Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 14 Feb 2025

 

What a cracker of an opening to the ASO’s 2025 season! Almost every seat was occupied in the expansive auditorium of the Adelaide Town Hall and the audience was brimming with excitement and anticipation. In the words of guest conductor Tito Muñoz (who was just terrific), the program featured some real ‘crowd pleasers’ and he wasn’t wrong! The audience reaction to the entire program was overwhelmingly joyful and positive, although some appreciated Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikov’s interpretation of Beethoven’s much loved Piano Concerto No.4 less than others.

 

As has become traditional, and perhaps a tad wearying (musically speaking), the program begins with the musical Acknowledgement of Country, composed by Jack Buckskin and Jamie Goldsmith, and arranged by Mark Ferguson. Section principal percussionist Steven Peterka begins the piece by tapping two boomerangs together with a steady beat. He is de facto conductor. It is certainly an evocative piece but runs the risk of becoming ‘part of the furniture’, which, according to some is the ultimate distinction in some fields of human endeavour, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing regardless of its purpose. For this reviewer, having the conductor take the lead, as opposed to letting the orchestra get on with it, adds interest.

 

British composer Anna Clyne’s This Midnight Hour is a remarkable piece. It is a single movement composition lasting about twelve minutes, and in that time it takes the listener on an exciting musical journey with thrilling orchestrations and lush and changing melodies. It is almost cinematic in scope. It debuted in France in 2015, and although it takes its inspiration from specific poetry, Clyne has suggested that audience should create their own mental scaffolding to appreciate the piece, rather than assuming it is ‘programmatic’. What a liberating idea!

 

Tito Muñoz exacted exquisite precision from the orchestra, with meticulous shaping of pulsating phrases, especially in the strings. The lush romantic sections in the Clyne were never schmaltzy. Of course, we expect superb musicianship and technical mastery from a professional orchestra such as the ASO, but it’s always a joy to experience it, nonetheless.

 

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 in G, Op.58, is one of the monuments in piano literature. Surprisingly, it begins with the piano outlining its unassuming principal melodic theme, and Pavel Kolesnikov delivers it with clarity and simplicity, although there is little that is unassuming in his, at times, flamboyant style. In some ways he channels the legendary pianist Glenn Gould, with his propensity to express his deep connection with the music by giving the appearance of mouthing sounds or seemingly talking to himself (although nothing is audible) and by almost conducting himself with his left hand when the right is working alone on extended runs up and down the keyboard. Regardless of any such eccentricities, Kolesnikov’s music making is immensely appealing and musical. The ASO’s violinists, almost to a person, can be seen intensely watching Kolesnikov’s hands as he takes the complexity of the concerto’s cadenzas in his stride. There was spontaneous applause at the end of the first movement.

 

Many interpretations of the concerto might be described as ‘muscular’, but Kolesnikov delivers something that is more lyrical bordering on impressionistic. The strong pulsating strings in the second movement contrasted starkly with the almost dreamy piano. He elicits sweet bell like tones in the third movement that imbue the piece with a coloratura feel.

Kolesnikov’s interpretation was not loved by everyone in the audience, but the vast majority enthusiastically applauded and cheered, and there were even wolf whistles. They experienced an interpretation that was personal, and heart felt.

 

The second half of the program is a lesson in more can be better! The orchestrations of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture and Respighi’s Pines of Rome both demand large orchestras, and the stage is full to overflowing. It is exhilarating to experience the might of a fully charged orchestra under the direction of a conductor who knows how to marshal such diverse musical forces.

 

Unlike the Clyne, the Tchaikovsky is programmatic, and the intensely romantic nature of the overture is not lost on the Valentine’s Day audience. Muñoz maintains the drama of the piece (particularly in the sumptuous romantic theme) and hints of what is essentially some melodic material from Tchaikovsky’s fifth and sixth symphonies come through clearly. Again, the orchestra plays with superb articulation and synchronisation, and the percussion and brass sections are especially at the top of their game.

 

The orchestra enlarges for Respighi’s Pines of Rome, with the use of more winds and horns, piano, pipe organ (yes, the ‘big’ one!), harp and celesta. Throughout this remarkable (programmatic) work, the trumpets, trombones and other brass unmistakeably draw the focus at key times, and they are grand and aurally imposing. The deep pedal notes emanating from the magnificent Walker & Sons pipe organ are as much felt as they are heard, and the frenetic bowing of the violins in the fourth and final section renders the whole experience majestic.

 

Again, what a cracker of an opening to the ASO’s 2025 season! The flagship Symphony Series has gotten off to a wonderful start – something for everyone!

 

Kym Clayton

 

When: 14 Feb

Where: Adelaide Town Hall

Bookings: Closed