It’s a particular thrill to hear a beloved piece of music played live when you know it so well you can anticipate and revel in every note, melody and solo. And it’s a joy when that piece is played as radiantly as it was when Darwin Symphony Orchestra performed Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade on Saturday night.

The much-loved composition inspired by the tales of the 1001 Nights provided the theme and climax of the DSO’s spectacular opening concert for the year, which also featured two other exciting works: Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 41.

Though unfamiliar to me, Pärt’s six-minute homage to the 20th century British composer cast a mesmerising, almost hypnotic spell.

Three soft, widely spaced chimes of a lone bell, played by Ingrid Purich, open the Cantus. This is followed by the strings, which begin very softly and increase in intensity and volume as they meander through variants of a descending A minor scale, joining together in one big chord at the end. As the scales overlap at different speeds, punctuated by a seemingly random tolling of the bell, a wash of music emerges that conductor Jonathan Tooby likened to an auditory kaleidoscope.