Music / Musica da Camera, “Australian Gifts: A Sound to Behold”. At Holy Covenant Church, Cook, July 1. Reviewed by GRAHAM MCDONALD.

IT is not often an entire program of classical music for a small chamber orchestra is fully devoted to Australian compositions, and even more noteworthy is that of the eight composers featured, five were present at the concert and introduced their music.

Musica da Camera has been part of the musical landscape in Canberra for more than 40 years, with the ensemble a mix of professional musicians, music teachers and skilled amateurs who present three or so concerts a year, each with a different conductor.

For this concert they invited local composer Sally Greenaway to conduct and she put together an intriguing and varied program of string orchestra music, augmented by various soloists as required. It was pleasant to hear a concert of “new’” music that was approachable and entertaining, and did not feel the need to delve into musical extremes simply because it could.

The first piece was “Fanfara” by Perth composer Lachlan Skipworth full of little melodic themes which shifted and changed. This was originally written for a full orchestra with lots of brass but still works well with a string orchestra.

This was followed by two short pieces “Pastorale” and “Purple Possum Dance” by local composer Leanne Bear for a high school orchestra, with the second of these especially having some spirited dance rhythms.

The strings were joined by Shane Campbell on guitar and Gabriel Fromhyr on cello for three of Marian Budos’ “Seven Gifts” – Understanding, Fortitude and Piety. These were three quite different works, all equally engaging and deserve a full performance.

These were followed by Brenda Gifford’s “Bardju” (Footsteps) originally written for Ensemble Offspring and reworked for string orchestra. Gifford effortlessly blends classical music and jazz with an underlying layer of First Nations knowledge to create music which is individual, yet universal.

Greenaway then introduced flautist Jodie Petrov to solo in Greenaway’s “The Memories of Poplar Trees”. This quiet and reflective work featured some lovely interplay between the flute and Rosemary Macphail’s first violin. This work contrasted with Tristan Coelho’s more angular “Rustic Dances” with Petrov joined by harpist Elizabeth Alford.

The concert finished with Ann Carr-Boyd’s arrangement of Peter Sculthorpe’s “Left Bank Waltz” written for piano and arranged by Carr-Boyd for string quartet. Always charming and indelibly French in feel, it was an excellent choice to conclude a well-conceived and finely performed concert.