QSO Plays Elgar: Enigma

Can there be a better orchestra in Australia at the moment than our own Queensland Symphony Orchestra? What a delight to attend the Morning Masterworks and get washed in the colours and textures of Haydn’s Symphony No.88, Boieldieu’s Harp Concerto and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Under the masterly baton of Nicholas Braithwaite, the QSO, as I’ve come to anticipate, played superbly. With their full concert schedule I have to wonder when they find time to continually rehearse so many works up to such a high standard. Marshall McGuire’s playing of the beautiful Boieldieu Harp Concerto was exquisite – like sipping French champagne from a crystal flute. I look forward to hearing Marshall play in Brisbane again in September. It was announced this concert would be recorded. But, when audience members are advised of a recording, why do their throats seem to twitch in anticipation of forming atonal hacking coughs ready to let rip in the crucial musical phrases? I await with a tickle in my throat, a QSO sponsor to manufacture cough lollies wrapped in crinkle-less packages to dispense to susceptible audience members.