When introducing the final work in this concert, violinist, Jack Liebeck, who is also artistic director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, told the audience the work was the inspiration for the concert title. He was talking about Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84.

Written in 1918-19 it was, itself, inspired by Elgar’s walks in the woods of Sussex. “It’s mysterious and other-worldly, but deeply British,” said Liebeck – British himself – much to the audience’s guffawing, “involving Spanish monks in the trees.”

The ensemble, comprising Liebeck and Emily Sun (violins), Timothy Ridout (viola), Thomas Carroll (cello) and Katya Apekisheva (piano), stepped into all those elements superbly, embracing the ethereal opening (and closing) and the intensity, lyricism, warmth, and expressiveness of the rather programmatic piece. It was far and away the longest piece in the concert, but one of the three audience favourites of the evening.

Jack Liebeck and Timothy Ridout. Photo © Andrew Rankin

Back at the top of the programme was a truly lovely work by Australian indigenous composer, Brenda Gifford, her Bardju (Footprints). Gifford says her work “tells us we should tread lightly on Mother...