Concision

We'd heard our mates, the Australia Haydn Ensemble, play a Beethoven Symphony no.6 at Wesley two years ago.   Last night they returned with another, B7.  Now this is a renowned work (the odd numbered symphonies are, but B6 is OK too) and I was looking forward to the listen, but what really hit me in the end was the effect of this concise version of a well known work.  They played it with one flute, two each of violins and violas, one each of cello and double bass so it had nothing of the huge impact of an orchestra but it had clarity and concision and I heard different things.  Well, maybe I responded to different lines that were more obvious, clear and precise even if less powerful.  Not better or worse but very different and thus informative and expressive.  And quite memorable.  Of course I listened to Jacqueline on bass, and thought of when I played this work and whether my bowing could have been quite so effective (of course not!).  The bass end was all clarity and dynamics, but then this was common throughout the players.  I remember sudden dynamic changes by all that stunned.  Maybe it's easier with fewer players to define those dynamics.  And I felt I understood the structure and changes better; they were more evident.  So this was different and hugely enjoyed.  It left me with a huge smile on my face.  But that was the second half.  The first half was another Beethoven, his Egmont Overture, similarly concise and clear.  The middle work was Boccherini String Quintet Cmin.  It was written for such an ensemble and the music was truly lovely, but nowhere near the complexity and avid life of the Beethoven, so it was lovely and the presentation was not unexpected.  It was what it was and it was lovely just for that.   So, I left with another dose of Beethoven awe and a huge smile.  BTW, they played well, too, and sounded a dream.

Australian Haydn Ensemble performed Boccherini, Beethoven Egmont and Beethoven 7 at Wesley.  AHE were Skye McIntosh and Matthew Greco (violins), Karina Schmitz and James Eccles (violas), Daniel Yeadon (cello), Jacqueline Dossor (double bass), Melissa Farrow (flute).

Discovering Schubert

Despite their reputation, I hadn't warmed to Schubert's songs before but this was different. Australian Haydn Ensemble came to town with guest singer David Greco. The ensemble was restructured at the short notice after a death in the family meant leader and first violinist Skye couldn't make it. Simone moved from second to first violin and Rafael sat in on second. Otherwise the team was James and James and Jacqueline. The program also changed with mostly alternating Schubert songs and miniature string quartets from The Four Seasons by Felicien David. FD was also new to me but generally much more light and joyous than the Schubert. The whole was presented as a single set with no interval and with discussions and translations of Schubert's songs ad backgrounds by David. Delightfully and unexpectedly, the concert went off with no applause until the end. This was a pleasure. I've come to dislike clapping for jazz solos and the response here was blissfully uninterrupted. It may leave the performers a little lost between tunes but it carries the flow of music purposefully. The playing was neat and involved as always. Jacqueline was solidly tested in a later song, the famed Der Erlkonig, but her presence was rich and full throughout. So were the others. I wondered about balance at one time as passages passed between strings, but it's relatively trivial, and the commitment, especially from Simone, was captivating. David's interpretations were stunners, with big, rich voice, clear enunciation (although given that it's German, I didn't catch much anyway) and emotive, even dramatic, presentation. His tonal formation was to die for. My choir does nothing of the sort: I'd love to hear the choirs he's appointed to, given this sample (Westminster Abbey and Sistine Chapel, no less!). It was a short program given the last-minute changes but deeply satisfying so the repertoire change was no disappointment and it taught me the impressiveness of this Schubert song repertoire. So, it went well. Our condolences to Skye.

David Greco (baritone) sang with the Australian Haydn Ensemble at ANU University House. Tonight AHE comprised Simone Slattery and Rafael Font (violins), James Eccles (viola), James Bush (cello) and Jacqueline Dossor (bass).

Hearing the same differently

I was back in Canberra and so was the Australian Haydn Ensemble. This concert also continues their work with Neal Peres Da Costa. Together, they are recording the Beethoven's piano concerti, but in a new way and often with new arrangements. Apparently, Skye and the group were intrigued and enamoured by the arrangements of Cimador. They are obscure (the diminutive entry on Cimador in Wikipedia is just proof) but the arrangements are intriguing, true to period and suit AHE, so, with the help of Australian arranger, Mark Vi Kim Ling, they are performing and recording Beethoven piano concerti in this style. The results are intriguing and attractive. On the night, AHE played Beethoven Concerto no.5 Ebmaj 'Emperor'. I played this with NCO earlier a few months back, so I know it reasonably well. Even with similar orchestration, it's fascinating how a piece changes, how new ideas appears and prominences change. Here it was so much greater, like a new vision of the work. The arrangement has parts taken by different instruments, and apparently this is annotated, so a viola line maybe be identified as from oboe or clarinet or whatever. Cimador's forces were two violins, two violas, cello, bass, flute and keyboard. The cello and bass seemed to just take the known lines, presumably also the two violins for the two violin sections, and, I thought, the piano, but the two violas and flute presumably took on any number of lines from woodwinds or brass or whatever. So it was a fascinatingly different but similar piece. So what else did I note? The whole was sweeter and more open than an orchestra. AHE do great dynamics, but still gut and pianoforte doesn't manage the extremes of modern instruments. The tonal colours of lines changed with the different instruments playing them. The violins and flute were a bit quiet, but maybe that's from where I was sitting. There were also odd tones from odd combinations, eg, flute and cello. These are great musicians and I enjoyed the playing immensely. The bass and cello are a firm and committed block and often prominent - Jacqueline's pizz was particularly effusive - and their application was a pleasure. This group always enjoys itself with smiles all round, but I've noted that before. Some interpretation was unexpected, like the slow take on the early part of the third movement. That surprised me but it was effective. And those lithe runs from the strings and complex plays between hands by the piano. All a huge pleasure and intriguing. Otherwise, they played Mozart Symph no39 Prague and Overture to Magic Flute. More staid than the challenging Beethoven but with their own challenges, not least with some devastating lines. So a great pleasure for my return.

Australian Haydn Ensemble performed Mozart, Mozart and Beethoven at ANU University House. They comprised Skye McIntosh and Matt Greco (violins), James Eccles and Martin Wiggins (violas), Daniel Yeadon (cello), Jacqueline Dossor (bass), Melissa Farrow (flute) and Neal Peres Da Costa (fortepiano). Australian Haydn Ensemble, Skye McIntosh, Matt Greco, James Eccles, Martin Wiggins, Daniel Yeadon, Jacqueline Dossor, Melissa Farrow, Neal Peres Da Costa

Liking it big

This was another stellar outing for the Australian Haydn Ensemble, this time in a bigger format. They are releasing their first album (with ABC records) as I write this. We'd seen that program on tour in preparation for recording back in December or so. I have yet to hear it, but this was similarly generous in performers and a lovely, early classical style. As they play. Skye led the first violins; Eric Helyard directed and featured on a period fortepiano for a Mozart concerto; Daniel Yeadon performed a Haydn cello concerto. I remain in awe of Jacqueline's bass playing, so fast and neat and crisp, but I can also enjoy others, and I particularly enjoyed watching a few violins in easy visual access (the sound in the Great Hall at ANU University House is satisfying, but the stage is low and the seats are many, so sight lines are not good), Simone and Anna, both regulars and at least Anna is a local product. I was enamoured by the large ensemble from the very start, their accurate intonations and firm statements and period tones but especially the superbly interactive phrasing. Getting the notes is one thing, but getting the internal movements, the flows and peaks and stops and pauses, all together and believable, takes skills at this level, and it was lovely to hear. The music was Michael Haydn Symphony no.25 Gmajor (with an intro by Mozart and sometimes allotted to him), Mozart Keyboard concerto no.14 Ebmajor, and two from Joseph Haydn, Cello concerto Cmajor and Symphony no.83 "La Poule" (the chook). All delightful in the neat and ordered classical way with some devilish lines occasionally appearing. They pulled it all off with aplomb. My modern ear, trained with Steinways and modern orchestral strings, found the solo instruments a bit overwhelmed by the orchestra at times, but I guess that's part of the experience of music of this time. Their instruments were like this. But what a great pleasure and even a triumph.

Australian Haydn Ensemble played a program of Michael and Joseph Haydn and Mozart on period instruments at the Great Hall at ANU University House. Soloists were Erin Helyard (guest director, fortepiano), Daniel Yeadon (solo cello), Skye McIntosh (artistic director and leader) with Skye McIntosh, Matthew Greco, Stephen Freeman, Anna McMichael, Simone Slattery, Cath Shugg and Rafael Font (violins), Gabrielle Kancachian, James Eccles and Marianne Yeomans (violas), Daniel Yeadon, Anthea Cottee and Anthony Albrecht (cellos), Melissa Farrow (flute), Jacqueline Dossor (bass), Emma Black and Ingo Muller (oboes), Simon Rickard and Jackie Newcomb (bassoons), Darryl Poulsen and Doree Dixon (horns).

Both sorrow and joy

It's coming on Easter (another nebulous reference to Joni Mitchell) so it's time for the dolorous strains of the Stabat Mater. Not something to josh about. Stabat Mater dolorosa is a theme that's widely composed (600 versions is mentioned in the program): intimate and profound, a recounting of mother Mary below the cross of Christ. With any mother it would be a painful image. We heard Boccherini's 1781 version to text attributed to Jocopone da Todi for the 13th century. Sara Macliver sang with accompaniment from the Australian Haydn Ensemble. A work of ~45 minutes of both sorrow and redemptive joy. I found it surprisingly uncomplicated musically, or at least technically, and maybe that's apt for real passion. The rest of the program was Mozart and Boccherini. B's Flute quintet in G minor, then a string of arias and the Divertimento from strings in Bb from Mozart. One aria, Laetari iocari from Apollo and Hyacinth, was written by Mozart at age 11 (!) and was a bravura demonstration of quick, neat and accurate voice production, fast arpeggios and terrific control. It was fun to hear the ex-chorists in the break lauding Sara's control. The AHE is always a huge pleasure, bringing together informed programming and wonderfully capable playing of the baroque and early classical repertoire that it explores. I particularly follow Jacqueline on bass for her delicate phrasing and some awesomely rapid lines when called for. Also close to the bass end is Anthony on cello, playing with careful distinction. I loved one line well into the thumb position that he played unison with first violin and musical director, Skye. It was intriguing to notice how he prepared for a line, quietly plucking a string in the background to ensure a prominent entry pitch was right. The two violins, Skye and Simone worked neatly together. I find it intriguing to compare tones of violin pairs in small ensembles like this and I've noticed the differences before. In this case, Skye's tone appeared more mellow than Simone's. James rounded out the strings on his new viola. Lovely to hear the embellishments of harmonies from this internally placed instrument. Melissa played her period flute on several works, not least the flute concerto, of course, but not for the whole program. I immensely enjoy this tone that works well with gut to place the sound of the ensemble. AHE is drawn from all ends of the world: based in Sydney; Sara was invited from Perth; Jacqueline and Anthony are now resident in London but relatively frequent returnees. Another wonderful concert from these mates. The next Stabat Mater for me is jsut a few weeks off: Pergolesi's with a few excerpts from Vivaldi's by Adhoc Baroque on 22 March.

Sara Macliver (soprano) sang with the Australian Haydn Ensemble at University House at ANU. AHE were Skye McIntosh (violin, musical director), Simone Slattery (violin), James Eccles (viola), Anthony Albrecht (cello), Jacqueline Dossor (bass) and Melissa Farrow (flute).

Esterhazy at Albert

It was the dynamics that most impressed me about Australian Haydn Ensemble this time. I've seen them as a smaller group, perhaps 6 players, and once or twice in a larger format. This was probably the largest I've seen: 22 players. But I know how difficult it is to concentrate on dynamics when you are struggling to catch the notes but it's essential and it worked gloriously here. Detailed, gentility, gentleness, the quietest of passages, the frequent glances that make all this happen. I could see this, up close. There's no conductor, of course, so those glances go to the concertmaster, in this case Canadian Marc Destrubé, or to the co-director, Eric Helyard on harpsichord for the night. The other thing I melted over was Jacqueline's bass lines, rapid and clear as they were demanded, disturbingly easily played. But I'll give you that that's a concern of a fellow bassist. Perhaps not just me. Bass is a strangely popular instrument and I noticed several people eyeing off Jacqueline's aged bass in the breaks. But the fast lines in the final presto movement of Haydn's Le soir, Symphony no.9, were stunners and she played them out with aplomb. It wasn't just bass, of course. Bassoon was wonderfully expressive at times, even once in a duo with bass; the baroque horns were mightily satisfying, so much more than modern brass, if only for this outing. Marc Destrubé's subtle and delicate phrasing was a telling lead. And the flute of Melissa Farrow for her parts. All delicate, detailed, precise, understanding, dynamic. I loved this concert: one of the best of the AHE. The period tones right for this music; the place right, being Albert Hall, our oddly monarchical place that hosts carpet sales and mineral displays and any fine music that warms to the rich reverb. So, what did they play? A string of pieces from the orchestra of the Esterhazy Palace. I'm told they were originally played with a smaller ensemble but expanded here. All Haydn: Symphonies 6,7,8 (Le Matin, Le Midi, Le Soir) and the Harpsichord concerto in D major featuring Erin Helyard. The harpsichord was a somewhat lost in this space, despite Erin's always vibrant and immediate performance (at least from where I was sitting, although not in the recording I made form a more central location). All on period instruments, of course: gut and valve-free horns and different bows, all soft and tender in tone. This outfit will be recording soon, I think for ABC. Expect a well developed and nicely understood performance. These are mates of mine but also greatly admired.

Australian Haydn Ensemble performed Haydn at the Albert Hall. Performers were Erin Helyard (harpsichord, co-director), Marc Destrubé (violin, co-director), Skye Mcintosh (artistic director, violin), Matthew Greco, Simone Slattery, Anne McMichael, Catherine Shugg, Raphael Font (violins), Shelley Sorenson, John Ma, James Eccles (violas), Daniel Yeadon, Anton Baba, Anthony Albrecht (cellos), Jacqueline Dossor (bass), Melissa Farrow, Mikaela Oberg (flutes), Amy Power, Julia Bauer (oboes), Simon Rickard (bassoon), Darryl Poulson, Doree Dixon (horns).

Opera meets gut

It's always such a joy to catch Australian Haydn Ensemble. Admittedly they are friends and almost like family, but also because their music is intimate and dignified, light and joyous, and played with great ease and refinement. I follow Jacqueline, of course, bassist, quick and bouncy when required (which is often enough with music of this era) or easy and rich. She was paired this day with cellist Anton and the pairing worked a treat. Then our local import, Erin, conducting from the harpsichord chair, and leader Skye and second violin Matthew and viola James. And that period flute tone from Melissa. The whole works as a lovely team but the programs are also something to note. Each performance has a theme, often featuring obscure names, other times inviting guests. This time it was a fully Haydn program, with a Michael Haydn string quartet to start, then a symphony and two arias from Joseph.. Visiting soprano Celeste Lazarenko sat in for the arias and a surprise Mozart song as encore. Celeste replaced Taryn Fiebig and the Haydn/Hasse program at the last minute when Taryn came down sick. Some practices - and presumably some trepidation - later, and the performance was sweet and neat. Celeste's soprano is firm and strong (she's a principal of Opera Australia so sings in big company) and a challenge for the sweet period tones of gut, but it worked a treat. I loved her voice, loved the carefully responding musicians, Erin's casual guidance, the bouncing bows and the just-present plucks of harpsichord and diverse tones of melody from violin and flute. AHE are always a great pleasure and this was there with the best.

Australian Haydn Ensemble played at Wesley Church. AHE comprised Erin Helyard (guest director, harpsichord), Celeste Lazarenko (guest soprano), Skye McIntosh (artistic director, violin), Melissa Farrow (flute), Matthew Greco (violin), James Eccles (viola), Anton Baba (cello), Jacqueline Dossor (bass) Australian Haydn Ens, Erin Helyard, Celeste Lazarenko, Skye McIntosh, Melissa Farrow, Matthew Greco, James Eccles, Anton Baba, Jacqueline Dossor

Joy in abstraction

Australian Haydn Ensemble were in town again. They are friends of mine and the music is intimate and personal. The first work was Haydn ... Michael Haydn. They are like this. They search the repertoire, develop themes and explore them, expose unusual combinations and relationships. All done on period instruments, so the sound is tender, dignified, often light, perhaps distant from our do-it-quick practicality, perhaps sombre and decorous. Very pretty. Michael H was a dream. The first movement, courtly; the second movement, with viola and violin conversing against sparse cello and pizzicato viola and another violin; then a minuet with passing melodies and rapid violins and viola for the final, fourth movement. Then another Beethoven concerto, this one no.3 in C minor, in a series with Neal Peres da Costa. Neal played a copy of an 1819/30 Conrad Graff woodframe piano. This is the style of keyboard that Beethoven would have heard and written for: tiny hammers, leather covered; straight strings, not crossed; lightly toned; flute-like top end, orchestral mid and brassy bass; 5 pedals. So said Neil. The tone was drastically different, of course, as are all these instruments. I heard the keyboard as relatively muffled and softly woody. So this was very different from a modern orchestral setting: just a small chamber orchestra and this light keyboard. Delightful. Then Mozart that everyone knows: Symphony no.40 in C minor, K.550. How lovely to feel the immediate affinity to a piece that's known. All this in an intimate setting with the familiar tones of a period chamber orchestra. Of course, I followed my mates, especially Jacqueline on her vibrant and wonderfully fluent bass, but then I'm a fan of her bass. So delightful, light but also true. This was another delicious and hugely enjoyed concert. Intimacy is something worth the world in my music. To know the people, to feel the closeness and engage in the chatter afterwards gives purpose and connection and that's such a matter in art, especially in an art as abstract as music. What pleasure to spend another night with AHE. A great joy in my calendar.

The Australian Haydn Ensemble comprised Skye McIntosh (violin, artistic director), Neal Peres da Costa (guiest fortepiano), Melissa Farrow (flute), Matthew Greco (violin), James Eccles (viola), Health Lloyd (viola), Anton Baba (cello) and Jacqueline Dossor (bass). AHE played Michael Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart at the ANU Larry Sitsky Room.

Genius humour

The first work played by the Australian Haydn Ensemble in the Drill Hall Gallery was Boccherini and I was thinking this was delightful music, with lively first and racing 4/4 third movement sandwiching a lyrical pastorale. The double bass is odd with a string quartet, but apparently there were some excellent bassists in the local courts when he was writing this work. Then a Hadyn divertimento amplified by Wranitzky. Amplification and reduction was a technique of editing existing chamber works for different collections of voices. Here, Wranitzky has amplified Haydn's string quartet for a nonet and changed the colour by adding wind instruments: flute, oboe and horns. It's a civilised work giving much pleasure, as a divertimento should be. Quite lovely, and much richer for the wider instrumental colour. The third work was Haydn again, this time a concerto for two lira organizzatas (lire organizzati?). The lira organizzata is related to the hurdy-gurdy and listed in French-language Wikipedia under Vielle organisé. Apparently, the remaining instruments are unplayable and in museums. Music for the lira organizzata is usually performed on a pairing of oboe and flute, as this was. They would sometimes converse, and sometimes speak in unison. Again, a courtly work, lively and warm. But then the theme of the evening: Mozart's musical joke. It's Mozart, so obviously brilliant, but also it's odd and misbehaving and blatantly unconventional. It's replete with musical humour. The program lists some: "wrong notes, irregular phrase lengths, faulty harmonic progressions, clumsy ornaments, difficult and unidiomatic instrumental writing, poorly matched melodic ideas, the ever-scorned consecutive fifths and octaves between voices, shockingly subtle (and not-so-subtle) dissonances as well as pure, unbridled polytonality". Many of these are conventions rather than errors, and acceptable to our ears after the 20th century, but some were unmissable and belly-laughable. It's work of the genius and slightly noisome character of Mozart mythology, but what a clever invention and truly worthy of a few laughs. As for the performers, they were great. I loved the slinky performance of Paul with his high notes and dismissive slurs in several pieces. Jacqueline's bass was immensely capable: I am a fan. I enjoyed the occasional smiles of joy and communication from Sky and others. The horns were visitors and rang with resplendent baroque beauty. Listening back to a recording, I'm immensely pleased and even surprised by how well they played. The space could be muddy, but they did these works proud. Lovely, stately music, even despite Mozart's genius humour. AHE return for two more concerts this year as ensemble in residence at the ANU School of Music and they are recommended but perhaps already sold out.

The Australian Haydn Ensemble played at the Drill Hall Gallery. Performers were: Melissa Farrow (flute), Amy Power (oboe), Paul Wright and Skye McIntosh (violins), Heather Lloyd and James Eccles (violas), Noeleen Wright (cello), Jacqueline Dossor (double bass), Darryl Poulsen and Carla Blackwood (natural horns). AHE performed Boccherini String quintet Op.39 no.3 with double bass, Haydn-Wranitzky Divertimento no.2 from String Quartet Op.71 no.2, Haydn Concerto op.1 for 2 lira organizzata C major and Mozart The musical joke K.522.

Anything but heartless

The Australian Haydn Ensemble feels like living music, not electronic digital-perfect but with body and life. I imagine this is what music was like in the past. Instruments and education were not the production of machines and computer accuracy. Each gut string a product of another body. It's a revealing musical experience. Intimate and human. Women in lacey black and harpsichord with country idyl scenes. I hear elemental sounds. Waves of notes, rising and falling and wind and weather and country in the music. This is countryside and nature that none of us, probably not even our rural cousins, would experience now, in our age of vehicles and machines and communications and power in a switch rather than in the legs of a horse of the smouldering of a lump of timber. The period instruments help in this, notably the recorder-like tone of a wooden flute. Perhaps the room influences it, too; the Larry Sitsky room would have been big for musicians of this period. The music itself is located somewhere between baroque and classical. The is Abel and JC Bach and Haydn and Stanley. Some of it feels like popular music. Some of it feels pretty straightforward. Politics and society are always complex, but this music sounds young, of the early days of Western musical history. Lots of unisons, easy rhythms and simple times and attractive melodies, syncopations that are just dotted notes and consonant harmonies in major keys with scalar runs and third intervals. But it's quite beautiful with its mix of tones, the flute in parallel with the violins and the harpsichord plucking in accompaniment and the bass and cello working away below. For a few songs, also a male baritone singing of nymphs and shepherds and the like and the sounds of country and nature. The Australian Haydn Ensemble are artists in residence this year at the ANU School of Music and this was a lovely introduction to their music. Loved it.

The Australian Haydn Ensemble performed in the Larry Sitsky Room. They comprised Skye McIntosh (violin), Alice Evans (violin), Heather Lloyd (viola), Noeleen Wright (cello), Stewart Smith (harpsichord) and Jacqueline Dossor (bass). David Greco (baritone) joined them for several songs.

Seduction at court

Garth Mansfield, the Director at Wesley Music Centre, thanked the Australian Haydn Ensemble at the end observing that they had staged 1,100 concerts over 12 years (something like that) and this was one of the best. I certainly agreed it was something special. Partly because we had involvement through billeting; partly because of the performance. This was early classical music, played with period instruments, all gut and transitional bows and fortepiano. The Wesley is great space for this music. It’s not a particularly pretty but it’s nicely timber-reverberent, of longish shape and relaxed and intimate.

The music was Haydn Clock symphony no.43, Beethoven piano concerto no.1, Salomon Romance in D and Mozart Jupiter Symphony no.41. The ensemble is not large, numbering 8 for the Mozart, so we could follow individual lines, feel the flow of melody and passing phrases, watch it in the musician’s own movements and follow their eyes as they watch for prompts. There’s no conductor, of course, so there were lots of glances. Chatting after, cellist Tony commented favourably about how frequent these glances were. Part of all this is the informality that this music seems to exude. I observed Neal Peres da Costa on fortepiano as he was watching and waiting to come in for a passage in the Beethoven, rocking on his stool with the beat. This is intimate music, and the informality of performance drips from it. It seems so unlike a conductor-led massed orchestra. There’s movement there, too, but I guess it’s lost amongst massed musicians and sections that are biding time and counting. I didn’t hear gut in Handel’s Theodora the other day in the large space of the Playhouse, but we heard gut here and felt the bouncier effect of the bows of this era (they are differently balanced and have the hand some way up the shaft). I also chatted with bassist Jacqueline Dossor and was surprised by her tiny bass (unknown Bolognese luthier c.1750) with a shape harking back to its viol forebears. It was probably built for 3 strings tuned in a triad. Things were different then. The fortepiano was even more obviously different with its soft but tubby, plucky tone. The instruments are otherworldly but so is the music. I speak of this music as dignified and courtly but to see it in this original form makes me think seductive intimacy rather than intellectual respectability. Not that there’s not classical order here, but there’s also playfulness in musical structure and in performance.

I haven’t spoken of performances here but there were seriously impressive individual presences here. I particularly noticed Melissa Farrow’s woody flute and Alice Evan’s fine violin tone and Neal Peres da Costa’s very easy-going fortepiano, but this is as much a function of their forward roles. When I concentrated on any player here, I was satisfied and involved. I loved some unison rapid lines on bass and cello, and Anthony Albrecht’s energetic responses to the music, but they were all involved and mobile. Both ensemble and audience were delighted after the performance. Joyful and informed and somewhat seductive. The Australian Haydn Ensemble returns to Wesley on 19 August for a program of the nascent classicism of CPE Bach. Sadly I can’t make it. Book early: after this gig, expect a sellout.

The Australian Haydn Ensemble performed Haydn’s Clock Symphony, arr. Salomon, Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, chamber arr. Cimador, Salomon’s Romance in D, flute solo, and Beethoven’s Piano concerto no.1, arr. Lachner. The performers were Alice Evans and Skye McIntosh (violins), Heather Lloyd and James Eccles (violas), Anthony Albrecht (cello), Melissa Farrow (flute), Jacqueline Dossor (double bass) and Neal Peres da Costa (fortepiano).