Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Festival Theatre. 5 Aug 2016
The fifth in the current Master Series by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, this concert was an evening of impassioned and lush melodies in the form of a Czech sandwich with a German filling. The bread comprised Smetana’s ever popular overture to his opera The Bartered Bride and Dvorak’s majestic Symphony No 7 in D minor. The ever so satisfying filling was Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D at the hands of American violinist and Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic , Noah Bendix-Bagley.
All three compositions are clear favorites with Adelaide concertgoers and have been performed by the ASO within the last five years. Guest conductor Johannes Fritzsch had the measure of the acoustics of the Town Hall and took each piece at a fair pace and with uncompromising attention to well-defined phrasing. This allowed the sudden and contrasting changes in dynamics and rhythmic structures that are features of each composition to come through clearly, and the overt romanticism of each composition never dissolved into sentimentalism.
Making his debut in Australia, Bendix-Bagley gave a masterful performance of the Brahms. He played it with strength and assurance, and Fritzsch gave him room to make articulate and authoritative statements at the beginnings and ends of every difficult technical passage. Bendix-Bagley earned spontaneous applause from the audience at the end of the first movement and took the opportunity to quickly re-tune his 1732 Cremonese violin ready for the onset of the soulful adagio second movement before moving without pause into the gypsy-infused allegro giocoso final third movement. At the final stroke of his bow, the audience burst into rapturous applause that earned an encore from Bendix-Bagley in the form of Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E, BWV 1006, which he played at an unhurried pace that laid bare his undoubted technical mastery for all to appreciate and admire.
Dvorak’s seventh symphony is the perfect choice to follow the Brahms violin concerto, for in it there seem to be the faintest echoes of the gorgeous tunes around which the concerto is constructed. Did one sense Maestro Fritzsch occasionally insisting that the orchestra play rubato to expose these quasi quotations? Whether this be fanciful or not, the result was an immensely satisfying reading that clearly captivated individual musicians in the orchestra as well.
Kym Clayton
When: 5 Aug
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Festival Theatre. 23 Jul 2016
This concert was simply breathtaking and internationally famous Australian conductor Simone Young is a force of nature.
Young positioned the forces of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in a non-traditional arrangement with the violins spread across the breadth of stage and the brass more centralized in the back ranks. It evened the sound out and imbued it with warmth – it worked a treat, especially with Schubert’s wonderfully evocative Unfinished Symphony in B minor. It began with the softest brooding lines from the double basses and was roundly contrasted with loud stabs from the violins and celli. Young insisted upon, and gained superb articulation, from the orchestra – it’s never been better – and the pure emotion of the symphony washed over us.
But the main event came after the interval in the form of Mahler’s deeply moving Tragic Symphony No 6 in A minor. Coming in at nearly eighty minutes, the Tragic requires supreme concentration and physical endurance and the expanded orchestra that filled the Festival Theatre stage was up to the challenge. The ASO last performed the 6th in 2011 under Arvo Volmer, which was a deeply satisfying performance as I recall, but tonight’s performance was better. Young has a clear affinity for Mahler and she understood the ‘ying and yang’ of the 6th. It is a composition full of contrasts: it is tonal and then atonal at times; it has both sweeping melodies and irritating fragments that recur and vary in search of something that is almost unattainable; it is classical in form, but then breaks out into less conventional structures that are, and were, inventive; almost signifying a new musical order.
The 6th is a roller coaster and Young and the Adelaide Symphony orchestra held us by the scruff of our throats until the symphony’s very last agonizing sigh, and then all hell broke loose. Young took numerous bows to thunderous and persistent applause from a very large and appreciative audience that was on its feet. Young acknowledged in turn every section of the orchestra, as indeed she should have, for it was a superb performance.
The audience left deeply satisfied knowing it had experienced something quite rare.
Kym Clayton
When: 23 Jul
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Wind Orchestra. Concordia College Chapel. 9 Jul 2016
Programming is everything, and this concert by the superb Adelaide Wind Orchestra didn’t quite cut it. It’s very encouraging when an audience goes into the interval eagerly looking forward to the second half of the concert, but in this case they were simply looking forward to a second half that was different. And that is exactly what they got, and it was fabulous.
It almost grieves me to be critical of this concert, because, as its title suggests, it was an all-Australian affair. It exclusively featured compositions by Australian composers – six of them – and all are still living except one (Percy Grainger). It was a celebration of contemporary serious concert music from the land down under, but the two opening pieces appealed more to the intellect than to the heart. Nigel Butterly’s 1968 composition Pentad is not something to open a concert with. Its difficult timing and phrasing demands the ensemble to be at the top of its game, right from the very start of the programme, which the AWO was not. In the depths of an unusually cold winter, the Concordia College Chapel takes time to warm up, and so do those who inhabit it.
Going on a Lion Hunt, by Adelaide’s very own David John Lang, does not have a strong narrative. It is minimalist in style with a central thematic motif being varied (but not as dramatically as it could have been) and shared across three mini-bands that also play as a full ensemble at times.
The first two pieces stood in stark contrast to Percy Grainger’s Colonial Song but the juxtaposition almost imbued it with comedy. The first half of the programme just didn’t hang together – it lacked a ‘gestalt’ – but then came the second half and the AWO was at its best.
Conductor Bryan Griffiths appeared to have an affinity for Natalie William’s Pendulum, which is a wonderfully optimistic composition with a rich orchestration. He ensured that every musical idea sounded fresh, and the repetitive rhythmic structure was never boring. The clarinets were superb.
And the very best was left to last.
Matthew Hindson and Paul Mac’s Requiem for a City is a fabulous composition that surely has a long and bright future, and it begs to be arranged for a full orchestra. Griffiths and the AWO handled the syncopated dance-like rhythms with grace and precision. It has a driving momentum and is at times reminiscent of the minimalist traditions of Terry Riley and Philip Glass. It finishes with a sequence that is almost a musical Morse code, and when it finally dashes itself out the audience is very quick to burst into applause.
Again, some very fine and sharp playing from the AWO, but the sequencing of the programme was a bit flat.
Kym Clayton
When: 9 Jul
Where: Concordia College
Bookings: Closed
Recitals Australia. Elder Hall. 26 Jun 2016
In his post-concert interview/Q&A with wunderkind Shuarn Hern Lee, the inestimable Graham Abbott suggested Lee’s playing was “sublime”. High praise indeed, and much deserved. Lee is only thirteen years old and already has an impressive diary of international engagements and a repertoire that traverses major works from the baroque, classical, romantic and twentieth century periods.
His generous Elder Hall recital programme included Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Balakirev, and every piece demonstrated his exceptional technical expertise and astonishing musicianship for someone so young. It is one thing to get the notes right, but quite a different thing to communicate a strong sense of the music and what makes it ‘tick’. Lee achieved both, in buckets!
In interview Shuarn Hern Lee quipped that he treats concert programming as if planning a dinner menu. Following that metaphor, Balakirev’s phenomenally difficult Islamey – fantasie orientale was relegated to a mere dessert! Islamey puts most pianists to the sword; it is not often performed in recital because of its near impenetrability, and to play it at the end of a programme that is already demanding in many respects, and play it exceptionally well, is a testament to Lee’s pianistic prowess.
He prefaced each piece with a long pause – as much as twenty seconds – which was almost uncomfortable from an audience perspective, as if we were intruding on a private communion. After each silence was over Lee gave himself over to a driving force that released him, and us, into quite a different place.
Lee gave each movement of Haydn’s Sonata No. 60 a distinct personality; lightness where it was needed, and strength where the piece demanded it, but perhaps a little too much on the forte side of the ledger, which was also the case in the sotto voce section of Chopin’s Ballade No. 2 in F. Lee imbued the Ballade with a degree of anguish and hurt that was commensurate with the piece supposedly being Chopin’s homage to Polish ‘national martyrdom’.
Liszt’s Rhapsodie espagnole, which is perhaps better known in the form of Ferruccio Busoni’s orchestral arrangement, is a show piece because of the technical ordeals it presents to the pianist. Lee handled the rapid octaves and chords with apparent ease and achieved a bell-like effect on the Steinway.
Beethoven’s Sonata No 16. in G, Op. 31/1, is somewhat quixotic and transitional in nature: it sits between more well-known Pastorale (No.15) and Tempest (No. 17). Shuarn Hern Lee perhaps stressed too much of the humor in the piece and took it a pace that overshadowed its expressivity. His handling of the ornamentation in the adagio second movement was superb.
With Debussy’s L’isle joyeuse we started to get a deeper insight into Lee’s emerging sophistication as an interpreter of music. Just stopping short of being a little heavy handed, Lee relished the exuberance of the piece and extracted every nuance.
And then to the Islamey. It almost defies description – it is a brute of a piece. I am not aware whether Lee used some of the easier alternative passages that are available, but whether he did or not, his performance was visually and aurally spectacular.
And that he should have enough energy left to deliver a Chopin nocturne for an encore.
This young man is a remarkable musician. Technically he is awesome, and musically he is on a very rapid path to something quite special.
Congratulations to Mark de Raad and Recitals Australia for bringing this musical sensation to Adelaide.
Kym Clayton
When: 26 Jun
Where: Elder Hall
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 24 Jun 2016
The programming for this concert had a ‘gala’ feel about it and the audience loved it. The Adelaide Town Hall stage was stuffed to overflowing with an expanded orchestra that tapped the full range of the audio spectrum, including piano and celeste as rank and file instruments, harp, and expanded percussion and woodwind. The program allowed additional attention to be given to every section of the orchestra and the ASO was in fine form under the impassioned but tight control of Principal Conductor Nicholas Carter.
The ASO’s artistic team assembled a ‘masterful’ program, comprising Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (that achieved household popularity through the Disney animated 1940 film Fantasia), Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3, White Ghost Dancing by contemporary Australian composer Ross Edwards, and Stravinsky’s exciting Petrushka.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice highlighted the mesmerizing beauty of the bassoon and contrabassoon. Carter and the ASO gave White Ghost Dancing an almost whimsical feel and allowed the mix of dance rhythms to come to the fore. It is a sweet evocative piece and comes in at around 10 minutes, which is nowhere near long enough! More Ross Edwards please! He is a national treasure.
Petrushka is a strong, bold and dramatic piece and it saw two string instruments ‘die on stage’! (Well, they suffered broken strings mid-performance!). Ewan Bramble (Associate Principal cello) has to be one of the unluckiest members of the ASO, for this is (at least) the second time he has had to swap his instrument with a colleague because of a broken string. Petrushka is of course a ballet and it is one of the liveliest in the repertoire. The music has everything and its opposite: it is both lyrical and harshly mocking; noisy and delicate; toe-tappingly ordered, and then messy; dissonant and then harmonious. It is exciting, it is Stravinsky at his best and the ASO nailed it.
The star of the evening was thirty-one year old Russian pianist Konstantin Shamray who put the Prokofiev ‘to the sword’ in a dazzling display of technical expertise and musical brilliance. Shamray was so self-assured in his mastery over what is probably one of Prokofiev’s most difficult and best loved compositions, that he almost came across as being nonchalant during his performance. The first movement saw extended passages with his two hands interlocked as they played intricately dense passages at a blistering pace, and with astonishing accuracy and precise dynamics. It’s all poised on a knife’s edge ready to crash apart should there be any miscalculation, but it was safe in his hands. In the third there is opportunity for histrionics at the keyboard, but Shamray had none of it. He sat confidently and in command at the piano, and with seasoned forearm strength he rarely leaned into the keyboard and there was no display of emotion or affectation. At the end he took his bows and almost seemed bemused at the thunderous applause. He even had energy in reserve to offer a Chopin encore!
During the final bows of the evening carter took time to single out every section of the orchestra, and they thoroughly deserved it, especially those who calmly dealt with broken instruments as if it was nothing.
Kym Clayton
When: 24 Jun
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed