This concert provided what might be termed a solid program. Almost 40 minutes of excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet score Romeo and Juliet were followed in the second half by nothing less than the Brahms First Piano Concerto, played by one of the world’s great classical pianists, Sir Stephen Hough.

We began with a short work, LiFT, by the Australian composer, cellist and festival director Iain Grandage. LiFT is one of the SSO’s commissioned fanfares, and arguably closer to the brief than some others because it is scored for symphonic brass alone. A stuttering motif on the trumpets continued throughout, as the sound of deeper instruments emerged and eventually grew into a noble chorale. Texturally, I was reminded of the brass writing in Janáček’s Sinfonietta. It was a suitably ceremonial opening, rising to a bracing final climax.

Elim Chan and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Craig Abercrombie

The rising young conductor Elim Chan followed Grandage’s work with eight substantial excerpts from Prokofiev’s well-loved ballet score, Romeo and Juliet (1938). Despite the built-in excitement of The Death of Tybalt, both Chan’s selection and her inclination leaned towards the many moments of...