In the hands of Nicolas Altstaedt music is alive and centuries of tradition collapse into a single moment of profound clarity.
Altstaedt is one of the world’s most exhilarating musicians, and his boldness, emotional depth and fierce musicality find a natural partner in the Australian Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble that shares his curiosity and delight in the act of music-making.
This program sweeps from the Baroque to the present, yet in the hands of Altstaedt and the Australian Chamber Orchestra it is one statement. At its heart is CPE Bach’s Cello Concerto in A major, a virtuosic showstopper of vivid emotion, sharp contrasts and unexpected turns of rhythm. The concert culminates in a string orchestra arrangement of Beethoven’s String Quartet Op.135, his final complete work and a piece of monumental foresight that holds the future of music within it.
Altstaedt and the Australian Chamber Orchestra are master storytellers, unwavering in their pursuit of musical grace and adventure. They hold the future and the past in equal measure. Here they celebrate composers who pushed the limits of their time, and reached for something beyond it.
Program
Felix Mendelssohn String Symphony No.4 in C minor
Giacinto Scelsi Chukrum: I.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Cello Concerto in A major, Wq.172
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K.546
György Kurtág (arr. strings) Ligatura – Message to Frances-Marie (The Answered Unanswered Question), Op.31b
Ludwig van Beethoven (arr. strings) String Quartet in F major, Op.13
Artists
Nicolas Altstaedt Guest Director & Cello
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Australian Chamber Orchestra
The Australian Chamber Orchestra is one of the most acclaimed chamber orchestras in the world. Led by their pioneering Artistic Director Richard Tognetti, the Orchestra is defined by its exceptional virtuosity and an irrepressible sense of adventure and curiosity.
“Altstaedt has technique to burn, near perfect intonation, superb control of extreme registers and harmonics… so impeccable his rhythmic nuance, that one hung on every note as if they were the words of a master storyteller.“ – The Australian