First a Singapore island, then Mahler from morning mist to triumph.

When the first section ends, the orchestra does not stop: a single bassoon holds one low note that carries the music straight into the slow middle song. There Chloe Chua draws the melody out like singing; the last section turns light and lively, almost dancing.

The third section slows the nursery tune Frère Jacques into a gloomy funeral march, then suddenly breaks into something like a street band, strange and playful at once. The last section storms in and builds to a triumphant close, where Mahler’s score has the whole horn section stand up to play so the horns ring out over the orchestra. Live, you see it as well as hear it, with the full orchestra filling the hall.

In the legend, two sisters are lost at sea and become two islands side by side. The orchestra paints the waves and the moment the sisters are parted, and that picture stays with you through the two European works that follow.