And pianist David Syme – in his second Gershwin performance at the Royal Centre – supplied the native input in an exuberantly flowing account of Rhapsody in Blue.

A well judged performance of The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives and an atmospheric one of Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man had their place but it was the aggressive interpretation of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with David Syme electric at the piano, which stood out.

There was authentic Paul Whiteman sound in a knockout Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, superbly driven on by David Syme, a brilliant pianist despite a strange keyboard technique. With eyes shut, you could believe Gershwin himself was playing, so intrinsically right did the music sound, detached, yet meaningful in true blues-ian style.