Australian Haydn Ensemble | Beethoven’s Eighth
November 3, 2025, City Recital Hall, Sydney, NSW
How many instrumentalists does it take to perform a symphony?
Well, according to the Australian Haydn Ensemble (AHE), only seven! There were 2 violinists (Skye McIntosh first and Matthew Greco second), 2 violists (Rafael Font and Kristen Linfante), a double bass (Pippa Macmillan), a cello (Daniel Yeadon), and a flute (Mikaela Oberg). And the AHE didn’t perform just one symphony, they performed two! I was so lucky and privileged to hear them perform the Beethoven 8th – which was the centrepiece of their marketing – and I was so very very happy to find out that they were also performing the Mozart 40th. Truly a blessed opportunity to hear great music performed with forces uncommon for today’s modern age.
This was such a wild juxtaposition of contrary elements that my mind just delights in the symbiosis of it all: we have a symphony orchestra of seven soloists (essentially), they are all playing ‘period’ (baroque) instruments, and they are presenting lush ‘Romantic’ symphonies that were composed in the ‘Classical’ era.
The AHE performed the:
Boccherini – String Sextet in F major, op. 23 no.6
Mozart – Symphony 40 in G minor (arranged Cimador)
Ella Macens – Forever Ours (String Sextet) – a world premiere performance commissioned by Skye on behalf of the AHE
Beethoven – Symphony 8 in F major, op. 83 (arranged Crouch)
They have carried this program all around NSW, from Canberra, to Berry, the two Macquaries (Port and Lake), and the Southern Highlands, from 30 October to 8 November. They have been racking up the frequent driver points, I hope the instruments survive the road trip!
The Boccherini Sextet was a sparkling work of ‘irrepressible lyrical impulse’
…up until the 4th movement. The last movement prestissimo was a strange movement that showed, to me, why posterity has remembered Beethoven and not Boccherini (with the exception of his Minuet). To wit, the sextet played a fast phrase, then there was a huge gap of silence. Skye needed to ‘conduct’ everyone for the next entry. It happened a couple more times like that, it also happened once that the second violinist (Matthew) had to cue instead of Skye. Then the ending of the whole work was indeterminate and was felt rather than understood because the whole ensemble lifted their bows to the sky in an unmistakeable sign that they were finished.
It was obvious that Luigi was having a joke putting his musicians through the grinder, but the joke wore thin, and was not understandable the way that Beethoven is. (I do know that people thought that Beethoven was mad at the time, but Beethoven educated his audience to understand his humour eventually, even if it was done through posterity, familiarity, and through analysis, especially harmonic analysis.)
The Mozart symphony was arranged by Giambattista Cimador
…because he was ‘outraged that the musicians … had refused to play Mozart’s symphonies – they were apparently too difficult.’ I was delighted to hear this version, slightly less lush than a full orchestra, the solo flautist (Mikaela) replacing the entire woodwind and brass section, but the soul of Mozart thrived and lived on in our hearts with this performance. Despite the skeletal elements of the AHE, the connection between sections was more intimate, and this performance was always lyrical and brilliant, as befits Mozart.
Ella Macens was inspired by the Beethoven ‘Immortal Beloved’ letter to compose this work
– commissioned by AHE, as announced by Skye during one of her frequent speeches. It is ‘a meditation on eternal love, longing, and the mystery of connection across time and space … it is about the quiet ways we reach for one another across distance and time: through letters, thoughts and memories.’ In 4 movements, the piece starts with a quiet ‘invocation’ and gradually gains charge, urgency and passion, before subsiding with a ‘melancholic sense of … quiet affirmation’. For me, there were shades of Hans Zimmer with the organ-like sound that Ella managed to extract out of the AHE string sextet. At the end of the performance, Ella came from the audience onto the stage and accepted her plaudits, and a huge bouquet of flowers at the end of the concert as well.
Beethoven considered his eighth symphony to be every bit as good – if not better! – than his Promethean seventh symphony.
A flute septet arranged by Frederick Crouch and played here by the AHE with incredible flexibility and facility, they again presented the essential soul of Beethoven’s music. I even learnt from their outstanding program notes (of which you have read a couple of quotes) that the second movement was not, in fact, inspired by a metronome. This made me quite sad. This symphony is as twisted a piece of work as the Boccherini prestissimo performed earlier, but Beethoven is a master of engaging his audience and then playing with their expectations. By his eighth symphony, he had plenty of practice composing witty and explosive conclusions, with lots of twists and turns in-between.
This was my first concert to hear the AHE; I was so lucky and privileged to be given this opportunity. The performers are musically attached to each other and in sync, and I enjoyed watching the performance aspect immensely. The cello and double bass bop along with their bass lines, and the virtuosi violins are displaying incredible technique; holding these two disparate sections together are the violas – they are the glue. It was thrilling to see the attentiveness that Rafael and Kristen gave to everyone, and the musical nuance that they all agreed to.
One final thought: it takes so much longer to tune period instruments! lol
Photo credit: Oliver Miller
