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
