Musica Viva. Adelaide Town Hall. 3 Oct 2024
There is no denying the individual technical wizardry and the artful musicianship of the members of Ensemble Q. To a person they are wonderful musicians, at the top of their game, but together they are greater than the sum of their parts – they are a stirring partnership.
Ensemble Q is a Company-in-Residence at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and its members comprise Alison Mitchell (flute), Huw Jones (oboe), Paul Dean (co-artistic director and clarinet), David Mitchell (bassoon), Peter Luff (horn), Trish Dean (co-artistic director and cello), and Phoebe Russell (double bass). Many Musica Viva concerts include new commissions, and William Barton joined Ensemble Q to perform his new composition Journey to the Edge of the Horizon. It was the highlight of the concert, but more on that later.
The program comprised Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet by György Ligeti, Concerto for Cello and Wind Quintet by Paul Dean, Brahm’s Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor, Op. 38 (skilfully arranged by Heribert Breuer), and Barton’s new work. It is an interesting mix of compositional styles and, with the exception of the Brahms, they are all ‘contemporary’ works.
As is the custom, there is a traditional welcome to country preceding the concert, but this one is somewhat special. Not only is the welcome given by a representative of the local Aboriginal community in person (and he looked magnificent in traditional costume and paint daubs), but the messaging also includes the twist of welcoming all ancestors – both indigenous and non-indigenous! Barton was on stage with the rest of the ensemble, and his infectious smile couldn’t be bigger. It is a touching and welcome moment, and the audience greets it with enthusiastic yet respectful applause.
The concert begins with Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles. A bagatelle is a “short and unpretentious instrumental piece, usually for piano.” (Oxford Companion to Music.) Beethoven wrote 26 piano bagatelles, of which the ever-popular Fur Elise is one. Ligeti was a luminary avant-garde composer, and much of his music deliberately obscures the contrasts between instruments where such differences would otherwise be expected. Although this is not the case in his bagatelles, interestingly, at least to this reviewer, Paul Dean has taken a leaf out of Ligeti’s book and seemingly reduced the solo impact of the cello in his own concerto. An interesting connection between the first two pieces on the program (or not!). Back to the Ligeti. The bagatelles are playful and each of the five wind instruments has its own place in the sun while the others beautifully blend to provide a solid canvas on which the instrument in focus can shine brightly. A horn, bassoon, clarinet, or oboe can dominate a chamber piece, but not here. Ensemble Q plays them with immaculate control and sensitive dynamics, and they sound perfect in the context of the piece: hushed bassoon, mellifluous horn, plangent oboe, ethereal flute, and lightly playful clarinet. The allegro third movement is especially pleasing where the flute commands the auditorium.
After the Ligeti, Trish Dean joins the ensemble for a performance of partner Paul Dean’s cello concerto. Scored in three movements, it is a musical response to the Dean’s change of physical surroundings when they relocated to Queensland. It is a celebrated work which has a digressive narrative. Like the Ligeti, it allows each instrument to take focus but without foregrounding the cello such as one might expect in a more traditional cello concerto with a full orchestra. It is enigmatic: melodies are explored and developed but not in an overt way, the cello provides the ’glue’ without dominating, and the rhythms are mixed and varied. The audience is especially appreciative of the chance to hear the work performed by the composer!
The least satisfying work on the program (for this reviewer) was the Breuer arrangement of the Brahm’s sonata. Originally scored for cello and piano, hearing it performed with the piano part being replaced by wind quintet and double bass is somewhat discombobulating. That is not to say it is not enjoyable, but if one is familiar with the original, then it is difficult to put the piano out of one’s mind and replace it with an ensemble. Indeed, the cello appears to be obscured at times. The arrangement does however skilfully expose the inner voicing of the piano part.
And then to the headline act – a première performance of William Barton’s Journey to the Edge of the Horizon. Seeing and hearing it is worth the price of the ticket! Barton is surely a national treasure, and his new composition is quite transporting. Just as Paul Dean’s cello concerto is his response to exploring a new physical environment, Barton’s work is, in his own words, “journey music”! It is scored for wind quintet, cello, double bass and of course yidaki (also known as didgeridoo). In fact, Barton plays four yidaki, all with different but closely related tonalites. He sits centre stage with the ensemble in an arc close behind him. It is as if he is their horizon – something to approach and (musically) get closer to, but never actually arrive, because the horizon is always unattainable. It is a journey that is never able to be completed, and hence a journey that traverses different landscapes. And that is precisely what the music does. In a single movement of around 15 minutes duration, Barton allows us to drink deeply at the well of insistent rhythm and hypnotic melody before pulling us away and taking us somewhere different. His vocalisations are as if his entire body becomes an instrument, and his vocal intonations are an entreaty to move on and find something new. Fifteen minutes feels like fifty. The music is sublime, and it is almost impossible to describe, but that doesn’t matter. Rather, it is something to be experienced, and the large Adelaide Town Hall audience felt privileged they had done just that.
Have I already mentioned that Barton is surely a national treasure?
Kym Clayton
When: 3 Oct
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
