Thirty-one-year-old Finnish conductor Emilia Hoving makes quite an impression in her debut with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 reveals immediately this conductor’s refined feeling for orchestral texture and balance, achieved through a very flexible approach to pulse and use of a wide expressive range.

Hoving’s phrasing of the music is often carefully moulded in a personal way; her control is always strong with the TSO responding attentively and with clear enthusiasm.

Emilia Hoving. Photo courtesy Intermusia

Poulenc’s delightfully sweet, rhythmically and harmonically quirky Concert champêtre receives what is likely its first Australian performance in the adaptation for piano and orchestra.

While one sometimes misses the unique tang and delicacy of the original harpsichord version commissioned and premiered by Wanda Landowska in 1929, Tamara-Anna Cislowska’s revealing and expressive playing makes a good case for this transcription.

The charmingly abrupt tempo and mood changes, along with the score’s Handel and Chopin references, are adroitly handled by both pianist and conductor. Hoving and the orchestra provide superb accompaniment with all sections giving high-quality renditions of Poulenc’s bright and colourful orchestration.

Mendelssohn’s always vibrant Symphony No. 4 in A, Italian is a complete...