It was a delight to see Musica Viva shine a spotlight again on the musically intelligent and nuanced Darlington Quartet. In this Sunday’s concert, Darlington were joined by the equally thoughtful and impressively virtuosic Jonathan Paget on guitar, presenting a well-crafted and genuinely interesting program, also reflecting the startling depth of talent in chamber music currently on offer for audiences in Western Australia.

Jonathan Paget & Darlington Quartet. Photo courtesy of Musica Viva Australia

With the exception of Iain Grandage’s visceral and emotional Black Dogs (2008), I was uninitiated as a listener to the remainder of the repertoire in this program, and was impressed with the ambitious chronological scope that the program encompassed. Works ranged from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with the addition of Grandage’s aforementioned modern work, and the short and challenging North Country Sketches (2002) by Indigenous Eora composer/guitarist, Christopher Sainsbury. Also in the program were Imogen Holst’s Phantasy Quartet (1928), Ferdinando Carulli’s Guitar Concerto in E minor (1820), Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Quintet for guitar and string quartet (1950), and Luigi Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet in D Major (1798).

Opening with Carulli, an elegant and high...