Donald Runnicles and Frank Peter Zimmermann offer a touch of class in Sibelius and Elgar.

The Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles was in town recently for a couple of concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Smart programming. Runnicles is undoubtedly one of the most admired and sought after maestros of his generation, so an opportunity to hear him in a trifecta of ‘big works’ (his fach, so to speak) was something of a must. On the bill were two Brits and a Finn, plus a German soloist, Frank Peter Zimmermann – a violinist with an enviable reputation to match Runnicles himself.

Rejected by the commissioning Japanese for being too ‘Christian’, the first item on the agenda is still a relative rarity in the concert hall. Benjamin Britten really knew how to grab the attention with the opening of his Sinfonia da Requiem – massive timpani and bass drum strokes and fortissimo plucked bases lead into a sombre, lamenting movement replete with doleful sax and soughing strings. It’s bleak, but catches and holds an audience as it plods towards its inexorable climax.

Runnicles, looking like a cross between an Old Testament prophet, Billy Connolly and Col. Saunders, controlled it all expertly, the...