05 Feb 2008
The Australian Chamber Orchestra has taken a back-to-basics approach for its first concert of the year. The key elements are: collaboration with a soloist of international stature, known for possessing an idiosyncratic musical voice and unmistakable stage presence; intense focus on the strings, with crisp articulation and luxurious timbres; and a musically diverse program that gravitates around repertoire from the classical period.
Led by artistic director Richard Tognetti, the ACO began with a clean, understated interpretation of Haydn's infrequently performed Symphony No.47, best known for the third movement's musical palindrome. The strings displayed an outstanding combination of tonal richness and delicate articulation in the sanguine outer movements, particularly violists Christopher Moore and Nicole Divall.
Roger Smalley's Strung Out was a regular concert item in the 1990s and featured prominently on ACO programs in the first few years of Tognetti's tenure. The work has a quirky visual component, with 13 string players spread across the stage in palindromic fashion, playing a rapid musical pass-the-parcel. Its alternately percussive and lyrical minimalism was an opportunity for the ACO strings to display technical dexterity and tight ensemble.
Tognetti shared top billing with regular ACO collaborator Melvyn Tan for a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No.19 (K459). The ever-personable Tan continues to impress for his clarity of touch, intelligent phrasing and sensitive dynamics.
He now brings a more mellow, less flamboyant approach to his playing, a maturity well suited to one of Mozart's later and most refined concertos. A more expansive handling of the second movement would have been welcome, but otherwise this was a superlative performance, musically engaging and technically brilliant.
The concert was brought to a close with another Tognetti standard: an arrangement of a smaller chamber work for string orchestra. Tognetti's interpretation of Schubert's final quartet (No.15) forfeits intimacy in order to extend its expressive elements. The result is magnificently rich string sonorities, melodic intensity, amplified articulation and greatly increased rhythmic drive. Although it sounds more like Brahms, the arrangement makes musical sense and demonstrates beautiful craftsmanship.
Eamonn Kelly, The Australian | 05 Feb 2008