Music / Schubert’s Fantasy and Octet, Australian Chamber Orchestra. At Llewellyn, May 16. Reviewed by SARAH BYRNE.

For this “celebration of the greatest of musical poets” (per the program), Richard Tognetti has added four guests to his quartet of ACO colleagues – Johannes Rostamo, of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic on cello; Todd Gibson-Cornish, Sydney Symphony, bassoon and Carla Blackwood and David Griffiths, both of the Melbourne Conservatorium, on French horn and clarinet respectively. 

From the ACO, Tognetti himself directs, of course, on first violin, with Helen Rathbone on second, Stefanie Farrands on viola and Maxime Bibeau on bass. 

Tognetti allowed the music to speak for itself, with no introductions or explanations.

The first half of the concert was devoted to Schubert’s luxuriant Fantasy in C major, gorgeously arranged for octet by Tognetti himself – no doubt to the gratitude of pianists everywhere, given the notorious difficulty of the original form.

The gently stirring opening offered a suggestion of the baroque, before the colourful and more classical addition of some glorious clarinet rills and a brilliant glissando on bassoon. Schubert then dices with some more romantic themes – stern and a little Wagnerian (or at least Dukasian).

This segues into birdsong effects and some plangent horn, and a shimmering tremolo from the strings before returning to the melody and and a triumphant little march. Then we get a bit more romantic foreboding before some pastoral clarinet and first violin lead into a sprightly allegro conclusion.

This is a remarkable arrangement of an already remarkable original, attractively delivered with immense technical proficiency.

After the interval we were blessed with Schubert’s Octet in F major. A horn sostenuto supports the gentle georgic opening; before the melody is picked up by the liquid clarinet. Hints of Schubert’s other work emerge throughout each movement (The Trout is never far away), along with his Beethoven obsession (already obvious from the six-movement structure), but as I listened I also caught fragments that must have influenced later composers – I thought of Sullivan in particular. 

Both pieces suffered criticism at the time of their first performances for their unexpected length, but from the applause and stamping of the rapt audience at Llewellyn Hall, another half-hour would not have gone awry. 

This was an excellent performance of beautiful music by virtuoso musicians. The last word belongs to the knowledgeable gentleman seated immediately behind me: You won’t find better anywhere.