Adelaide Wind Orchestra. Concordia College Chapel. 9 Jul 2016
Programming is everything, and this concert by the superb Adelaide Wind Orchestra didn’t quite cut it. It’s very encouraging when an audience goes into the interval eagerly looking forward to the second half of the concert, but in this case they were simply looking forward to a second half that was different. And that is exactly what they got, and it was fabulous.
It almost grieves me to be critical of this concert, because, as its title suggests, it was an all-Australian affair. It exclusively featured compositions by Australian composers – six of them – and all are still living except one (Percy Grainger). It was a celebration of contemporary serious concert music from the land down under, but the two opening pieces appealed more to the intellect than to the heart. Nigel Butterly’s 1968 composition Pentad is not something to open a concert with. Its difficult timing and phrasing demands the ensemble to be at the top of its game, right from the very start of the programme, which the AWO was not. In the depths of an unusually cold winter, the Concordia College Chapel takes time to warm up, and so do those who inhabit it.
Going on a Lion Hunt, by Adelaide’s very own David John Lang, does not have a strong narrative. It is minimalist in style with a central thematic motif being varied (but not as dramatically as it could have been) and shared across three mini-bands that also play as a full ensemble at times.
The first two pieces stood in stark contrast to Percy Grainger’s Colonial Song but the juxtaposition almost imbued it with comedy. The first half of the programme just didn’t hang together – it lacked a ‘gestalt’ – but then came the second half and the AWO was at its best.
Conductor Bryan Griffiths appeared to have an affinity for Natalie William’s Pendulum, which is a wonderfully optimistic composition with a rich orchestration. He ensured that every musical idea sounded fresh, and the repetitive rhythmic structure was never boring. The clarinets were superb.
And the very best was left to last.
Matthew Hindson and Paul Mac’s Requiem for a City is a fabulous composition that surely has a long and bright future, and it begs to be arranged for a full orchestra. Griffiths and the AWO handled the syncopated dance-like rhythms with grace and precision. It has a driving momentum and is at times reminiscent of the minimalist traditions of Terry Riley and Philip Glass. It finishes with a sequence that is almost a musical Morse code, and when it finally dashes itself out the audience is very quick to burst into applause.
Again, some very fine and sharp playing from the AWO, but the sequencing of the programme was a bit flat.
Kym Clayton
When: 9 Jul
Where: Concordia College
Bookings: Closed
