Australian Chamber Orchestra

Old favourites meet moods of the new with electric results

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Peter McCallum Brett Dean's Electric Preludes for electric violin and string orchestra (an ACO commission receiving its Australian premier on the orchestra's current tour) consists of six fleeting sketch-like movements catching the evanescence, fragility and luminosity of sound in moods ranging from the disturbing to the nightmarish, from the intimate to the cosmic.

Comments

From Russia, visions of its disturbing, tumultuous past

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Peter McCallum The program was called Russian Visions yet exemplified the growing constraint on artistic vision during the Soviet era.

Comments

Choral finale closes Ninth on a shaded high note

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Peter McCallum THE Australian Chamber Orchestra's exploration of Beethoven's symphonies has been a logical and rewarding extension of the chamber orchestra domain: logical because the Viennese classics have always been a core strength, and rewarding because the orchestra play particularly well when the fire is in their belly, and nobody puts it there like Beethoven.

Comments

Dream dashed by clanging cymbals

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Peter McCallum THIS was the latest of Richard Tognetti's offerings sharing his twin passions for music and surfing.

Comments

Urgent, intense and inspirational

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Harriet Cunningham Of the ensemble's two performances it was Messiaen's stark vision that was the most compelling.

Comments

Muted strings make Beethoven's colours glow

Reviewed by Peter McCallum For this light, supple performance led by Richard Tognetti, the Australian Chamber Orchestra (whose permanent members are all strings players) assembled a wonderful group of guest players

Comments

From Vienna with love: musicianship at its finest

Reviewed by Peter McCallum IT WOULD be folly to distil what was ''echt Viennese'' from the music that the Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid introduced as guest ACO leader for this Viennese Serenade concert.

Comments

Stylish accounts of the old and new

VIRTUOSIC Italian and German baroque music, all composed well before Captain Cook set eyes on Terra Australis, framed (and titled) the ACO's latest program, Baroque Virtuosi, though it was recent Australian works that formed the centrepiece of each half.

Dancer explores sound and gesture

Peter McCallum MASKED and moving lithely in soft shoes, Martin Frost danced, mimed, teased and flirted with Anders Hillborg's Clarinet Concert Peacock Tales, with coloured lighting and stylish choreography.

Comments