Italian violinist Lorenza Borrani cut a commanding figure as Guest Director and soloist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, leading the ensemble with energy and panache in a programme that went back in time from Schnittke to Schubert to Beethoven.

Although his musical education began in Vienna, Alfred Schnittke spent most of his life in Russia and is often considered the natural successor to Shostakovich – hearing the jagged scherzo motifs in his Sonata for Violin and Chamber Orchestra it is easy to see why.

Schnittke’s First Violin Sonata emerged in the early 1960s from the composer’s intensive concentration on serial writing – a result of studying all kinds of Western contemporary music he gained access to during The Khruschev Thaw – and in 1968 he transcribed the work for chamber orchestra, with a harpsichord part that is almost the equal of the soloist.

Borrani’s hauntingly smokey violin sound opened the first movement, soon to be joined by Anthony Romaniuk on the harpsichord. The work is more chamber music than concerto, Borrani weaving in and out of the larger ensemble. The second movement was quirky and rhythmic, bass and celli drumming on the wood of their instruments, driving the music forward. The Largo pitted...