★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Adelaide Wind Orchestra. Arts Centre at St Peters Girls’ School. 4 Mar 2023
With over ninety minutes of high octane music from the movies performed by the Adelaide Wind Orchestra – one of Australia’s best wind orchestras – what a toe-tapping fantastic concert it was, and the large and near capacity audience lapped it up!
The sight of the AWO in performance is impressive. It’s a big outfit, and they fill many stages almost to overflowing. Tonight that was an issue for Conductor David Polain who strode to the front, took up his position with baton in hand, and then turned around and looked behind him to check how close he was to falling off the stage. He was close, very close, and his dry smile to the audience caused ripple of laughter!
Movie theme music is mostly written for a full orchestra, featuring the usual diversity of instruments with the strings forming the heart of the musical forces – not just predominantly wind instruments. A feature of AWO concerts is the quality of the musical arrangements they use, and tonight was no exception.
The program included themes and songs from Batman, Gladiator, Taxi Driver, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Incredibles, The Mission, Aladdin, as well as pieces from lesser well known films including Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and The Terminal, and the TV series Chernobyl.
The trombones, euphoniums and tuba were fabulous in the bracing theme from Batman, and the orchestra spliced music from Prince’s studio album Batman into the middle of it, as a nod to the fact that Danny Elfman refused and offer to collaborate with Prince to compose the music for the film! A fun fact, and a clever arrangement to blend Elfman and Prince together.
While all excellent, some of the arrangements really do miss the impact of strings. For example, some sections of the anthem from Gladiator yearned for strings to soften the sound while maintain the imperiousness of the sound of the brass. Sometimes, the additional clarinet parts just aren’t quite enough. With excellent work from the percussionists, the arrangement was reminiscent of Mars from Holst’s The Planets Suite.
Katie Marshall’s clarinet solo in Viktor’s Tale from The Terminal was nicely articulated and lively, and Daniel Burgess’ alto sax solo in Taxi Driver was gloriously languid and oozed sleaziness. Paul Komninos’ cool work on double bass kept the pulse alive.
The scores from the Lord of the Rings films are epic and might be considered modern day versions of Wagnerian operatic scores. The music is expansive, and the musical ideas take considerable time to develop and emerge, and this can present issues for orchestras (and conductors) as they strive to maintain coherence and persistence, and there were a few timing issues this evening. But Howard Shore’s genius is undeniable, and his music swept the audience up!
The opening theme to Star Wars is one of the most recognisable tunes ever written, and tonight it began with an emphatic and dramatic flourish from the trumpets. It’s a challenging piece to ‘keep together’, and Polain kept on top of it as he marshalled his troops to deal with the trick syncopated rhythms and contrapuntal melodies.
After the interval eleven musicians took to the stage and without ceremony performed a haunting rendition of the closing song in the HBO TV series Chernobyl composed by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. The song is evocatively titled Vichnaya Pamyat (Eternal memory). How fitting this should be played to serve as a stark reminder to us all of the current horrors facing Ukraine.
The Incredits, from The Incredibles, was arranged by David Polain himself, and it was fun and lively, and again the trumpets were excellent as was the drum kit.
The highlight of the evening however was the excerpt from the Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. MC Ben Bersten mischievously suggested that Polain was likely the only person in Adelaide who knew the film and had a recording of it! The arrangement (by composer/arranger Darrol Barry) was a standout of the program, with a careful balance between woodwinds and brass, excellent focus on oboe (beautifully played by Jo Bridgman), and varied rhythms and textures that kept one’s interest constantly aroused. It was just plain fun!
Jo Bridgman featured beautifully in Gabriel’s Oboe, from The Mission. The arrangement is by American award-winning composer, conductor and arranger Robert Longfield, and it was edited by AWO trumpeter Jason Geddie. To this reviewer’s ear, the edited arrangement favoured the clarinets and lower brass and resulted in an aural quality that bordered on heaviness that occasionally did not suite the lightness inherent in Morricone’s original.
The program finished with an extended medley from Aladdin, which thrilled the audience! Polain was at the top of his game and produced a tight and hugely entertaining performance from his charges!
AWO – you’ve done it again! What a first rate concert, replete with entertaining and inimitable patter from MC Ben Bersten (who, it seems, is a recent fan of the artificial intelligence text generator ChatGPT!)
Kym Clayton
When: 4 to 5 Mar
Where: Arts Centre at St Peters Girls’ School
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Grainger Studio. 3 Feb 2023
Tranquillity is the first in the ASO’s two event Sanctuary Series, designed to present serene music in the most relaxing and informal setting possible.
The expansive Grainger Studio, the Hindley Street home of ASO, is transformed into a sanctuary from the troubles of the outside world. Standard seating is available if you want, or you can opt for a yoga-mat on the carpeted auditorium floor very close to the orchestra. The mats are very popular with both young and not-so-young. You don’t need to be a yoga aficionado of course – just use the mat as a day bed, lay back, close your eyes, and let the music wash over you. The room is darkened, and the only lights are music stand lamps and a few flickering (electric) candles.
The music of course is carefully curated to evoke calm and peace. Tranquillity features the music of Arvo Part, Philip Glass, Glyn Lehmann, and Valentin Silvestrov. All pieces are fine examples of modern minimalist composition, and they are all ripe with soothing melody and hypnotic interest.
Pärt’s Sequentia is sparsely written partially in the form of a canon, and the moments of silence in it are as important as the notes themselves. Strings are played without vibrato, and it has the effect of cleansing your musical palette ready for what follows.
Glass’s The Hours Suite is an arrangement of music from Stephen Daldry’s 2002 film The Hours adapted from Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which is based on aspects of the life of author Virginia Woolf. The film stars Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, and Meryl Streep. The Suite is essentially a three movement piano concerto scored for piano, strings, harp and celeste. Under David Sharp’s baton, the orchestra was too robust in the opening movement – perhaps too full-bodied especially at the moments when new musical ideas entered. Pianist Michael Ierace captured the fragile beauty of the composition throughout, particularly in the second movement with redolent accompaniment on the cellos, violas, and basses.
Pärt’s Summa began its life as an a capella vocal composition but was later recast for string orchestra. Its harmonies are absorbing and the repetition of a simple motif within it has a satisfying meditative effect. The audience was spellbound and ghostly quiet. Not even a cough.
For this reviewer, the highlight of the concert was Glyn Lehmann’s The Wisdom of Trees, which receives its world première performance in this series. Lehmann is a South Australian and is well known for his vocal compositions, especially those written for youth choirs, and sound designs for theatre productions. The Wisdom of Trees, like the Pärt compositions featured in today’s concert, is built on pristine melodic lines that are often first introduced by a single instrument. Again, Michael Ierace’s pianistic skills shaped the composition form the start, and Cameron Hill’s solo violin sections were ‘goose bump’ material. The Wisdom of Trees appears to be straight forward: introduction of thematic material, development, re-statement, and variation. But that would be selling it short, in the same way that to say Glass’s The Hours is merely repetitive. It is transporting and deserves to be heard again on the mainstage.
The concert concluded with Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s Silent Music for Strings. It has been said that this composition awakens memories, and, in their silence, the audience may well have thought about the shocking events that are unfolding in Silvestrov’s homeland. It is hard to reconcile those ongoing events with the beauty of Silent Music for Strings, and at its conclusion it was appropriate that the orchestra should silently leave the auditorium and then the audience without applause. Just contemplation.
The second in the Sanctuary Series will be performed in December and is entitled Eternal Beauty. It will feature music by Pärt, Sibelius, Satie, and Delius. If you work in the city, don’t delay in booking a yoga-mat seat (they sell quickly!) and be prepared to let the trouble of the working week be gently washed away in a calmed sea of serenity!
Kym Clayton
When: Concluded
Where: Grainger Studio
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Hills Chamber Players. St John’s Church. 22 Jan 2023
Helen Ayres commented from the stage that the great pianist and musicologist Charles Rosen once opined that the downplaying of Clara Schumann as a composer was “perhaps the chief disaster of the nineteenth century’s prejudice against female composers, which has lasted, indeed, until today”. By including Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op.17 (composed 1845-46) in today’s program as part of the 2023 Adelaide Hills Summer Festival of Music, The Seraphim Trio have said today’s the day! enough! let her be heard! And hear Clara Schumann’s music we did!
Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor sees the violin (Helen Ayres) first state the principal subject in the opening movement that is the taken up by the piano (Anna Goldsworthy), with the cello (Timothy Nankervis) providing a solid backbone. The scherzo second movement strains against the tempo di menuetto pace but the violin keeps it all in check before giving over to lush and sonorous pastoral motifs in the andante third movement that feature some superb playing by Goldsworthy. The fugal allegretto final movement allows all three instruments to shine, and the writing allows them all to be heard distinctly at the same time. Goldsworthy elicits some stunning bell-like tones, and the audience loves it.
Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E flat major, Op.70, No.2, followed the Schumann, and Goldsworthy remarked that of all of Beethoven’s piano trios (there were thirteen in total), this particular one is not frequently performed in concert. It is therefore pleasing that ensembles of the class of The Seraphim Trio are prepared to breathe life into such compositions. It begins with mellow strains, almost tentative, before the melody becomes truly evident, and again Goldsworthy produces beautiful bell-like tones from the upper register. The Seraphims capture the playful nature of the allegretto second movement which concludes almost with false finishes as the three instruments jockey for the last word. The allegretto third movement has a song like quality, and the attractive interplay between the strings and the piano rescues it from all becoming too predictable. But it’s the last movement where the true interest lies. Goldsworthy’s pianism provides the momentum for the piece and has the audience on the edge of their seats, as the piece settles into a calm place before finishing in a dramatic flurry.
What a joy to hear two infrequently performed trios in the warm ambience of a gracious old building by a truly superb ensemble!
Kym Clayton
When: The Festival concludes 23 January 2023.
Details of other concerts are available at adelaidehillschamberplayers.com
Adelaide Hills Chamber Players. Hopgood Theatre. 21 Jan 2023
Adelaide Hills Chamber Players concerts have not previously been reviewed on this site, and this article will correct that omission!
The object of the Adelaide Hills Chamber Players is “to make high quality classical musical experience an easy convenience for Hills dwellers”, and their current “2023 Adelaide Hills Summer Festival of Fine Music” moves that experience down onto the Plains making their fine music making more widely accessible.
Tonight’s concert features William Hennessy AM directing the Hendrickson Strings from the Leader’s Desk in a program including Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4 with Lucinda Collins as soloist. The concert was held on the stage (!) of the Hopgood Theatre in Noarlunga with the appreciative audience siting in an arc around the ensemble. It was intimate.
The theme of the Festival is Romanticism and the Moderns, and in addition to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 (composed 1805-06), the program also featured Sibelius’ Romance in C, Op.42 (composed 1903-04), and Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No.1 (composed 1925). The program traverses a range of musical styles and are a testament to inventiveness in composition.
Musical Director William Hennessy AM commented in his introductory remarks that of all the music that has ever been written over the centuries, very little of it endures in our concert halls, and that which does only does so because it “continues to speak to us”. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 is a high point of the piano repertoire, and it spoke to us of the virtue of communication. The composition is a beautiful and unremitting conversation between the various instrumental voices in the ensemble and the piano. The orchestra usually comprises stings, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, and timpani, but tonight’s performance was an arrangement for string ensemble and piano. With reduced instrumental voicing, there is a risk that the composition will lose some of its soul, but that was not the case in this performance. All the drama remained, and Lucinda Collins played the piano with superb articulation and a well thought out plan for the dynamics. Hennessy stood directly behind her shoulder and their communication was palpable.
Sibelius’ Romance in C is a little gem, and it was written at a difficult time in his life when he was fighting alcohol addiction which was greatly impacting his and his family’s welfare. The work comes in at around five minutes and it seemingly dilates time. It is redolent with conflicting emotions through its three sections, from serenity and peace through to exquisite pain and tension and ultimately resolution. One can easily lose oneself in it. The playing was a joy, especially from the cellos and violas.
The concerto gross is a form that was developed throughout the Baroque period, and it features musical material that is carefully passed around the orchestra from section to section: every instrument gets its moment to speak. Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No.1 is an example of that, although it was not without criticism when it was premièred. The composition has four sections, all different in colour and impact. The ensemble was perhaps not large enough to fully drive home the impact of the dramatic chordal opening of the prelude, but the proximity of the players to the audience allowed us to glimpse the visceral strength with which they played. Hennessy was truly animated, and his energy was contagious. The dirge second movement was contemplative and gave way to a section of dances that seem to be influenced by Aaron Copland Rodeo-esque themes. The violins paired superbly with the piano (played by Simón Pasoz Quintana). The concerto concludes with an allegro fugue in which the outer strings are prominent.
This was a most enjoyable concert, and if you have not done so already, you should add the Adelaide Hills Chamber Players to your listening program when they next perform.
Kym Clayton
When: The Festival concludes 23 January 2023.
Details of other concerts are available at adelaidehillschamberplayers.com
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 16 Dec 2022
From the very moment Melbourne-based tenor Michael Petruccelli intoned the opening phrase “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people”, the capacity audience knew they would be released from the cares of the world, at least for the next two hours.
Petruccelli was late replacement for Nicholas Jones, who was indisposed and unable to perform. How fortunate we are that talent abounds in this country and can be called on at short notice. Petruccelli has a warm and wonderful voice that is well suited to the technical rigours of Handel’s oratorio Messiah. Indeed, his singing throughout was a highlight of the concert.
Joining Petruccelli on stage were soprano Sara Macliver, countertenor Russell Harcourt (who sang the alto line), and baritone David Greco (bass line). From a double manual harpsichord, Erin Helyard conducted the Adelaide Chamber Singers and a pared down Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (strings, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, timpani and chamber organ). In all, around sixty-five singers and musicians gave an appreciative audience an authentic performance that was peppered with sublime moments.
Chief amongst these special moments were the superb performances from the choir, which really is one of the best choral ensembles in Australia and indeed the world. “For unto us a child is born” was imbued with a sense of joy which showed clearly on the faces of the choristers, especially the sopranos. The crystal clear enunciation in “All we, like sheep” was simply astounding.
Harcourt’s well-formed countertenor voice allowed “But who may abide” to slide gently and lucidly above the orchestra, and his performance of the duet “He shall feed his flock” with Macliver was as transcendent as it was technically superb. “Thou art gone up on high” perfectly suited Harcourt’s tessitura, but Helyard permitted the orchestra to dominate him a little in “He was despised”.
Macliver brought her ample skill and knowledge of Messiah to the fore, and her performance of “I know that my Redeemer liveth” bordered on being instrumental in its purity. Almost spine chilling.
Greco brought great sincerity and abundant story-telling skills to all that he sang. He was an audience favourite. “The people that walked in darkness” had ominous tones, as did “Why do the nations”, and “The trumpet shall sound” was sung almost with elation. Trumpeter David Khafagi was at the top of his game.
This was a most comfortable performance of Handel’s Messiah.
Kym Clayton
When: 16 Dec
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed