One of the few upsides to the global pandemic has been the way artists and ensembles have embraced digital technology, initially as a way of connecting with audiences instructed to stay at home and also as a means to maintain contact with other musicians at a time when coming together in any physical sense was deemed verboten. Now that music-making – in Australia, at least – has returned to a degree of normality, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ongoing digital offering. Dubbed ACO StudioCasts, this smart series of film-cum-concerts should appeal to anyone unable to attend concerts in person, and that of course includes a vast global audience.

Richard Tognetti in Bach and the Beyond. Image courtesy of the Australian Chamber Orchestra

“Finding hope and acceptance in a troubled world” is the subheading of Bach and the Beyond, the orchestra’s stylish second release now playing on the ACO’s digital platform and available on-demand to ACO StudioCasts subscribers. Accordingly, the film takes the music of JS Bach as its starting point with three of Richard Tognetti’s well-received arrangements of chamber works – I...