Tonight the SSO welcomed back two renowned English musicians, conductor John Wilson and pianist Sir Stephen Hough, both frequent visitors to Australia.

The program commenced with one of the 50 Fanfares commissioned by the orchestra from Australian composers. Many have been excellent, leaving you wanting more of the same voice, and Gordon Hamilton’s piece (a great big blue THING next to a smaller white THING, bathed in sunrays) is no exception. Compared to others I have heard in this series, Hamilton’s work is more reminiscent of a traditional fanfare. His deft use of the brass section, and some excitingly accented sforzandos, neatly served as an entree to similar gestures coming up in Korngold’s Symphony.

Stephan Hough and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Craig Abercrombie

Hough, who has recorded all four Rachmaninov Piano Concertos, was predictably dazzling in No. 1 – although he is not a flamboyant pianist. His strength is his tremendous control. He can turn 180 degrees from barnstorming, double-octaves to the most delicate decorative passages, then phrase a melodic line as sensitively as a lyric soprano. All this is required of the pianist in Rachmaninov’s rewrite of his...