The Festival Finale: Fond Farewells was both a joyous and a sad event. Clearly the audience did not want the AFCM to finish, but at the same time there was a buzz of excitement about the final concert. Presenter and MC Damien Beaumont could not even bring himself to utter the word “farewell”, calling it simply the “Fond” concert. The program itself offered both new works and old friends, some unusual Guilty Pleasure pieces chosen by the musicians, and last-minute surprises to whet the appetite for 2023.

Paul Dean. Photo supplied

It commenced with the world premiere of Dance Suite for accordion and chamber ensemble by Composer in Residence Paul Dean. Originally written for a tour in 2020, the piece was a victim of COVID and then became part of his residency for AFCM, due to James Crabb’s availability. Consisting of four rather strange dances, the first, Grotesque, was a dark, macabre piece with short, stabbing notes, the accordion playing a jarring theme over an energetic clarinet. Burlesque was more rhythmic, though its discordant strings and pulsing accordion ended in a gruesome, deathly silence. A...