Queen’s flamboyant frontman Freddie Mercury was not accustomed to being overshadowed by anyone, but on this CD his most famous creation unquestionably plays a support role to compositions by two genuine Bohemians – Czech masters, Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák.
Scotch College composition teacher Nicholas Buc’s fun-filled world-premiered arrangement of Mercury’s gloriously lyrical ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a 5:26 bookend on the Benaud Trio’s second disc for Melba Recordings.
Pop to classical crossovers are dangerous transitions, but as he revealed in his Trailer Music contribution to the Benaud’s eponymous 2012 recording, Buc is a savvy composer, and Mercury’s legacy was in very safe hands.
Chamber music devotees will be drawn by Benaud Trio’s sterling realisation of the Smetana and Dvořák masterworks.