Australian Haydn Ensemble puts on martial arts display

There was a whiff of gunpowder and the crackle of muskets when the Australian Haydn Ensemble launched their 2020 season at Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Room.

Skye McIntosh led the Australian Haydn Ensemble’s season launch in the Utzon Room.

But before we got to the martial arts of Joseph Haydn’s Military Symphony – pared down to an arrangement for five instruments by the composer’s friend and enterprising concert promoter Johan Peter Salomon – the audience was treated to a bright and tuneful horse ride by Italian cellist composer Luigi Boccherini and one of Papa Haydn’s finest string quartets, the Op 76 No.3. This work is nicknamed the Emperor for its second movement variations on the hymn he composed as Austria’s national anthem – later abandoned and adopted by Germany.

The Las Parejas flute quintet, written when Boccherini was working in Aranjuez for the Infante of Spain, ensured a lively start to the evening. The ensemble – featuring artistic director Skye McIntosh and Matthew Greco on violins, James Eccles on viola, Anton Baba cello and Melissa Farrow on period flute – gave the opening entrada marcia an elegant but jaunty pace before the middle movement, depicting a race of two riders holding hands, lived up to its Spanish designation “galope”.

MATCH

Equally impressive was the performance of the Emperor quartet with tight and attentive ensemble work and a lovely singing tone from McIntosh’s lead fiddle.

A perfect match for the Haydn work was Wolfgang Mozart’s first Prussian quartet K575, which opened the second half.

This was composed with the aim of snaring some commissions from the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II, the pleasure loving nephew of Frederick the Great. He was a keen amateur cellist so Mozart ensured that the instrument played a key role in the work.

Paradoxically Baba had some tuning problems with his cello in the first movement, but this was put right and it was an enjoyable performance, Mozart’s melodies proving irresistible despite any occasional minor lapses.

This proved to be a cracking quintet, capturing most of the tension and excitement of a full pitched battle

The five musicians proved on point for the final work, the chamber version of the Military Symphony. It’s extraordinary how a flute and four string instruments can replace a full orchestra with timpani, brass and woodwinds, but this proved to be a cracking quintet, capturing most of the tension and excitement of a full pitched battle.

Next up is Vivaldi’s Garden featuring French soprano Stephanie Varnerin in a program of works by the great Venetian, as well as Stradelli and Cesarini, at the Cell Block, National Art School, Darlinghurst, on April 21.

DETAILS

● CONCERT Australian Haydn Ensemble: Emperors & Armies

● WHERE Sydney Opera House Utzon Room

● WHEN Tuesday, February 11