This Festival Farewell concert for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music was a farewell in more ways than one.

First it was the occasion to bid farewell to festival musicians and audiences for another year, the festival’s 34th, but assured of the 35th in 2025.

Second, it was to bid farewell forever to Australia’s pre-eminent chamber music ensemble, the Goldner String Quartet, this year being its 30th year of music-making. More on that later.

Opening this diverse program was Memories of Green upon the Blue Fields of the Ocean, by virtuoso didgeridoo player and composer William Barton.

Scored for didgeridoo, flute, and string quartet, it began with cellist Umberto Clerici mounting the stage alone and starting the music very softly. Then the remaining players slowly walked onto the stage playing ethereal sounds, creating a mood of mystery, with Barton coming from near the back of the hall, singing a wordless line of long, sustained notes across a two octave (or more) range before beginning very softly on the didgeridoo.

William Barton. Photo © Keith Saunders

The work was full of expression. Interwoven rhythmic...