Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 9 May 2013
The format of the ASO’s Master Series concerts is reasonably set: an overture, a concerto, interval (which includes the opportunity to briefly meet the soloist in the foyer who is available to autograph your purchase of one of his/her CD’s that are on sale), followed by a symphony to finish the programme. In reviewing such concerts it’s not uncommon to single out the concerto and laud the talents of the soloist as the highlight of the evening, but not so for the recent Master Series 2 which was uniformly impressive.
The concert opened with Weber’s melodic Oberon Overture, and Polish guest conductor Michal Dworzynski and the ASO then gave an impassioned performance of Rachmaninov’s expansive and hyper melodic Symphony No.2. It is almost filmic – one can imagine it as the score to a romantic tour de force on the silver screen. And if that seems a bit of a stretch, it’s worth noting that the sweeping melody in the third movement was used by extravagantly coiffured pop singer Eric Carmen in his 1976 hit song ‘Never Gonna Fall in Love Again’. Yet again Dean Newcombe and Celia Craig were faultless on clarinet and oboe as they essayed the achingly beautiful but simple melodies, and Sarah Barrett and colleagues were toe-tappingly spot on with the glorious horn sections in the second movement.
Yevgeny Sudbin and Dworzynski combined beautifully in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2. A tall and slightly built man, Sudbin, sits quite close to the keyboard and displays considerable arm strength without obviously leaning forward. His superb technique allowed him to handle the difficult cadenza in the first movement with ease. Phrase after phrase were tossed off with precision, feeling and almost arrogance. Dworzynski controlled the dynamics of the orchestra to allow Sudbin’s musicality and the more playful moments of the composition to come through clearly, to the delight of the audience. Only in his early thirties, Sudbin’s star will surely shine brightly for many years to come.
This concert was also the first of the ASO’s Thursday evening concerts, and it provided the opportunity to dine with members of the ASO in the Town Hall’s David Spence Room as well. Something to think about next time!
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
