One of the beauties of a festival is often the chance to get something for nothing – or in this case, next to nothing. Brisbane Baroque’s 5x5x5@5 series offers five concerts from five ensembles for just five bucks at 5pm, and the second bargain basement gig on this year’s ticket starred the mightily impressive Orava Quartet. Touting them as classical music’s answer to the boy band does them something of a disservice. Yes, the threads are sharp (the rolled up sleeves and blue waistcoat look really rocks, as do brown shoes to match the instruments), but the fresh-faced ensemble has been on the circuit for nearly a decade and used that time well. They’ve studied hard with the likes of the Takács and seized worldwide performance opportunities along the way.

Having heard them at last year’s Australian Festival of Chamber Music, their elegant style and musical maturity were a known quantity, and this concert entitled “A Bridge to the Baroque” cemented that excellent impression in a smart programme that set off with a serene Contrapunctus I from Bach’s Art of Fugue and boldly marched on into the Classical period with...