With the exception of the world premiere of a new Australian piece (James Coyle’s The Bright Seraphim), this concert from the enterprising Metropolitan Orchestra of Sydney gave us an interesting and well-balanced Russian programme.

The concert opened with Glinka’s Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla. Under the steadfast hand of The Metropolitan Orchestra’s resident conductor Sarah-Grace Williams, this showpiece zipped along to good effect, although there was some imprecision of ensemble amongst the violins during the fast semiquaver passages. It was nothing damaging, and better that than a sluggish tempo. This is not the piece for caution!

Australian pianist Benjamin Kopp brought poetic sensibility and notable technical fluency to Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2. He and the orchestra were at their best in the slow movement, which was played with sensitivity and restraint. The outer movements had their exciting moments, but were beset by a balance problem: the piano was often drowned out by the orchestra. Could Kopp have provided more sheer weight? Was it due to the swimmy acoustic of the hall? Or is it simply that we are accustomed to hearing an unnatural balance that magnifies the piano in recordings of this concerto? A bit of all three, I suspect....