Principal Double Bass Stuart Thomson and Richard Mills. Photo supplied

Mills’s Fantastic Bestiary: Concerto for Contrabass and Orchestra was composed for TSO Principal Double Bass Stuart Thomson and received its world premiere. Comprising eight short movements telling stories of mythical creatures in Tasmanian settings, the work was inspired by...