Music review: Beethoven & Mozart V, Australian Chamber Orchestra show talents

Beethoven & Mozart V. Australian Chamber Orchestra. Llewellyn Hall, 8pm, Saturday, May 7, 2016, 8pm.

No matter how many ACO concerts I attend, it is always a thrill to see the orchestra walk onstage at the beginning of the evening. I am also enjoying the generous, conversational essays with lavish illustrations in the free programs accompanying each concert. Artistic director Richard Tognetti is certainly doing his utmost to ensure that his patrons are introduced to the evening's music and given every possible incentive to better understand the repertoire and enjoy the evening's musical offerings.

Tognetti is keen to reimagine scores that have been written for smaller ensembles or, in the case of Bach's The Art of the Fugue, written for an unknown purpose. His reverent and witty setting of this work was beautifully executed by the ensemble, apart from some occasional uneasiness caused by tensions in maintaining the tempo between sections. The pizzicato treatment of Contrapunctus IV and the gentle entry of voices from each instrumentalist was a masterful idea and the final chord so sweet.

Audience members would have been excited to note that in this performance of Mozart's Violin Concerto No.5 in A major – the "Turkish" – the cadenzas were written by Tognetti. It is a significant and impressive step for a soloist to undertake the necessary research into a composer's style, absorb the findings, draw a deep breath and then commit to paper a new set of virtuosic interludes.

Tognetti is at the right time in his life and in his career trajectory to take up this challenge and his orchestra, who appear to adore him, gave him their full support in injecting the concerto with their combined skill and passion. I would like to be at the final performance of this tour when Tognetti has completely embodied these demanding additions to the concerto, when they will unfold as instinctively as breathing.

Beethoven's String Quartet in B flat major, Op.130, followed by the Grosse Fugue was a demanding meal after the first substantial course of Bach and Mozart. While it is always intriguing to see how Tognetti will delve into the minds of past masters and reinvent their music, I think that in these works he was in dangerous territory. The so-called Last Quartets are hallowed ground for Beethoven lovers – mysterious, speaking with divine madness and wonderfully, unbearably intense in their original form. I am not convinced that it is desirable or perhaps sensible to attempt a different interpretation of these works.

Despite my misgivings, the audience received Tognetti's version – particularly the Grosse Fugue with great enthusiasm – and I have no quibbles with the excellent musicianship. What I hope for is hearing the ACO give life to more of Tognetti's original compositions, if he can find the time in his rich and demanding life to pour his obvious talents in this field into stand alone works. The next challenge perhaps?