There’s a fine art to converting a chamber work for small forces into something larger, and few people are better at it than Richard Tognetti. Over his three decades as Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra he has arranged string quartets and piano trios for his crack band of string players, adding a new dimension to familiar works.

The trick is to retain the intimacy and transparency of the original instrumentation while bringing the drama and added dynamism of the larger numbers. Sometimes this works better than others, but in the latest example for the Bohemian Serenades tour, Tognetti has certainly hit the mark with his arrangement of Bela Bartok’s String Quartet No. 5.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra: Bohemian Serenades. Photo © Nic Walker

The work’s five movements form an arc and the vibrant outer allegros are contrasted by two slow “night music” music movements with a middle scherzo movement based on the rhythms of one of the Bulgarian folk dances that Bartok collected on his field trips.

The quartets are not always an easy listen, but this one with its kaleidoscopic use of colours, textures and exciting rhythms...