Another evening, another concert packed bumper-to-bumper with chamber music treasure, courtesy of the Musica Viva Festival. As the flagship event in the great Australian institution’s 70th anniversary celebrations this year, it’s unsurprising that a legion of internationally in-demand, draw-card artists have been assembled. But Artistic Director Carl Vine should also be applauded for pairing this with an unselfconscious programme that is heavily laden with obscure, underrated masterworks and contemporary music.

Concert No 2 of the Festival was a fine example of this winning approach, with just a single piece on the billing that could claim any significant ubiquity. Take heed programmers of the world: as the sold-out audience at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (despite the inclement autumn weather) was testament to, brave and bold programming is a risk well worth taking.

Despite the downpour lashing central Sydney, inside the Verbrugghen Hall we were treated to a glorious ray of Mediterranean sunshine in the form of Boccherini’s Fandango, Guitar Quartet No 4 in D Major. As a highly sought-after composer and cellist during the late 18th century, Boccherini travelled extensively and consequently had a surprisingly cosmopolitan range of international influences manifest in his music. This piece, composed in 1798, is the...