Sydney’s outstanding Omega Ensemble closed an adventurous season with a program of musical diversity that was equal parts invigorating and uplifting.

The three pieces, which included the world premiere of a work by Australian composer Ella Macens, provided a variety of contrasts – between light and shade, fast and slow, wind and strings – showcasing the talents of seven musicians led by Artistic Director clarinetist David Rowden.

Two of the works provided a showcase for Rowden’s virtuoso skills and the spirit of legendary jazz clarinetist and “King of Swing” bandleader Benny Goodman was very much in evidence throughout the afternoon, which started appropriately with Béla Bartók’s Contrasts.

Omega Ensemble: Rare Sugar. Photo © Georgia Jane Griffiths

This 1938 set of three pieces was written for Goodman and violinist Joseph Szigeti in 1938. It was one of the first pieces Bartók wrote in America. The music includes complex Bulgarian dance rhythms as well as recognising Goodman’s jazz heritage.

There was a playful chemistry between violinist Véronique Serret and Rowden who swapped licks in the Verbunkos Recruiting Dance opening, starting off with a plucked marching rhythm then veering off into wild whirling arpeggios anchored by Vatche Jambazian’s piano before a spectacular brief cadenza for clarinet led into the still nocturnal tension of the Pihenó (Relaxation) section.

Both changed instruments for the last piece, Sebes (Fast Dance), with Serret alternating between standard tuning and a violin tuned to produce diminished fifths on open strings for a “devilish” effect, while Rowden switching from an A to a B flat clarinet.

Omega Ensemble: Rare Sugar. Photo © Georgia Jane Griffiths

After the bright and at times frenetic dissonances of the Bartók came the lush string ensemble tonality of Macens’ work, Through the Mist – commissioned by Omega as part of its Living Music Project. Jambazian’s piano added a sense of overcast and muted spaciousness to the hazy string choir in the first part as they went through a slowly repeated chord progression, using harmonics and occasional slow trills. As the 15 or so minutes progressed one sensed the influence of Macen’s Latvian heritage and its strong choral tradition.

Occasionally a consoling folk tune would peek through the mist, first in the piano and then from Paul Stender’s cello. Just when one thought this was beginning to drag a little, light shone through and violist Neil Thompson hummed a high note, encouraging the audience to join in.

This carried on for a minute or so before the instruments took over for the final radiant finish.

Omega Ensemble: Rare Sugar. Photo © Georgia Jane Griffiths

Goodman’s recordings inspired storied Australian composer Nigel Westlake to take up the clarinet as a child. His work Rare Sugar, which closed the concert, was written in 2007 for the Australia Ensemble to mark the 90th birthday of Stephen Angyal, first professor of organic chemistry at UNSW in Sydney.

The work’s title comes from Angyal’s research into the energy of different molecular shapes in rare sugars. A single movement in three connected movements, the piece is full of playful interplay between clarinet, piano and strings with a middle section that has a distinct Messiaen-like feel – suggestions of Quartet to the End of Time – and which leads straight into a whizzing cadenza full of slurred notes, agile runs and quick-fire tonguing.

The finale bubbles, pops and fizzes like liquid being heated in a retort.

As promised by Omega, it brought the season to a toe-tapping close.

Omega Ensemble performs Rare Sugar at Melbourne Recital Centre, 2 December.