The contemporary Australian musical landscape is as diverse as the voices of the composers themselves, ranging from the more challenging works of, say, Liza Lim and Brett Dean through to the immediacy and directness of Elena Kats-Chernin’s and Ross Edwards’ music. Most composers of course – Graeme Koehne, Nigel Westlake, Olivia Davies, Carl Vine and Andrew Ford, to mention but a few – sit somewhere along this spectrum, even on a work-by-work basis.

So too does Australian pianist-composer Mark Isaacs (b. 1958), who for many decades has pursued a singular path across jazz and classical music, distinguished by early prodigious talent and an upbringing immersed in both traditions.

A student of composers such as Peter Sculthorpe and Samuel Adler, Isaacs has composed extensively – three symphonies, concertos, chamber and choral music, film scores, and over 100 through-composed works – while also maintaining an international jazz career, performing with legends including Dave Holland and Roy Haynes.

Isaacs’ Symphony No. 1, premiered by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Benjamin Northey in 2013, marked a major achievement in...