The Rite of Spring. Adelaide Festival Theatre. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. 28 June 2013
Master Series 6, one of the shortest concerts in the series ever, was an object lesson in the emergence of modernism and a thrilling demonstration of the musical might of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
Guest conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier – son of the famous French cellist and composer Paul Tortelier – warmed-up the audience with a clearly articulated reading of Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 in E-flat. Scored for a modestly sized ensemble comprising woodwind, horns and trumpets, timpani and strings, the expansive Festival Theatre stage seemed as if it would engulf the charm of the music. The clarinets were in fine form — Dean Newcombe is a treasure — and the Viennese dance and drinking songs that featured in the minuet and trio of the third movement were especially well played. However, the symphony is not a crowd pleaser in the same way as Mozart 25 and 40, and the audience was restrained in its applause, but this was to change later in the program!
After the interval, the grace of Mozart was left well and truly behind, the orchestra visibly increased in size, and a musical arsenal that is the antithesis of the classical and romantic eras replaced tonality and harmonic function. Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) was inspired by a poem of the same name by French poet Stéphane Mallarmé, and was later choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. It is one of Debussy’s best known and loved pieces and commences with a glorious flute solo that was beautifully played by Geoffrey Collins. Tortelier allowed the piece’s revolutionary structures and sounds to emerge clearly and articulately, and the dynamics were precisely controlled but never sounded clinical.
And thus to the main event, and the punters were shifting nervously in their seats as another phalanx of musicians took to the stage which by now was impressively full. I don’t recall the last time I saw two tubas on stage, not to mention Wagner tubas, bass trumpet, and seemingly additional players in almost every section of the orchestra. With a grand sweeping vertical gesture Tortelier invited Mark Gaydon to begin with what is perhaps the most famous bassoon-opening in the repertoire, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was underway. It is a phenomenal piece: it breaks all the rules; it introduces positively weird time signatures; primal rhythms; jarring intervals; evocative melodies that are briefly and teasingly introduced and then torn asunder rather than developed. It is stunning, and shocking, and when it was first performed 100 years ago it created a scandal. The public hated it. They jeered and booed, hissed and hurled insults at the dancers — it is a ballet — and Stravinsky’s supporters in the crowd in turn abused the abusers. It must have been a spectacle, but no such bad manners in the Festival Theatre.
When the animated Tortelier beat the last note there was a momentary hush. The audience then sucked air into its lungs and erupted with enthusiastic and unrestrained applause and whoops of appreciation.
Just magnificent and a reminder why it is so good to be alive!
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: Closed
