Australian String Quartet. Adelaide Town Hall. 5 Jul 2018
It is a sandwich with a Widman filling, but the main substance and real enjoyment is in the Beethoven bread.
The current national Season concert presented by the Australian String Quartet features Beethoven’s Op18 No 3 and Op 135 string quartets – his first (despite what the numbering might suggest) juxtaposed with his very last – and Jorg Widman’s String Quartet No 3.
Widman is a contemporary German composer, musician and conductor. As a composer he has a not unimpressive oeuvre and discography with him as instrumentalist or conductor. Since 2017 he has been the Edward Said Chair and professor of composition at the Barenboim–Said Academy in Berlin. His third string quartet, known as the Hunting Quartet, dates from 2003 and is something to be enjoyed as much by seeing it as hearing it. It’s a scream, literally! The music is punctuated by blood curdling whoops and screams from the musicians and the swishing of their bows, and importantly, silence. This is programmatic music and focuses on the excitement and ultimate terror of the hunt. Visually it is fascinating to see the various ways the musicians extract very strange and unsettling sounds from their instruments. If unseen, and only heard, and without knowledge of the programme, the composition is much less effective. To one’s ear, the composition is not entirely successful in appealing as pure music, but the audience receives it with great humour and appreciation.
The Beethoven however is a different kettle of fish.
Beethoven wrote sixteen string quartets and they can broadly be categorised into three periods. The Op18 No 3 comes from the earliest period and is the third quartet he ever wrote. His most popular quartets are from his middle period and include the Razumovsky Quartets. The quartets from his latest period are amongst the last compositions Beethoven ever wrote and they are amongst his greatest. They are intellectually demanding and distance themselves from the romanticism of the middle period. They are also substantially less popular from the others, but, in the hands of the right musicians they have an almost unchallenged transcendence. The Op 135, Beethoven’s last quartet and last complete composition, is a prime example of just that, but it is also different. At times it seems ethereal and playful. Its texture is often sparse and it has a simplicity and translucence about it (to the ear) that gives it great profundity. The ASQ manages the dynamics with great empathy and allow the mix of anguish, joy, mischievousness and friskiness to come through. The Op 18 No 3 is altogether quite different. It is much more reflective of the quartet legacy of Haydn and Mozart, and the ASQ deliver it with precision, taut vigour and humour.
Andy Packer, of Slingsby Theatre Company fame, was commissioned to ‘design’ the setting for the concert. He located the ASQ on a circular mat in front of a large off-white backdrop. A series of footlights are trained on the musicians that created larger-than-life jarring shadows of the players against the backdrop and the side walls of the Town Hall. The concert begins with a recitation from Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament to underline that the Op135 was written at a time when Beethoven was totally deaf, and as it concludes the members of the ASQ one by one move to their chair and the house lights dim to leave the auditorium in darkness save the warm glow of the footlights on the musicians. This could have all been highly effective if it wasn’t for the tackiness of the backdrop, which looked like a series of bedsheets clumsily sewn together. It becomes a distraction. But the Beethoven put all that aside.
Bravo ASQ.
Kym Clayton
When: 5 Jul
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
Australian Chamber Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 26 Jun 2018
Imagine living in fear that the forces of evil will knock on your door in the dead of night and secret you away to an uncertain fate far from everyone and everything you know. This feeling, this threat of terror, is at the very heart of Dimitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No.1 in E-flat and Elena Kats-Chernin’s A Knock One Night. Including them on the same program is a stroke of genius by Director Richard Tognetti.
Steven Isserlis, one of the world’s very best cellists, gives an impassioned reading of the Shostakovich. He rarely looks at his sheet music, and when he does, he turns a bunch of pages at a time. He probably doesn’t even need it: perhaps the sheets are his version of Linus’ security blanket? When watching Isserlis play, one is not only struck by his wild mop of curly hair but also by his eyes, which are like black holes (in the cosmological sense). He captures the entire audience with his gaze, and there is no escape. You are his plaything until he has finished with you. You are transported to a different dimension and then perfunctorily returned when he has finished playing. In the case of the Shostakovich, we are taken to a very dark place indeed, where humanity struggles to remain buoyant. But the composition also has quite transcendent moments, and the dialogues between the cello and the clarinet, and then the horn and oboe, are painfully exquisite. It is fitting that Isserlis acknowledges the principal players during the bows.
The concert begins with a word première performance of Movements (for us and them) by Samuel Adams, whose father is John Adams, the famed contemporary American composer. The composition is unmistakably American, and to one’s ear there are reminiscences of Copland and Ives. Scored for string ensemble, it is grounded in robust melodies that evolve and move with compelling momentum towards its conclusion. Tognetti sets a fair pace for the work and keeps the orchestra up to the mark with his idiosyncratic beating of time with his violin bow.
Not only is Movements a world première, but so too is A Knock One Night, and it is particularly special to have the composer in the audience. Set in four movements, the composition explores the flight of a family from a home that has become unsafe, half way around the world to Australia. The second movement, entitled Knock, evokes the same dread that the Shostakovich does, but it resolves itself in the third and final movements with lush pastoral, carefree and joyous melodies.
The final piece for the night stands in stark contrast to everything that comes before it. Haydn’s Symphony No.104 in D (London) is his very last symphony and for many considered to be his best. As good as the Shostakovich was, and as pleasing as the Adams and Kats Chernin compositions were, the Haydn perhaps has an edge on them all. In the hands of Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the two hundred and twenty year old composition is imbued with an unexpected and astonishing freshness that surprises everyone. The orchestra plays it with smiles on their faces and with animated feet – it is joyous.
As the very large audience files out of the auditorium at the end of the concert, one concertgoer is overheard to say “Haydn to the rescue”. This may have been a backhanded compliment about the programming – which one thought was just perfect – but whatever was the intended meaning, it is clear that Tognetti and the ACO’s performance of the Haydn was absolute perfection.
Kym Clayton
When: 26 Jun
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
The Governor Hindmarsh. 23 Jun 2018
I’ve always got time for good rock music and for local bands who do their best to carry the rock music flame. Local crew Deflector are one such band who are building up a name for themselves, a steady following, and a growing cache of original tunes to boot.
Escaping the cold winter in the front bar of the Gov, Deflector attracted a decent crowd and were rocking everyone’s socks off! The four-piece play a decent mix of original tunes peppered with covers from mainly the ’90s, and an edge towards the more obscure.
With a killer guitar and vocals line-up, the band has a healthy dose of T-Rex style glam rock musical prowess, with Beatle-esque melodies, soaring guitars and a thumping funky bass. Covers of tunes like the Darkness’s I Believe In A Thing Called Love, Reef’s Place Your Hands, and Spacehog’s In The Meantime (what a killer song!) go down really well, exciting the crowd and getting them ready to soak up a bunch of original tunes. Interestingly, while the covers are obviously familiar and the original stuff less so, it’s the original music that’s most exciting and that showcases the band’s passion.
I’ve caught these guys a couple of times, and each viewing sees them stronger and tighter. As more original tunes make their way into the set, things will no doubt go from strength to strength. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Deflector again!
Luke Balzan
When: 23 Jun
Where: The Governor Hindmarsh
Bookings: Closed
The Governor Hindmarsh. 22 Jun 2018
If you’re going to do something big, you may as well make it huge… I’m sure that’s the motto that Melbourne-based musical genius Nicky Bomba was working from when he put together the Melbourne Ska Orchestra a few years back.
Bomba had garnered a nice little name for himself doing solo stuff, working with his band, and playing drums for John Butler, but it’s been with the massive MSO that things have really lifted to a new level. A few albums in, each successive release builds on a solid ska base, paying tribute to what’s gone before, and carving a new groove in the ska backbone. In 2018 however, Nicky and the crew decided to outdo themselves by releasing a new tune each and every week for the whole year! Now approaching the half way mark, the band has released the entire first quarter collection of 13 tracks, each a unique MSO take on a classic ska tune. It is in celebration of this release of Ska Classics that MSO decided to head our way on tour.
It is a chilly night as I head to the Gov, but it doesn’t take long for things to start heating up. Local band Lucky Seven are first up, and the septet kicks things off in fine style. With their own take on swing jazz, the crowd is quickly aroused when the band takes to the stage, and it is only moments before the swing dancers hit the dance floor to dance the night away in fine style. With a beefy horn section, great rhythms and smooth vocals, these guys really know their craft and are a perfect prelude for what is to come.
After a great first set, the local crew make way for the behemoth of the Melbourne Ska Orchestra. Lucky’s seven members did a good job filling the stage, but it is really something else to see 19 of Melbourne’s finest cram and shoehorn themselves in! As usual, they make an impressive entrance from within the crowd, each wielding his instrument of choice, and Nicky Bomba brings up the rear with his megaphone. By the time they all make it on stage, the first tune is well underway, and the sell-out crowd is amped up to the max!
Things don’t let up. There is loads of crowd participation, Nicky’s usual banter, punters dancing and skanking throughout, and of course, plenty of fine, fine ska!
Celebrating the release of Ska Classics sees plenty of those classic tunes played, with favourites like Prince Buster’s Al Capone (which my wife points out is the basis for Boney M’s Baby Do You Wanna Bump – you learn something every day!), ska originators the Skatalites’ Confucious, Toots and the Maytals’ Monkey Man, the Wailers’ Simmer Down, and the I-Three’s Feel Like Jumping (which I reckon sounds remarkably like Toots’ 54-46 Was My Number, but that’s just me).
The band throws in a couple of well-loved new wave tunes too, with the Specials’ Message To Rudy and Madness’ Night Boat To Cairo, the latter of which has just been included on an international ska collection. There are a few tunes from the band’s second quarter collection of one-song-each-week, including the theme song from Austin Powers, as well as a bunch of MSO favourites, like Lygon St Meltdown, He’s A Tripper, Sly Boots, The Best Things In Life Are Free (where Nicky makes a return to the drums), and crowd favourite, the theme from Get Smart. There’s plenty of opportunity for swaying and skanking, singing and beat-boxing, and for soloing and all way through, we’re having a blast!
The main set sadly comes to a close after a solid couple of hours but the crowd refuses to let them go. The band is only halfway through exiting the stage when they come back for a few more, culminating in the Bomba classic Automatically Man, which rounds out a sensational night of music!
Nicky promises they’ll be back again soon, and in the meantime, there’s always a new song to enjoy each week!
Luke Balzan
When: 22 Jun
Where: The Governer Hindmarsh
Bookings: Closed
Master Series 4. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 23 Jun 2018
Sibelius, Rachmaninov, Pärt, and Mussorgsky, all in the hands of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, conductor Arvo Volmer, and pianist Stephen Hough.
Lethal combination.
Despite the obvious similarity in their names, The Swan of Tuonela by Sibelius and Swansong by Arvo Pärt could not be more different. The Sibelius has sweeping pastoral melodies liberally laced with melancholy, where the Pärt is, in typical style of the composer, textually more sparse (at least at the beginning) which then evolves into something broader and hymnal. Volmer exploits the similarities and differences between them and allows various principals in the orchestra to shine. Of particular note is Peter Duggan on Cor Anglais in the Sibelius. It should be noted this is the first performance of Swansong and it is highly likely it will feature again at some stage. It is quite delightful.
Although the concert finished with Volmer’s superb reading of the Ashkenazy orchestration of Mussorgsky’s celebrated Pictures at an Exhibition, the main event is Stephen Hough at the piano playing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, Op.43.
Hough is one of the best pianists alive. Watching him perform is to witness a musician who is not only technically brilliant but who is also an accomplished interpreter and communicator of the fundamental essence of the music. Hough’s pianism in the famous eighteenth variation, which has been used (and abused!) in numerous films (such as Groundhog Day, Ronin and the TV series The Good Wife) is quite transcendent: something that can be quite mawkish is instead serenely poignant. Volmer ensures that the orchestra allow this to happen.
Mussorgsky’s Pictures was originally composed as a work on a grand scale for solo piano, but it is probably better known in its orchestrated form. It is scored for a large orchestra and runs the gamut of metres, tempos and dynamics. If not handled carefully it can at times become aural ‘mush’. Volmer extracts exquisite clarity from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and the fine balance inherent in the Ashkenazy orchestration is faithfully rendered.
The very large audience contentedly left the Town Hall humming and whistling a number of melodies. This is a warming and satisfying concert.
Kym Clayton
When: 23 Jun
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed