Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 9 April 2014
‘Russian Dreams’ was the first of three ‘Composers in Focus’ programs generously supported by RBS Morgans in alliance with CIMB. The series is casual and informative: the orchestra is dressed casually but smartly in black – not a tail suit in sight – and local composer and musicologist Richard Chew addresses the audience at the beginning of each half and delivers an incisive overview of the music and the composer. It’s an early start and therefore an early finish as well.
Arvo Volmer led the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in three works by Tchaikovsky and one by his contemporary Rimsky-Korsakov. Tonight a number of the principal musicians were not performing and their responsibilities were taken up by associates, but it had no impact on the overall quality of the evening.
The horns, brass and woodwind were exceptionally pleasing, as usual. The joie de vivre of the ever-popular Polonaise from Act III of Tchaikovsky’s opera ‘Eugene Onegin’ was palpable, and Volmer ensured that the last section of the Act I Introduction to ‘The Queen of Spades’ was luscious.
Ike See, who is normally the Associate Concertmaster, was soloist in Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Concert Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra on Two Russian Themes. This is not one of his most gripping compositions, and doesn’t have the same virtuosic elements as say the Capriccio Espagnol, (which was his very next opus), but it abounds with moments of lyricism. Ike See’s playing was assured and confident, and he produced tonal clarity that demanded respect.
Chew informed us that Tchaikovsky, for whatever reason, made very heavy weather of his first symphony, subtitled ‘Winter Dreams’ – “It just wouldn’t come out”! It’s first two movements are named but the final two are not perhaps indicative of Tchaikovsky’s difficulties in finalising the work. The woodwinds and horns were on top of their game in the ‘Land of Desolation’ second movement, and the strings drew out the balletic themes in the third. Volmer threw the might of the orchestra at the final movement without losing any of its inherent tension.
The next ‘Composers in Focus’ concert is on Wednesday 4 June and will focus on Smetana (The Bartered Bride Overture), Mozart (with celebrated pianist Howard Shelley playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23), and Dvořák (Symphony No. 6).
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
