The overture to Rossini’s last and grandest opera William Tell is, in effect, a symphonic poem belying its 1829 composition date in its vividly realised four contrasted sections and orchestral colour.

The wonderful playing of TSO Principal Cellist Jonathan Békés sets the scene for a thrilling account of this perennial favourite; the precision of the strings in conductor Eivind Aadland’s fast-paced concluding galop is marvellous.

The impetus for the composition of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E flat, K364 in 1779, after his return to Salzburg, is rather mysterious. It is a large-scale dramatic and lyrical piece requiring solo performers of the highest calibre.

TSO husband and wife players Ji Won Kim (violin) and Caleb Wright (viola) are beautifully matched and blended throughout with especially poised, tenderly phrased, quiet playing in the Andante middle movement.

Conductor and orchestra provide consistently characterful and precise accompaniment. The soloists give the audience a generous encore in the form of Johan Halvorsen’s Passacaglia and Sarabande with variations in G minor on a theme of Handel.

The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Photo supplied

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