Rarely, a classical music concert transcends its program and instead becomes enveloping: where the individual pieces matter much less than the whole experience.

Such was the case with this extraordinary collaboration between the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Norway’s premiere early music vocal ensemble Trio Mediæval. Pure sound that was breathtaking in its grandeur and in its most delicate sensitivity. An assembly of modern and ancient works that spoke to the human experience of music and its evocation of stark winter landscapes.

Australian Chamber Orchestra: From Winter’s Stillness. Photo © Charlie Kinross

Matching and combining the work of contemporary modernist and ‘polystylistic’ composers with arrangements of songs over a thousand years old was not in the least bit awkward, shocking or grating. Contrasting musical techniques and sound types were shown to compare across centuries and styles (for instance, demonstrating the use of the Dorian scale in both ancient songs and modern jazz).

The opening work, The Plume of Ash/Acceptance was composed and directed by Arve Henriksen as he played the solo trumpet line. Inspired by the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull...