The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Haydn, Mozart & Friends ­opened with one of the friends: Christian Cannabich was the director of the renowned Mannheim orchestra when Mozart and his mother visited in 1777, and the composers became close. The orchestra was well-known across Europe for the virtuosity of its musicians and its famous full-orchestra ‘Mannheim’ Crescendo – which the Brandenburgs demonstrated with panache in the first movement of Cannabich’s Sinfonia in E Flat Major, led by Paul Dyer. Right from the start, the orchestra bristled with energy, the horns rippling and the bassoons injecting plenty of vigour into a lively account of a work written to show off brilliant wind players. The bassoons were articulate and agile in the Andante. While there were some intonation issues in the clarinets, particularly in the first two movements, the Presto saw them dispatching snappy rhythmic figures with bright panache.

^{Jamie Hey and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Photo © Steven Godbee}

Very much a friend of the band, period cellist Jamie Hey has been the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Principal Cellist since 2002. He brought his keen-edged gut-string sound to bear on Haydn’s C Major Cello...