A great review in the San Francisco Chronicle

Music review: Australian Chamber Orchestra
Joshua Kosman, Chronicle Music Critic
Tuesday, April 28, 2009

For vitality, elegance, playfulness and technical prowess - all the qualities you want in a chamber ensemble, really - it would be hard to top the Australian Chamber Orchestra, which made one of its rare but indispensable visits to the Bay Area on Sunday afternoon.
Under Richard Tognetti, the group's artistic director and concertmaster, this crackerjack ensemble plays with the sort of fleet rhythmic control and tonal purity that most chamber groups can only envy. And Sunday's concert, presented by Cal Performances in Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall, was a first-rate showcase for all those qualities.
For some listeners, Sunday's headliner was countertenor Andreas Scholl, who joined the orchestra for six Handel arias (divided, after a little last-minute program shuffling, onto either side of the intermission). But from where I sat, the afternoon's chief marvel was the orchestra itself.
The group plays standing up - a seemingly small touch that nonetheless pays off in alertness and buoyancy - and Tognetti leads the proceedings with whatever combination of bow arm, elbow, shoulders or chin he has available at any given moment. The core string sonorities are rich but sinewy, and the handful of wind and brass players filling out the lineup for this tour were a welcome addition.
The afternoon's lofty level was set right out of the gate, with a brisk and beautifully balanced account of Haydn's Symphony No. 44. This is one of the composer's rare minor-key symphonies - its mood divided between intense, shadowy Sturm und Drang and a lighter, more carefree touch - and the orchestra captured both veins superbly.
Scholl's contributions were more of a mixed bag. His vocal tone is vividly bright, his diction impeccable and his command of Baroque style utterly fluent. But except in his upper range, his sound is so underpowered that there is a sense of effort throughout.
That was especially notable in the more dramatic selections, particularly the recitatives to selections from "Rodelinda" and "Giulio Cesare" (some of which were barely audible) and the exclamatory aria "Vivi tiranno!," also from "Rodelinda."
Still, the lyrical phrases of Handel's more intimate writing registered beautifully, and in "Va tacito e nascosto" from "Giulio Cesare," ably partnered by hornist Robert Johnson, Scholl created a strong dramatic scene without worrying too much about vocal weight.
The rest of the orchestral program was splendidly played - particularly "From the Monkey Mountains Suite," arranged by Tognetti from the vividly folkloric String Quartet No. 2 by the Czech-Jewish composer Pavel Haas (one of the group of composers interned by the Nazis at the Terezín concentration camp).
Australian composer Roger Smalley contributed "Footwork," an edgy, discordant tango that sounds like the music Bernard Herrmann must have written for the deleted scene in "Psycho" where Norman Bates takes Marion Crane dancing. As an encore, there was a delightfully rambunctious account of "The Noise of War" by Rameau.
E-mail Joshua Kosman at jkosman@sfchronicle.com.
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This article appeared on page E - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle