Richard Tognetti strikes gold for launch of ACO’s 50th anniversary

The ACO’s golden anniversary season got off to a cracking start with outstanding performances of two great works.

Richard Tognetti and the ACO performing at the launch of their 50th anniversary season in City Recital Hall. Pictures: Charlie Kinross

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The Australian Chamber Orchestra’s golden anniversary season got off to a cracking start with outstanding performances of two of the best loved works in the orchestral canon, Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

For 35 of its 50 years Richard Tognetti has led and guided “the world’s best chamber orchestra” and he took centre stage for the warhorse concerto which opened the tour.

This was beautiful and cohesive playing from the orchestra – swollen by members of its Emerging Artists Program past and present – and Tognetti’s 1741-44 del Gesu violin crackled and fizzed and sang in the massive symphonic opening movement.

The passionate opening gestures were delivered with fire and accuracy, with Tognetti phrasing the lyrical passages with attention to detail and a keen sense of dynamic.

Principal violin Helena Rathbone kept the 45-strong orchestra on a tight rein, conducting with her bow during the solo moments.

Brahms composed the work for his friend Joseph Joachim and allowed him to write his own cadenza for the first movement, and this is the one that is usually played. Tognetti, however, chose a mash-up of three alternatives by Ferruccio Busoni, Hugo Heermann and Leopold Auer which, unusually, featured quiet rolls from timpanist Brian Nixon and accompanying chords from the lower strings before the solo fireworks ran the gamut of the virtuoso’s bag of tricks.

Tatjana Zimre’s oboe was irresistible for the famous solo which stands at the heart of the adagio, the violin wrapping itself around the lovely melody like a vine.

Richard Tognetti gave a thrilling performance of Brahms’ Violin Concerto.

There was plenty of paprika for the Hungarian rhythms of the spicy finale with its acrobatic legato runs and foot-stomping dancy rhythms. You could feel the electricity arcing off the stage with the rapid bowing as the concerto built to its climax.

The energy was also palpable in the second half for Beethoven’s symphony which Wagner described as “the apotheosis of dance”. Tognetti conducted the first movement from memory standing centre stage only playing the occasion phrase but directing his troops with precision and energy. Valveless horns and trumpets led the galloping race.

The opening of the celebrated allegretto showed off the earthy mellowness of the gut strings before the excellent woodwind section joined in. At the end of this eight minutes of magic it was easy to understand why the audience at its premiere demanded Beethoven play it again straight away.

The momentum of the next movement never wavered and the crisp entries and fine ensemble work ensured that this was an edge-of-the-seat reading before the audience was swept away by the flooding vibrancy of the finale.

The standing ovation, yells and whistles from the packed out auditorium set the seal on the season’s spectacular golden opening.

The concert is repeated at the City Recital Hall at 7pm on Wednesday, February 12; Friday, February 14, and Saturday, February 15. And for lovers of the Brahms concerto the great Canadian violinist James Ehnes will be performing it with Sydney Symphony Orchestra next month.

DETAILS

• CONCERT Australian Chamber Orchestra: Brahms & Beethoven

• WHERE City Recital Hall

• WHEN February 11, 2025