Incoming Principal plays a blinder, suggesting Perth may be the place to be in 2014.

Perth Concert Hall, September 7, 2013

Israeli-born Asher Fisch, the incoming Principal Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra announces his first program next week and if tonight’s concert is anything to go by, West Australians will be in for a treat over the next three years.

On the menu were three composers for whom Fisch has a weakness and a reputation: Wagner, Schumann and Brahms. All mainstream Germanic fare, but hearing it played this well reminds you both why this repertoire deserves its place at the musical high table and just how damned difficult it is to get right.

The Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde was the opener and kicked off with some lovely burnished string tone from cellos and violins. Apart from an early (and not repeated) oboe malfunction, this was generally playing of the first order.

Fisch is a deeply organic conductor – one of that rare breed through whom music seems to pour – a conduit for the composer’s thoughts. He’s magnetic on the podium, shapes every phrase to perfection and plays entirely from memory. His technique is clear as a...