Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
November 12, 2018

A concert without a linking theme is a rarity nowadays, but that is what we heard tonight, and it was all the more interesting for its elements of contrast and surprise. (The notes by Gordon Kerry attempt to thread the program together through “nationalism”, which would be fine if there was anything remotely Scottish about James MacMillan’s concerto.)

The front of the Concert Hall stage was littered with weird and wonderful percussion instruments, but the opening piece dates from 1884: It is the great pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski’s first orchestral work, the Overture in E Flat: one of the few he wrote with no piano part. While it does have nationalistic melodic qualities, rather like a Polish version of Smetana, it predates the composer’s political career by decades and was not performed in his lifetime. A tuneful work with lovely scoring for the woodwinds, the repetitive overture eventually wears out its welcome. It was, nevertheless, winningly performed and conducted.

James MacMillan’s Percussion Concerto No 2 completed the first half of the concert. (His Percussion Concerto No. 1 is Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, one of his best known works.) The Second Concerto, written for the Scottish...