According to Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen, the Ring of Fire refers variously to the volcanic belt surrounding the Pacific; the circle of sunlight around the moon at the height of a solar eclipse; and, most pertinently, “what a woman feels when, as she gives birth, the baby’s head passes through her pelvis.”

So of course Tarkiainen’s The Ring of Fire and Love was going to make for a somewhat volcanic opener to an evening of, well, let’s say Nordic Heavyweights rather than Northern Lights, which also included Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16 and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 in E-flat, Op. 82.

And so it proved to be, with Tarkiainen’s nine-minute orchestral work, which had its first performance in 2021, erecting a spectacular sonic structure that felt at once intensely personal and expansively universal, the warmth and transparency of WASO’s sound matching Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska’s supple, confident shaping of the score.

Alexander Gavrylyuk and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Daniel James Grant

Ukrainian-born Australian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk is renowned for his virtuosity and a highly expressive interpretative style.

Both were very much in evidence in...