“A concert of Orchestral Dances” was only half true. The second half of this Sydney Symphony concert fully lived up to its title, consisting of an orchestral suite from Richard Strauss’s opera Der Rosenkavalier, followed by Ravel’s tone-poem La Valse.

The first half, not predominantly dance-like, showcased the skill of renowned Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger. The concert was conducted by another guest artist, Fabien Gabel (who began his own musical career in Paris as a trumpeter).

The orchestra opened with the Overture to Berlioz’s opera Beatrice and Benedict (1862): a delightful piece, and how gratifying to begin with an overture. Gabel captured the Mendelssohnian lightness, but also brought a ripe, romantic warmth to the music. The back-and-forth scale passages between strings and winds, representing Beatrice and Benedict’s feisty arguments, were done with appropriate gusto. The opera is based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing – OA ought to program it!

Håkan Hardenberger. Portrait supplied

Next, a showpiece concerto for Hardenberger: Arial, composed for him in 1996-99 by the idiosyncratic Viennese composer HK Gruber.

The concerto is in two basic movements. The first employs a floating, luminous orchestral backdrop, coloured by the sound of the vibraphone (played with her usual precision by that terrific percussionist Rebecca Lagos). Harmonically atonal, this accompanies a series of motifs from the soloist.

Hardenberger at times played a soprano trumpet, a cow horn, used a series of mutes or sang deep notes while playing the same pitch. I have to say, after a while it did seem like a shopping list of effects with little musical cohesion.

The second movement moved into dance with a galumphing swing section, followed by a more attractive and sprightly folk-dance influence to close. The notes claim the syncopated section referenced Broadway; if so, it was Broadway as seen from Austria. Hardenberger’s technical prowess was astounding, but I found the piece itself disappointing.

More recent music by Gruber is much more fun and also more tonal, such as his Piano Concerto (2016), and indeed another quirky piece for Hardenberger, Busking (2007). Both have been recorded and are well worth hearing.

An audience member remarked to me that the rest of the concert was an antidote. I would not go that far, but it was undoubtedly a lush indulgence. In both the Strauss and Ravel works, Gabel shaped the waltzes with elastic phrasing, and the musicians were with him as one. He also ensured that the final climaxes out-dazzled earlier big moments, reinforcing the music’s overall impact – especially in Ravel’s La Valse.

The French composer always denied the close of La Valse was about World War One’s destruction of pre-war society, but it certainly sounds that way. In the Rosenkavalier Suite, Gabel coaxed sumptuous beauty from the final trio section. He also revealed inner lines in the texture I had not noticed before, including an extensive part for the first French Horn (played with rich, Straussian tone by Principal David Elton).

Sydney Symphony Orchestra presents Orchestral Dances with Håkan Hardenberger in the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House until 15 August.