This concert was nominally the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s opening gala, although I am slightly mystified by their programming. Everything was certainly played well (the brass in particular), but I just can’t work out the thread with these works. If it’s “power and glory”, what’s the hollow, empty, ironic Shostakovich doing there? This also represents the first of the Beethoven 2020 anniversary concerts, so why start with the Triple Concerto, given that it’s usually regarded as not top shelf in the slightest?

QSO Power and GloryAlexander Prior and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Power and Glory. Photo supplied

Let’s look at the highlight – Melbourne-based Australian composer Melody Eötvös’ new work Hidden Wiring was an unusual piece inspired by the hidden wiring which “exists as connections between matter, which function beyond our comprehension”, as Eötvös says. The main bit of wiring here, Eötvös suggests, is the link between the composer’s mind and the final musical result which can be so changeable in between the initial burst of inspiration and its final form. Eötvös’ work was an evocative and thrilling fanfare, a modern burst of electricity that deserves many more performances – the sheer satisfaction of...