The Melbourne Chamber Orchestra opened their 2025 season in grand style last night, presenting their Daybreak concert at Melbourne Recital Centre with guest soloist David Griffiths on clarinet.
Curated by MCO artistic director Sophie Rowell, last night’s programme featured a dreamy showcase of well-known favourites as well as some hidden gems, including a brand-new piece from Australian composer Matt Laing.
As Sophie told us in her address to the audience, the opening concert of each MCO season begins with a world premiere, and so we were treated to Laing’s muscular, elastic piece “This waking moment”.
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In his own introduction, the composer said the work was inspired by the progression of sunrise over water, of a period of change evoked by the concert’s ‘daybreak’ title.
It was surely a musical journey charmingly echoed by the venue lighting. As the strings began to bloom and exhale, opening outward in billowing, jubilant lines, so too did the overhead spot lamps begin to radiate warm orange light as though imitating sunlight.
The evening’s standout work was a lush, celebratory interpretation of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto featuring guest soloist David Griffiths. It stands as a performance which truly captivated its audience, a showcase not only in speed and dexterity but also in stamina and strength.
The bravado of Griffiths’ breath was exemplary, producing a solo voice atop the jovial bed of strings possesses of such marvellous clarity and colour. It was a performance exquisitely accommodated by the acoustics of the venue, no better evidenced than in the work’s elegiac second movement (Adagio).
Not a soul in the audience dared rustle a thread of clothing or scarcely draw breath, so compelling and precise was Griffiths’ performance.
As much a triumph of performance as musical programming, with Sophie Rowell selecting an exquisite roster of pieces perfectly suited to the acoustic security of the Melbourne Recital Centre, last night’s performance proves the MCO have much to share across the coming season.
The Melbourne Chamber Orchestra’s 2025 season continues across the year with many more events and concerts. Take a look at What’s On to stay up-to-date
