Of all the remarkable things about the ACO's playing, perhaps the most affecting is its ability to wring maximum drama and variety from the music. This 18th and 19th century music displays that emotional range.
Symphony No.46 comes from Haydn's Sturm und Drang period, music of extreme emotion written in reaction to the rational age of Enlightenment. Grieg's vigorous, soaring String Quartet was rejected by his publisher for sounding too orchestral; ideal for a new arrangement by Richard Tognetti. Schubert's Quartettsatz shows him writing chamber music for professional musicians for the first time, musicians who could really play it. Richard and his Guarneri sound like they are singing and dancing with the Orchestra in Mozart's Violin Concerto No.4, here performed by the ACO for the first time in 17 years in preparation for a recording by the prestigious European label BIS.