★★★★★ ACO plays host as Swiss band makes most impressive debut.

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
November 29, 2015

Something we don’t get enough of in these cash-strapped times is visits by major international ensembles, so the fact that the Australian Chamber Orchestra have managed to pull off a foreign exchange with their Swiss counterparts in Basel is to be roundly applauded. That they were able to pack out the Sydney Opera House concert hall is a testament to the reputation of the 40-odd players that make up one of Europe’s elite bands. And the icing on the cake was the sublime contribution of Argentine-born but Swiss resident cellist Sol Gabetta, playing a major new concerto written especially for her.

Swiss conductor Paul Sacher wasn’t your average maestro. At the time of his death in 1999 he was reckoned Europe’s wealthiest man, and one who as a tireless impressario had founded a previous incarnation of the Basler Kammerorchester that lasted from 1926 to 1987. During that period, Sacher singlehandedly enriched the chamber orchestra repertoire with major works by the likes of Stravinsky, Honegger, Frank Martin, Lutoslawski and Strauss. One of his most notable commissions was Béla Bartók’s spunky Divertimento, which burst...