Monday, June 17, 2013

RICHARD TOGNETTI PRESENTS AcO2



Richard Tognetti, Director and Violin
Daniel Mueller-Schott, Cello
Timo-Veikko Valve, Cello

Presented by the Australian Chamber Orchestra
Richard Tognetti, Artistic Director
Llewellyn Hall, Saturday 15 June 2013
 
Review by Len Power

Sounding like a chemical formula, AcO2 is part of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s Emerging Artists Program.  It aims to embolden and empower promising young artists to bridge the gap between student and professional life through individual lessons and performing with Australian Chamber Orchestra members.

At Saturday night’s concert in the Llewellyn Hall, Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra presented ten members of this program led by Richard Tognetti himself and cellists, Daniel Mueller-Schott and Timo-Veikko Valve, in an evening of fine music.

Finnish composer, Einojuhani Rautavaara’s 1952 composition, ‘The Fiddlers’, was an atmospheric and haunting start to the program.   The first highlight of the evening was the opportunity to hear two Vivaldi concertos for cello.  First, Daniel Mueller-Schott and Timo-Veikko Valve were the soloists for the Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor.  The positive electricity between these two players was palpable in this excellent performance.  After a light and melodic Stravinsky Concerto in D major, Daniel Mueller-Schott gave an emotional but beautifully controlled performance of Vivaldi’s Cello Concerto in G major with the orchestra.

Handel’s Concerto Grosso in A major, No. 11 was a rousing and well-played start to the second half of the program.  This was followed by Ernest Bloch’s, ‘From Jewish Life’, a highly emotional piece played to perfection by Daniel Mueller-Schott and the orchestra.  This was the unexpected highlight of the whole evening and the strong reaction of the audience and orchestra members to Daniel Mueller-Schott’s masterly performance was richly deserved.  Bartok’s Divertimento was the final item listed on the program and was well played.  For an encore we were given Daniel Mueller-Schott and the orchestra playing the final movement of Hayden’s C major Cello Concerto which deservedly won a huge round of applause from the audience.

As well as being an excellent concert with well-chosen music, it was impressive to see these emerging artists performing with such ability and assurance.  A nice touch at the start of the evening had Richard Tognetti introducing each individual to the audience and encouraging them to talk about themselves.  They sounded so normal and looked so young, I couldn’t help wondering what I had achieved by the time I had reached their age.  I chose not to answer my question….

AcO2 is an excellent initiative for emerging performers.  We’ll be seeing more of them in the future, I’m sure.

Originally broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 ‘Dress Circle’ program on Sunday 16 June 2013