F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster, the brilliant violinist Emma McGrath, was not required to perform such a feat for Friday night’s concert of contrasts with West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Nevertheless, she came quite close on the cognitive dissonance scale, delivering a sensitively-drawn rendition of The Lark Ascending just before the interval and an unashamedly extroverted Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso immediately thereafter.

Fabien Gabel. Photo supplied

To pull off Vaughan Williams’ pastoral idyll and Saint-Saëns’ fireworks-laden showcase requires the same exceptional virtuosity and ability not to allow one’s ego to be subsumed by that of either composer. One could say that together both works provide a masterclass in how to deploy a trill to entirely different expressive ends, as well as a romantic sensibility.

McGrath encompassed all this with style, verve, personality and, it has to be noted, impeccable intonation. Her performances brought the house down. Congratulations, too, to the reduced forces of WASO under conductor Fabien Gabel for their elegant...