It was less than a year ago at QPAC that Sir Simon Rattle conducted the London Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s 7th Symphony in front of an adoring capacity audience and to great acclaim. So it might be tempting to compare the QSO’s offering of the same piece in this concert. That would be unfair to both outfits for a host of reasons.

Conductor, Umberto Clerici, and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra took on the challenge of this epic work and absolutely nailed every second of its 80 minutes.

Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici. Photo supplied

In a composition that is at once “crazy and a big joke” (Umberto’s descriptor), lyrical and romantic, bold and noisy, and even spooky and nightmare-ish, the 100-strong QSO delivered a thrilling reading for a riveted audience that was no smaller than for the LSO a year ago.

The Mahler 7 is a work packed with variety, quick changes in rhythm, tempi and moods and dynamic leaps even Superman would struggle to conquer in a ‘single bound’. But Clerici and his band conquered them all, busily painting every one of Mahler’s images in vibrant colour and...