Sebastian Fagerlund’s residency at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam culminated in April with the third part of his orchestral trilogy in which Stonework and Drifts, included here, form the first two. Fagerlund is honing his craft with immense speed and the two works show it. Stonework (2015) is a little more obvious and mechanical in every sense, built on stable instability: pedal points and horizons judder into position in counterpoint, each provoking or determining a shift from the other and charging the orchestral churn taking place in between. But there is a certainty to this tectonic ballet even at its most ominous.

Fast-forward two years to Drift (2017) and strong winds are blowing uncertainty into everything. Those pedal points no longer step up or down; they bend, twist, creak and falter into new positions. We hear something of that horrifying, cold grandeur that characterised Fagerlund’s magnificent opera Autumn Sonata (2016) and the composer’s ability to whip up his layered harmonies to cataclysmic effect. To my ears, he broadens the distinctive orchestral style forged by Magnus Lindberg but, aided by that close harmonic grind, humanises it at the same time.

Lindberg’s influence is obvious and there are many elements of Fagerlund’s music – nature references, dual velocities, pedal points – that are distinctly Finnish. Another is the guitar’s orbiting around a single note at the start of the concerto Transit, a particularly fascinating sound as the instrument tricks the ears into a southern European mindset.

There are moments of similar awesomeness to those found in the two preceding works, notably in the concerto’s third-movement (of six) Espressivo. Against the big orchestra, the guitar is as a small creature fascinated by the wide, bold world in which it finds itself. The second-movement Intenso is more or less a free cadenza laid over static strings; the recurring ritornello of Ritmico an interlocking dialogue between three elements. Both put Fagerlund’s broader processes under a microscope. Ismo Eskelinen’s delicate glissandos are full of sensitivity. The Finnish RSO are just as piquant but sound magnificent when Fagerlund throttles up, as only he can. His is often highly calorific and thrilling music; but the concerto proves that it’s the music itself, not just its sound, that’s worth our attention.