Selby & Friends: Triple Treat

Elder Hall, University of Adelaide. 25 Aug 2024

Selby & Friends begin their current national tour in Adelaide with an all-Beethoven program of chamber masterworks for violin, piano and cello entitled Triple Treat. Joining Kathryn Selby AM are violinist Susie Park and cellist Timo-Veikko Valve.

The “headline” piece is Carl Reineke’s arrangement of Beethoven’s Concerto in C for Violin, Cello and Piano, Op.56 – usually referred to as the Triple Concerto – and what a fabulous arrangement it is. Arrangements (read ‘reductions’) of concerti are common and the piano often plays the part of the orchestra, but when the concerto also includes the piano as a featured instrument, then the musical equation becomes somewhat more challenging and complicated. Reineke’s arrangement steers a well-crafted path between foregrounding all three instruments and using them to broaden the sound palette to emulate the orchestra. Of course, none of this amounts to much if the trio of players do not sufficiently draw out the distinction between soloist and ensemble. Happily, Selby, Park, and Valve achieve precisely that, and more: their individual and collective performances are refreshing and first rate.

The Triple Concerto is intensely melody driven, and the audience greets its opening bars with smiles as if a welcome friend has come to visit. The beautifully delicate conversation between the piano and cello at the beginning of the second movement, which soon includes a wistful violin, is a highlight of the performance.

The scene for the Triple was set by two Beethoven piano trios from different stages of his compositional life. The Piano Trio in B-flat, Op.11, was written when Beethoven was in his late-twenties – in his so-called ‘early period’, which is typified by Viennese classical elegance, clarity, restraint, and balance, and sometimes by the use of tunes that were familiar to the public. Selby, who often speaks directly to the audience in her concerts about the program being performed, referred to such tunes as ‘street songs”. Indeed, the third movement of the B-flat trio includes ample references to the aria Preia ch’io I’impegno that can be traced back to the opera L'amour Marinaro by Joseph Weigl (who was a friend of Beethoven). Selby, Park, and Valve begin the work with precise, elegant and punctuated phrasing. Selby produces astonishing bell-like tones from the Steinway in the adagio second movement, and Park and Valve capitalise on the jaunty rhythms in the third.

The Piano Trio in E-flat, Op.70, is an altogether different beast. Deriving from Beethoven’s middle period, the Op.70 is harmonically much more sophisticated and this is plainly evident in the very opening of the first movement. The strong almost drone-like phrases in the second movement sees Valve command the piece with Selby and Park providing authoritative lyricism, which continues into the third movement with Selby producing gorgeous filigree phrases in the right hand. In the finale, Park produces stunningly even and vibrant sounds across the full tonal range and across all dynamics. It’s a masterclass in articulation, control and expressivity.

The concert is indeed a triple treat and will be repeated in other centres across the country in the coming week. Highly recommended.

Kym Clayton

When: 25 Aug 2024

Where: Elder Hall

Bookings: Closed

Touring info: selbyandfriends.com.au

Symmetry

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Grainger Studio. 2 Aug 2024

Symmetry is the second concert in the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s 2024 Sanctuary Series, and it was perfectly named. There was indeed symmetry in the program, which included the first movement (Voices of Silence) from Pēteris Vasks’ Symphony No.1, Huang Ruo’s A Dust in Time, Gavin Bryars’ In Nomine (after Purcell), and then Valentin Silvestrov’s Hymn–2001 at the end.

Sanctuary Series concerts are performed in the ASO’s rehearsal venue The Grainger Studio, and two types of seating are on offer: conventional tiered seats, and … yoga mats! For this concert the ASO is reduced to its string sections (and in reduced numbers). The music on offer is deliberately meditative and soothing, the auditorium lights are almost fully dimmed, and formality is intentionally stripped away (even though some in the audience have come directly from work and are in office attire and suits). Applause is expressly forbidden, and the orchestra takes no bows or acknowledgement. It is all about you and both your emotional and physiological response to the music. Physiological because as you allow yourself to deeply relax and concentrate on nothing but the music, you can almost feel your metabolism slowing down, and for many in the audience, gently induced moments of “…innocent sleep that soothes away all our worries …that relieves the weary laborer and heals hurt minds” take over (with apologies to Shakespeare).

It truly is a wonderful way to listen to (some) music.

Voices of Silence begins with most delicately, almost inaudibly, as cello and violin strings are gently rubbed. The sound builds as if one is gradually becoming attuned to the murmurings of a distant crowd of people that is gradually getting closer. The melodic material is minimalistic in content but maximal in its impact: sustained notes around which dance transitory motifs that are evocative of sorrow, loss and solitude. Simplicity continues with A Dust in Time: two-note phrases, one played after the other, rising, falling, one long, the other short. How long before one becomes captive to the sound and loses track of time? Hypnotic. When it almost seems too much the music starts pulsating, cruelly bringing one back to the present as it becomes more evenly measured as it announces its ending. In Nomine (after Purcell) also uses two note figures. Symmetry. It is unfussed, contemplative and almost unemotional, but it has the opposite effect. As the music plays, one starts to observe the audience, especially the figures lying on the floor on yoga mats. They slowly come to the front of one’s mind and one notices the shapes of their silhouettes, the way they are dressed, partners holding hands, then releasing. All in the name of what? Individuals all responding to musical stimulus in their own way. Hymn–2001 then brings us all back to the present. The melody is more obvious. It is dreamy and languid, but life and hope rises out of it as a solo violin gently demands to be noticed. And we do notice it, and the concert is then over.

Gentle and private bliss.

Kym Clayton

When: 2 Aug

Where: Grainger Studios

Bookings: Closed

The Choir Of King’s College, Cambridge

Muisca Viva. Adelaide Town Hall. 31 Jul 2024

The ultimate distinction in any human endeavour, arguably, is to become part of the furniture. In the world of choral singing, it is hard to imagine the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge not being there. Indeed, King’s College Choir was established in 1441 by King Henry VI to provide daily singing, and it has continued to do so at the highest level of proficiency since then. Part of furniture? Most certainly, and what exquisite and precious furniture.

The choir consists of 17 boy and 14 adult male choristers. They are all students at King’s College at Cambridge University or an associated school. With almost military precision they file on stage with crossed arms supporting their songbooks and dressed formally: grey trousers, white shirts, bow ties (for the adults) and straight ties for the boys, and black undergraduate gowns. They are joined by their two organists. They all look immaculate. They form three tiered ranks and are then joined by Director of Music, Daniel Hyde dressed similarly. He looks dignified, in total control, and benevolent. One senses the choristers have a deep respect and admiration for him, and they should. He is an internationally regarded musician in his own right, and was once a member of the choir himself. He’s grown up through the ranks. He understands the choir’s history and traditions, and his musical and choral knowledge is second to none.

As is often the case with Musica Viva tours, there are two programs on offer, and the programs prepared by Hyde vary according to the availability or not of a grand pipe organ at the venue. The Adelaide Town Hall is blessed with a magnificent pipe organ built by J.W. Walker and Sons located in Brandon, Essex, which is a mere 50 kilometres or so from Cambridge, and so the program performed here included pieces that significantly feature the organ.

The program included choral works by G.F. Handel, G. Gabrielli, M. Lauridsen, E. Bainton, D. Barbeler, and M. Duruflé. There were also two substantial organ solos by O. Messiaen.

The evening began with a crowd pleaser – Handel’s anthem Zadok the Priest. The organ set a brisk pace throughout the ninety second introduction before reaching the crescendo that stuns the audience with the choir erupting with the iconic text. It’s stirring stuff, and the choir of 31 voices sounded more like one of twice that number. This reviewer sensed that the audience would have liked to hear more like Zadok: maybe Franck’s Panis Angelicus, an excerpt from Allegri’s Miserere, Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, or Parry’s I Was Glad. The King’s Choir has sold almost uncountable numbers of CDs with these same titles.

But it’s perfectly fine to program a concert with compositions that are less well known, and Hyde did precisely that. The second half of the program entirely comprised Duruflé’s setting of the catholic requiem mass. The excellent program notes include: ‘If you are not an organist, you probably know little about Maurice Duruflé: he wrote little, kept less, and almost all of it is church music, for organ, choir, or both.’ It is a substantial work – 45 minutes in duration – and unlike better known Requiems such as by Verdi, Mozart and Fauré, it doesn’t really inflame the passions and transport us to other places other than to a peaceful corner of one’s own mind. Perhaps not a bad thing.

Musica Viva concerts frequently include world premières of new music, and this concert was no exception. Australian composer Damian Barbeler has adapted text from Australian poet Judith Nangala Crispin’s poem On Finding Charlotte in the Anthropological Record and set it to music that is rich, varied and evocative of peaceful but mysterious Australian landscapes. The poem won the 2020 Blake Poetry Prize and focusses on Crispin’s 20-year search to uncover information about her Indigenous Australian Heritage. The text is not easy to articulate in song and it was helpful having the poem printed in full in the program, otherwise some of it would have been lost. The text includes the powerful phrase ‘Can you tell me who I am’, which, thankfully, was heard clearly and was enhanced by music that was empathetic to the confronting messaging.

The choir’s performance of Gabrielli’s O magnum mysterium (composed in 1557) , and Morten Lauridsen’s setting of the same text (composed nearly 450 years later in 1994), were fascinating contrasts. Edgar Bainton’s And I Saw a New Heaven provided a connection to the tradition of English choral music that was largely missing from the program, with the exception of the Handel. Perhaps the connection might have been better provided with English organ music rather than the two pieces by Olivier Messiaen? Regardless of the merits of programming choices, the two organists Harrison Cole and Paul Greally were magnificent in their performances of Messiaen’s Les Anges and Transports de joie, both of which are difficult to play and impressive to hear.

At the end of the the final exultant and long sustained note of Transports de joie, the almost capacity Adelaide Town Hall audience could be heard to gasp in amazed and awe-struck appreciation. It might have been better if the concert finished with a similar wow factor rather than the muted contentment of the Requiem.

Kym Clayton

When: 31 Jul

Where: Adelaide Town Hall

Bookings: Closed

The Music Of Hans Zimmer

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Festival Theatre. 11 Jul 2024

For a number of years now, the music of Hans Zimmer has been showcased (and rightly so!) in various major concerts around the world, with more to come throughout 2024 (at least). Tonight’s concert – one of two sold-out performances given by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in the Adelaide Festival Theatre – was recently performed in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney and featured the talents of their local preeminent orchestra. The concerts all feature Nicholas Buc as conductor, Dr Dan Golding and Andrew Pogson as hosts, and a local soprano (Desiree Frahn in Adelaide).

It would be difficult to find someone who has not previously listened to the music of Hans Zimmer, even if they didn’t know it. His name is writ large in the world of film music, and he has scored (or collaborated in scoring) the soundtracks for mega hits such as Gladiator, The Lion King, Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, Driving Miss Daisy, the (Christopher Nolan) Batman trilogy, The Da Vinci Code, and even The Thin Red Line, The Holiday, Kung Fu Panda and Interstellar. Tonight’s concert featured compositions from all of these, and the audience lapped it up!

The stage of the Festival Theatre was absolutely chockers with the Adelaide Symphony at full might. Even though a number of guest players were filling in for absent principals, conductor Nicholas Buc was working with an aggregate of phenomenal musical talent, and the audience showed their immense appreciation during the curtain call as Buc acknowledged each of the sections of the orchestra. Because of the nature of the music, the full extent of percussion instruments was on display with a gun team of five percussionists moving efficiently from one instrument to another. The standard orchestra was also supplemented by guitars, harp, and electric keyboards that played piano and pipe organ parts.

The audience was diverse, and ages ranged from nine to ninety, such is the appeal of Zimmer’s film music. For some (many?), this was their first experience of a live orchestra, and what an experience it was. And for the dedicated film goer, who doesn’t think they are ‘into’ serious art music, this concert gave them a new reference point to appreciate film scores: actually seeing it played, rather than merely hearing it whilst watching the actual film. In his closing remarks, co-MC Andrew Pogson challenged the audience to ‘take a chance’ and go along and experience the orchestra in one of its more traditional concerts.

Dearest gentle reader, to coin an oft used phrase from the Bridgerton TV series, if you are yet to experience the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra performing fabulous music from the classical repertoire, may this reviewer exhort you to heed Pogson’s advice!

An enjoyable aspect of the concert was the commentary provided by Golding and Pogson about Zimmer’s career, and some of the ‘theoretical’ features of his music. It was fascinating to learn, and have demonstrated by the orchestra, the direct links between the iconic song Non, je ne regrette rien made famous by French chanteuse Édith Piaf and a melody found in Zimmer’s Suite from Inception. There were other similar bon mots that had the audience oohing and ahhing!

The scoring of Zimmer’s music usually includes a vast array of electronic instruments and techno aural wizardry. The arrangements used in tonight’s concert mostly did not include such instruments, and the ‘attack’ and ‘punch’ that is inherent in Zimmer’s music sometimes did not fully come through with a mostly acoustic orchestra. But did the audience care about that? Not at all! They had a great time, and their final applause was loud, lengthy, effusive and replete with wolf whistles, cheers and foot stamping – something more expected from a mosh pit than a symphony orchestra concert. Such is the magic of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and the music of Hans Zimmer!

Kym Clayton

When: 11 Jul 2024
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: Closed