★★★½☆ A genuine warmth and love of music from first note to last.

City Recital Hall, Sydney
September 20, 2016

The sound of the Israel Camerata Jerusalem Orchestra was more earthy warmth than piercing brightness as they opened their second concert in Sydney with Bartók’s Divertimento for String Orchestra – the last work the composer wrote in Hungary before emigrating to the United States during the outbreak of World War II.

Led by founder and conductor Avner Biron, splashes of colour – dresses and ties – lit up the orchestra, Concertmaster Matan Dagan’s smooth, burnished violin sound tracing details across the ensemble. Dark, liquid strings and stinging accents characterised the second movement while the third was jovial and dance-like following the jagged opening.

Zvi Plesser joined the group as soloist for Haydn’s First Cello Concerto, composed early in Haydn’s tenure at the Esterházy court when the orchestra was still quite small. A ‘recent’ Haydn, the concerto was thought lost until it resurfaced in 1961 when parts were discovered by the archivist of the Prague National Museum. Plesser’s bronzed, characterful cello lines highlighted the cheeriness of the first movement, his double-stops neatly executed and his fingers nimble. While intonation issues tarnished some...