In case you hadn’t noticed, Lang Lang is in town. His bravura display of Chopin Scherzi, coupled with an imaginative ramble through Tchaikovsky’s Seasons in recital last Wednesday, showed the Chinese superstar to be a player capable of fusing technical mastery to a barrow load of ideas, and while it didn’t appear to land with some, to my mind at least it proved him to be a clear case of style and substance. His appearance with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra playing one of the repertoire’s definite warhorses was therefore keenly anticipated, and if it didn’t entirely work it was still a fascinating exercise in at least trying something different to liven up a fairly conservative programme.

The fist half comprised Grieg’s first Peer Gynt Suite coupled with Tchaikovsky’s lesser-played Francesca Da Rimini. The former was an ideal opportunity to listen to some perhaps over-familiar fare with fresh ears – for example, if you let the imagination wander the ubiquitous Morning Mood seems to trace a direct line from Beethoven’s Pastoral through to Tchaikovsky and Wagner, while the Death of Åse surely prefigures Sibelius. Played tolerably well (the SSO string sound was glorious and there were several...