Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
January 25, 2016

Anima Eterna Brugge set quite a pace as they leapt out of the starting blocks to embark on their Beethoven symphonic marathon last Wednesday with high-voltage accounts of the first two symphonies. For those fit and lucky enough to be keeping up with the world-class Belgian period instrument specialists over their subsequent three concerts at Angel Place it has been quite a work out for ears, hearts and minds. The opportunity to hear these oft-played cornerstone works over five consecutive evenings doesn’t come along that often and it proved revelatory in all sorts of ways.

Of course we all know that the Eroica was a revolutionary symphony, it was even intended to celebrate an actual revolution, but hearing it back to back with its predecessor throws its innovations into such sharp perspective that you actually gasp. In the ideal and intimate acoustic of City Recital Hall, the quantum leap achieved by the composer in what were just a few short years was very apparent. With every phrase under the sonic microscope, the dissonances, the stabbing chords, the sheer new demands placed on the instruments themselves, all were laid bare for...