Concerts don’t usually start before the ensemble arrive on stage, but the Australian Chamber Orchestra aren’t your usual orchestra. Most pianists don’t warm up for their concerto with a cameo on continuo harpsichord, either – but Alexander Melnikov isn’t most pianists.
Bach’s Ricercar a 6 from The Musical Offering exploded into life with most musicians still in motion. Arranged by ACO’s director, violinist Richard Tognetti, the opening was starkly dissonant. Bow attacks were vicious (more rhythm than pitch), the tone both supremely blended and anarchically nasty. That’s the thing about an elite ensemble whose 17 core string players perform on exceptionally valuable historic instruments: if you can weave magic from gut and horsehair – and their Ricercar also featured passages of liquid smoothness and an ending with vivid, organ-like intensity – then ugliness becomes another expressive effect.
