Scintillating string playing from the ACO

By David Larkin, 20 May 2015

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Reviewed at City Recital Hall, Sydney on 19 May 2015

Mendelssohn, String Symphony no. 9 in C major "Swiss"

Bottesini, Grand duo for violin, double bass and orchestra

Wolf, Italian Serenade

Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64

Stefan Jackiw, Violin

Satu Vänskä, Violin

Maxime Bibeau, Double Bass

(Re)Creating Schubert’s world: Olli Mustonen with the ACO

Zoltán Szabó, 20th September

The Finnish composer/pianist's refined and idiosyncratic musical style makes for a great collaboration with the ACO solo string players.

*****

Sweet string sounds from the ACO

David Larkin, 13th February

In their Sydney season-opener, the ACO with guest players from ANAM deliver a thoroughly satisfying account of two 19th-century standards and introduce two new works to Australian audiences.

****1

An elevated baroque affair from the ACO

Nicholas Young, 7th December

Richard Tognetti brings Baroque masterworks to Melbourne along with the world premiere of Kats-Chernin's new work for strings, Singing Trees.

****1

Emotions and meditations: Andreas Scholl and the ACO span the centuries in Sydney

David Larkin, 5th October

Pairing music from the 18th and 20th centuries is a common programming strategy, one which can bring out interesting parallels between the musical preoccupations of two very different eras. Some 20th-century composers looked to the more distant past as a way of engaging with traditions before the emotionally coercive 19th century.

****1

Piano trios x 3 from Weilerstein, Jackiw and Barnatan at QEH

Roy Westbrook, 30th November

The classical equivalent to a pop “supergroup” assembles at the Southbank Centre for piano trios by Rachmaninov, Ravel and Beethoven.

****1

Engaging Mozart and satisfying Bruckner from the NSO

Andrew Larkin, 6th December

Poetic and intelligent, violinist Stefan Jackiw shines in Mozart's Fifth Violin Concerto while Hans Graf conducts a mighty Bruckner 7.

****1

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David Larkin

David Larkin is a Senior Lecturer in Musicology at the University of Sydney, where he specialises in nineteenth-century music. Educated at Dublin and Cambridge, he has published on the music of Richard Strauss, Liszt and Wagner. As a reviewer, he has reported from the Bayreuth Festival and reviewed opera and concert performances in four different countries. He gives regular pre-concert talks and educational lectures at venues all around Sydney and enjoys singing with choirs and playing the piano (in private).

Scintillating string playing from the ACO and soloists in Mostly Mendelssohn programme