There is a strong collegiate feeling at Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s latest Classics in the City concert when Harry Bennetts takes the sold-out City Recital Hall’s stage for a performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

Not only is it an opportunity for the young Associate Concertmaster to enjoy the spotlight, but it is a chance to hear the beautiful tone of the 1716 ‘Hazelwood’ Grancino violin once owned by the late Donald Hazelwood, SSO’s Concertmaster from 1965–1998.

And to top it off, it marks the return of one of the orchestra’s popular alumni, former Principal Cello-turned-conductor Umberto Clerici, to guide them through the concerto and its companion piece, Schubert’s Tragic Symphony No. 4.

Harry Bennetts, the ‘Hazelwood’ Grancino violin, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Bennetts’ skills as an orchestral leader hold him in good stead for this most loved of concertos, which is as much a symphony as it a showcase for the soloist. After the lengthy orchestral opening Bennetts’ entry shows all the poise, taste and sensitivity that is to mark the next 40 or so minutes. 

Clerici proves a simpatico companion, milking the best from his former colleagues with the woodwinds especially shining – Olli Leppäniemi’s clarinet and Matthew Wilkie’s bassoon solos both being standouts in the gorgeous second movement.

Bennetts brings sweetness and subtlety to the solo episodes of the massive first movement, dealing with its challenging moments with smooth ease and fire when called for, but it is in the prodigious double-stopping passages of the first Kreisler cadenza that the balance and evenness of his playing impresses.

There is a glorious gossamer-like fragility in the Larghetto before the improvised leap to the final movement which has the audience’s feet tapping and Clerici dancing along.

The performance ends in triumph with the fiery attack of the final cadenza delivered with impeccable intonation and articulation, earning five curtain calls and a standing ovation.

Harry Bennetts and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Acting Principal Flute Emma Sholl praised Clerici for his shaping of the music, as well as his infectious enthusiasm, in her opening remarks and these qualities are very much a part of his treatment of Schubert’s only named symphony which, apart from the slow and momentous opening two minutes or so, is for the main part far from “tragic” and contains some of the composer’s sunniest and bounciest string-writing.

Sholl’s sweetly insistent flute work in the back and forth of the final movement earns her a well-deserved ovation.

Harry Bennetts also performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at Wollongong Town Hall, 10 October and the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, 11 October.