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We were lucky enought to hear the wonderful Australian Chamber Orchestra in Melbourne last year, on our honeymoon. On Monday they performed at the Wigmore Hall, playing Handel, Bach and Haydn, as well as a new piece by Roger Smalley.
They are truly a marvellous group of players - worth dropping everything for. Add to the mix Mark Padmore, by a country mile the greatest Bach singer in the world - and, I would argue, the best tenor bar none at the moment, whose Lieder singing is exquisite and whose baroque performances are truly magical - and you have a concert which had to be heard.
The review in today's Guardian is spot on: A visit from the Australian Chamber Orchestra always raises questions. Does violinist Richard Tognetti, its leader for 19 years, have a slowly mouldering portrait in the attic? Can ugly players even audition? More pertinently, let's ask about what we settle for from music-making in the UK - why do so few of our ensembles present their music with this kind of ear-grabbing vigour? I'm afraid you'll have to travel to the Continent now to hear them on the rest of their European tour. But I'd heartily recommend their recording with Angela Hewitt - another musician worth dropping everything for - of Bach's Keyboard Concertos, which bristles with excitement.