Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 opens with dark lowering skies and the threat of much Sturm und Drang. Which is appropriate because no sooner had I got out of my front door to go to the AHE’s Haydn’s Passion concert when Sydney’s heavens opened in an extremely big way.

Flash floods appeared from nowhere, storm drains popped their manhole covers and everyone ducked for cover. Within minutes I was reminded of Robert Benchley’s famous telegram on arriving in Venice: “Streets full of water. Please advise.”

Soaked through and dreading the thought of negotiating trackwork, road closures and bus cancellations I turned back for home. More fool me for, judging by the livestream on ADCH which I am currently watching, I missed a splendid concert with a lively program and a cracking performance by Artistic Director Skye McIntosh of WA Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3.

Skye Macintosh, Haydn’s Passion, City Recital Hall. Photo © Oliver Miller

Haydn’s La Passione Symphony is a dark work by that composer’s standards with an opening movement similar in spirit to his masterpiece Seven Last Words of Christ. It’s possible it got its nickname from the fact that it...