Australian Voices give orchestra a piece of their mind in an unusual concert.

This was one of the most unusual concerts of the year.

Starting with Sibelius’ epic En Saga, ending in the fever dreams of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, and with the premiere of a quirky choral work by Gordon Hamilton in the middle, it truly was an oddball concert. That’s exactly what I like to see. It was brilliant programming and as far as I’m concerned the Queensland Symphony Orchestra has not played as effective a program all year.

It was trio of early works. Sibelius’ Opus 9 (the captivatingly vague, ambiguous En Saga) is the tone poem that made his name as a serious composer and Finnish national hero. To me it is a dark piece, evoking the fearful loneliness of a long Scandinavian night, though at times it is also gorgeous and romantic. Sibelius is one of the most under-rated composers. It’s a very enigmatic work, open to multiple interpretations, with no program. The low QSO strings, particularly prominent in En Saga, really shone throughout these three works.

Following Sibelius, we moved from romantic tragedy to hyper-modern comedy. The premiere of Ghosts in the Orchestra, commissioned for The...