New release from the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra

The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra releases its newest album Midsummer Dreams on 27 March under the ARCO label. This fourth album of their discography features popular Romantic works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn performed by 41 musicians playing on gut strings, historic winds, natural brass, including a rare ophicleide and timpani.

The anthology begins with a fairytale, ends with a brooding landscape and bounds through a spirited symphony. Midsummer Dreams, roams over a sweep of Romantic visions from Beethoven and Mendelssohn in an Australian premiere recording on period instruments with historically informed performance (HIP).

Sounds Like Sydney
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New Album 'Illuminate'

The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO) has a new release ‘Illuminate’ featuring music by Bruch, Britten and Tchaikovsky. This Historically Informed Performance expands the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra’s repertoire into the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Performed by the musicians of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra conducted by Rachael Beesley, with soprano Jacqueline Porter, and recorded live at Sydney’s City Recital Hall, the album has music by three iconic Romantic and early Modernist composers, seen in a sparkling new light.

Shamistha De Soysa, Sounds Like Sydney.
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Sounds Like Sydney: 'Heavenly Mozart' Review

Whether for pure enjoyment or to discover two of Mozart’s masterpieces at deeper levels, Heavenly Mozart is a winner. The performances of ensemble and soloist are informed, exhilarating and bold but never excessive.

[…]

Beesley, as concertmaster, conducts a cohesive and exciting instrumental ensemble of 29 musicians playing period and replica instruments which date from 1753 to the present. Peres Da Costa, with all the skills of a specialist, plays a distinctive 2022 Viennese-action fortepiano made by Paul McNulty in the Czech Republic, modelled on a Viennese instrument by Walter and Sohn c 1805.

[…]

Joyful listening apart, this performance is an erudite look retrospective to the salons of Mozart’s lifetime.

Shamistha da Soysa, Sounds Like Sydney (14 November 2023)

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