Sam Weller graduated with a National Masters in Conducting from the Netherlands this year and in 2019 with a Bachelor of Music Performance, specializing in saxophone, from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. With this, his first appearance with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, he put an indelible stamp on his already impressive ‘passport’ of international credentials.

This fine musician conducted a demanding program in superb style, exploring the smallest details of the music and delivering a highly energetic yet nuanced performance to a grateful audience. The orchestra was fully committed to Weller’s precise direction, with seemingly individual attention given to each player.

The result was music that felt entirely new under his wandless, expressive, exuberant and flamboyant hands – well, the whole body in fact.

The Overture Work, Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosis written for 10 violins, five violas and five cellos, and three double basses, is a deeply moving and mournful piece, written in memory of Strauss’s beloved Munich National Theater, which was destroyed in an air raid in October 1943.

Its heartfelt construction is complex and multi-layered, starting very soft and low, slowly increasing in intensity, volume and tempo, then fading at the end, and interspersed with brief solos given to many players over the course of the set.

It might end up a messy conglomeration, but CSO delivered a deeply successful performance that reminded me of a photo mosaic – an intricate portrait that, when the viewer steps back, emerges in extraordinary detail from hundreds of miniature photographs.

Pianist Kristian Chong took the stage with the full string orchestra for a performance of Piano Concerto No. 2 in F sharp minor by Australian composer Malcolm Williamson. He wrote this piece in 1960 (in just eight days!) for a competition sponsored by the University of Western Australia, winning £500 for his effort.

In three movements, the piece has a very jazzy side in the first – even in the manner of Gershwin – frenetic and often syncopated. The second is grave, melodic and mournful – reminiscent of the romantic style of the 19th century. The third is almost Rachmaninoff-esque in some of its sequences, perhaps even influenced by a playful Shostakovich – again jazzy, bright and cheerful, with plenty of humor.

Chong gave an assured and crystal clear performance, his nimble hands dancing lightly and deftly across the entire keyboard. Weller had the orchestra balanced to perfection; he never mastered the piano but provided a solid foundation throughout.

The concert concluded with Symphony No. 3 in E flat, Op. 55 Heroic . Beethoven was going to subtitle the work Bonaparte but scratched it angrily when he learned that Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor of France.

Heroic was a landmark work. It upended the symphonic form and allowed Beethoven to develop his own style, rather than being influenced by Haydn or Mozart. It has been described as “heroic”, and, indeed, it is heroic if only for its length.

The performance of Weller and the CSO personified the heroic form of this work. Weller’s management drew details I’ve never heard of Heroic . His extraordinary control and inclusive style engaged the orchestra in a way that embodied the age-old maxim that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

Who wouldn’t want the second movement, Funeral parade , to be played like this at their funeral? And who wouldn’t want the humor, dance and celebration of the third movement, Scherzo played that way at the wake?

It was a performance to cherish. The orchestra responded brilliantly to Sam Weller and the audience swallowed it.

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra performs War and peace again at Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music on Thursday 15 September at 7.30pm.