A precise, direct and fully realised 2015 season opener from the Nation’s capital.

Llewellyn Hall, Canberra School of Music
April 1, 2015

Launching its 2015 season, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra offered a pleasing programme of the Overture to The Magic Harp (better known as Rosamunde) by Schubert, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto and Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony – all of them works presenting difficulties for any orchestra. Once again, as it did some months ago in a performance of the Firebird Suite by Stravinsky, the orchestra demonstrated that it is worthy of its place in the national capital.

The orchestra’s precision and technical finish were admirable. Of particular note were the solos – including the lovely horn entry at the beginning of the Dvořák concerto and the trumpet solo in the first movement of the Sibelius symphony – which were delivered with unanimous skill. Many orchestras around the world are marking the 75th anniversary of the composer’s death with presentations of Sibelius’s music, and his fifth symphony (arguably his most popular) requires a high degree of sensitivity and precise intonation in the string sections, particularly in the second and third movements, which the CSO delivered very well. Conductor Nicholas Milton’s understanding of all the music presented...