Intervarsity Choral Festival. St Peter’s Cathedral, North Adelaide. 19 Jan 2019
Singing in a choir is an intensely social and uplifting experience. Listening to a polished choir is also deeply satisfying, and the recent one-off performance by the 70th Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival Choir was just that.
Performed in the sublime aesthetic of St Peter’s Cathedral, the 80-plus strong choir was joined by a small 11-piece string orchestra as well as guest soprano Charlotte Kelso, pipe organist Andrew Georg, and pianist Alistair Knight. The assembled forces were directed and well conducted by Peter Kelsall.
Surprisingly, the eclectic and generous program had the special distinction that every composer is still living! The program began with an evocative performance of Stars by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds. The choir entered from the front of the cathedral and processed down the sides carrying so-called ‘tuned wine glasses’ that the choristers made sing in the usual way by rubbing the rims with moistened fingers. The eerie yet haunting sound was the perfect accompaniment to a song that pays wondrous homage to the infinity of stars above. What a beginning!
This was followed by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s Northern Lights (which gave its name to the title of the concert), and then Swedish composer Jan Sandström’s setting of the German Christmas carol Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (A Rose Has Sprung Up) by Renaissance composer Michael Praetorius. The diction of the tenors and basses was superb.
The rest of the first half of the program included Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat and Jonathan Dove’s Seek Him That Maketh The Seven Stars, as well as Eric Whiteacre’s The Seal Lullaby and Morten Lauridsen’s Nocturnes, which were both particularly well handled, although the soprano lines were not always crystal clear.
The crown in the evening was an impassioned performance of Norwegian Kim André Arnesen’s Magnificat. The Latin text was set to a refreshing score that celebrated the song of praise in a modern and unexpected way. It includes repeated motifs that are hummable (!) and incredibly transporting, particularly the poignant opening and the ‘Ecce enim’ section that introduces the beautiful solo soprano voice of Charlotte Kelso. The whole thing comes in at around 35 minutes and it is joyous. The musical accompaniment provided by strings, piano and organ put a huge smile on the faces of the choristers and of the appreciative audience. The performance was made even more especial by it being an Australian première. Undoubtedly this will be first of many performances in Australia.
In whichever city the next Intervarsity Choral Festival is held, if you are there then include a performance of the choir on your itinerary. You will not be disappointed.
Kym Clayton
When: 19 Jan
Where: St Peter’s Cathedral
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Dunstan Playhouse. 4 Dec 2018
Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds has been variously described as a modern classical composer (which is surely a contradiction in terms), a minimalist, and a post-minimalist. His music incorporates a range of stylistic influences including electronic, post-rock, and ‘classical’. His genius is to nod to them all but produce something that is unique and that appeals to a very broad audience. His music is infused with melancholia that transcends sadness and becomes uplifting and optimistic. His compositions often have an air of conventionality about them but when one listens carefully – which his music begs and deserves– one realises there is much going on that confronts the orthodox.
The stage of the dimly lit Dunstan Playhouse is set with a concert grand piano, two upright pianos, a drum kit (acoustic and electronic), places for a conventional string quartet and banks of lights that flicker on an off in obeisance to some unseen controller. Arnalds takes the stage, acknowledges the audience, sits at the grand, and plays. He is then joined by the drummer and the quartet, and an almost tentative performance of an understated composition begins. The quartet feels its way and gradually fills the auditorium with a minimalist yet mellifluous sound. Arnalds asks the audience if they could sing, and being up for anything they do creating a tuneful single note that Arnalds records. This note is then looped into a performance of Only The Winds, which is arguably the backbone of his 2013 album For Now I Am Winter. Throughout the acoustic pianos can be seen to be playing themselves but this time the unseen controller is Stratus - software/hardware created by Arnalds that directs the pianos to play in response to what is being played on the ‘live’ instruments. The effect is unique at all times and produces a haunting accompaniment that is comforting and predictable at times, but then unexpected and rule-breaking at others.
The audience are spellbound throughout, and many close their eyes as they let the music wash over them, involuntarily swaying to the rhythm and the meter, only to be roused from their reverie with the crescendo of the seductive drone of the quartet and the spiky percussion.
The concert is one to be seen as well to be heard. The lighting changes colour to suit the music’s mood and is also directional; sometimes aiming heaven-wards as the melody strives for something unseen and other-worldly. The lighting towers pulse in time with the beat and seem to be a living thing itself. Sometimes it does what one might expect, but at other times it too violates its own rules.
On occasions Arnald speaks to the audience from the piano. His softly spoken voice and gentle manner add an extra dimension to the performance, especially when he dedicates a piece to his father and another to his late grandmother. It is surprising to observe the audience reaction: young hard-rock enthusiasts (judging from their T-shirts) as well as older people (who would probably look more comfortable in a chamber performance of a Mozart string quartet) are all drawn deep in to Arnalds’ inner-world and glimpse his psyche with admiration and respect.
The concert finishes with Arnalds alone on stage playing a sparsely textured yet deeply comforting piece on one of the uprights. His back is to the audience, but his heart is laid bare for all to see.
Kym Clayton
When: 4 Dec
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: Closed
Master Series 10. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town hall. 16 Nov 2018
If you had never before heard Beethoven’s iconic Symphony No.9 in D minor – the so-called Choral Symphony – then this reading of it by conductor Nicholas Carter and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra would have been the perfect introduction. It doesn’t get much better.
The tenth and last in this year’s Master Series is dedicated to Richard Gill AO; the much loved and respected Australian conductor and music educator who passed away last month. Speaking from the podium to the sold-out Adelaide Town Hall audience, Carter notes that Gill was one of his most important mentors. The programme notes state that Carter credits “Richard for opening [Carter’s] eyes to the world of music and to the world beyond music” and that Carter “quickly grew from pupil to apprentice to colleague and peer.” Indeed, Adelaide audiences have been witness to Carter’s rise in prominence as a conductor. He now travels the world from one podium to another, thrilling audiences as he goes, and tonight’s concert is such an example.
The Adelaide Town Hall stage is significantly enlarged to accommodate the full strength Adelaide Symphony orchestra as well as the sixty-strong Adelaide Chamber Singers Symphonic Chorus and another four solo vocalists. (The choir comprises the internationally and critically acclaimed Adelaide Chamber Singers substantially augmented with additional choristers.)
It is an impressive sight to behold.
The short first-half of the programme is the Adelaide Symphony’s first ever performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, which was composed in the mid 1960s. It is a setting of excerpts from six Psalms and is redolent with Bernstein trademarks: rhythmic complexity, jazz inflections, unusual time signatures (such as 7/4), unstinting orchestration (including two harps, which Carter ensures are clearly heard and valued), and challenging vocal lines. The second movement features the talented boy-treble Charlie Wells who sings the sweetest vocal line with exceptional clarity, especially in the almost-still moments. The combination of the lower strings and the male chorus is deeply satisfying in the final third movement. During the bows, the bunch of flowers presented to Wells was almost as big as he was!
There is surely not a soul alive that has not been introduced to Beethoven’s last and mightiest Symphony No.9. (Think ‘Ode to Joy’ – that consummate choral anthem to the brotherhood of humanity, peaceful coexistence and happiness – all of which seem increasingly elusive in our modern world.) Carter sets a reasonably brisk pace from the outset and has the orchestra seated in a non-traditional arrangement with the bass section on the extreme audience-left, the cellos near the centre-middle, and the violins and violas traversing the width of the stage. Whether or not this placement is needed in part to accommodate the choir, it also has an important auditory effect: it draws out the ‘inseparability’ of the music by reducing the focus on individual sections and allowing thematic material to seemingly emerge from the assembled musical might on the stage.
The separation of the double basses and celli is particularly affecting in the fourth movement. That said, Carter’s treatment of the dynamical structure of the composition is beautifully thought out, so that when an individual instrument or section does momentarily have its ‘time in the sun’, the result reminds us that brotherhood and union is nonetheless reliant on utilising our differences.
Carl Crossin prepares the choir with his usual attention to detail. At full volume, the articulation of the massed voices is astonishing. Even if one has no clue of the actual sung German text, one can still discern every word. Priceless.
The four solo vocalists stand with the choir, and even though they are located behind the might of the orchestra, they too are impressive in their clarity. Soprano Jacqueline Porter and mezzo-soprano Anna Dowsley combine exquisitely. Paul O’Neill’s tenor lines are rich and melodious, and bass Andrew Collis is nothing less than commanding.
What an uplifting concert and superb end to the 2018 Master Series. Bring on 2019!
Bravo Nicholas Carter, bravo Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, bravo Carl Crossin and the Adelaide Chamber Singers Symphonic Chorus, and bravo solo vocalists.
Vale Richard Gill
Kym Clayton
When: 16 Nov
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Entertainment Centre. 10 Nov 2018
Hindmarsh swarmed with Harry Potters, Hermione Graingers, Ron Weasleys and even a few Snapes.
Flags of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff flew inside the Entertainment Centre and children queued patiently to have flag symbols painted on their arms and faces in the lead-up to the big ASO/Potter night. The place was packed. Burgers and chips and soft drinks were allowed into the auditorium.
The ASO was spread out in shimmering formality beneath the huge cinema screen, with the mighty Elder Conservatorium Chorale Graduate Singers lined up neatly behind the musicians. It was a cast of thousands with Hamish McKeith conducting.
The crowd, for it was more a crowd than a conventional audience, cheered loudly as he called out to ask who belonged to which Harry Potter house. Everyone had one. This critic was quickly assigned Ravenclaw. The crowd was told to roar and cheer however it chose in the Harry Potter scheme of things. It roared approbation. And the orchestra struck up.
For the next several hours, the atmosphere was really quite magical, as the J.K. Rowling tale of magicians and sorcerers and weird and wonderful creatures evolved. The orchestra sailed with the moving pictures. It soared in fabulous crescendos and it tinkled in thrills. It moaned in apprehension and growled in fury. It turned ethereal in the joys of flight and deeply dramatic as violence broke out. It was a traveller in time and space. It was sublime.
And the movie rolled on with its joys and fears and curses and spells and strange beasties of the earth and sky. It thrilled with its cast of characters of the ancient college of magical arts, its dark corridors and living paintings, its wonderful Buckbeak, the Hippogriff, and the slashing tree.
The two art forms were as a glorious one. But the crowd took nothing for granted. Harry Potter fans know when Harry Potter is getting the goods and it broke out into applause over and over when the orchestra’s performance had particularly pleased it.
Needless to say, the ovation at the end was mighty.
For, indeed, this collaboration between cult cinema and literature attracted a very fresh orchestral audience. The demographics were diverse but the enjoyment was universal.
Samela Harris
When: 10 Nov
Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Bookings: Closed
Next: 14 Sep, 2019
ASO with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Tickets on sale December 3.
Bookings: aso.com.au
Master Series 9. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 2 Nov 2018
The ninth in this year’s Master Series concert comprised a satisfying Mozart/Bruch/Stravinsky sandwich, but it would be too easy to suggest that the Bruch ‘filling’ was the main fare. Yes, Natsuko Yoshimoto’s performance of Bruch’s celebrated Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor borders on the sublime, and the orchestra’s performance of Mozart’s Symphony No.35 in D, ‘Haffner’ is refined and elegant, and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite is as exhilarating as it should be, but there was also something else happening.
The glue that holds it all together and allows the character of each piece to shine through with penetrating clarity is the American conductor Karina Canellakis. Only in her mid-thirties and making her Australian debut, Canellakis is relatively new to the conductor’s podium but has already signalled she is one to watch with her thoughtful yet expressive readings.
The Andante second movement of the Mozart and the Adagio second movement of the Bruch were highlights, with superb phrasing and sensible dynamics. Yoshimoto elicited tonally pure pianissimo notes while Canellakis ensured complementary balance from the orchestra.
At the tender age of twenty-seven, The Firebird was Stravinksy’s first large-scale work for orchestra. Conceived as a ballet, it was updated several times (partly so that Stravinsky could enjoy asserting copyright after it was stolen away from him by by the communist USSR government). The 1945 orchestral suite version, as performed, has ever since been considered an almost indispensable item of the repertoire, and it is no wonder. It is bold, brash, exciting, melodic, and sensitive. It gives the opportunity for all sections of the orchestra to shine through, and at the end Canellakis takes the time to share the kudos with every section of the orchestra, with special mention to the horns and woodwind.
Indeed, many an audience member could be heard humming the foremost horn melody line as they left the Town Hall into the balmy spring evening.
Kym Clayton
When: 2 Nov
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed