Presented by Andrew McKinnon and Phil Bathols in association with Adelaide Festival Centre. Festival Theatre. 23 May 2014
Out of the rubble and debris of wartime London rose the beauty of music. Dame Myra Hess was to alleviate the grim spirits through six years of chamber concerts - almost 1700 of them - most in London's National Gallery where only the empty picture frames remained on the walls.
Hess had intended to stop playing as a response to the war but, prompted by the suggestion of friends and what was intended as her last recital, she was to turn around and play the first of a series of wartime lunchtime concerts - with admission of one shilling.
They were a profound hit, and among the thousands who packed the Gallery's octagonal room over the years was the Queen Mother. Myra Hess was later to be made a Dame for this uplifting service to the British people.
Patricial Routledge, with an OBE and a CBE for services to the performing arts, embodies the spirit of Dame Myra in this gentle touring production.
Eighty-five years has not diminished the power and clarity of the
rich, lilting voice which has charmed audiences as Hetty Wainthrop and amused them as Hyacinth Bucket. Its plummy authority rings right through to the gods of the Festival Theatre.
The production is simple. The face of Myra Hess looks down from black and white photos projected onto the back of the stage.
Routledge makes her entrance exquisitely dressed in loose black embossed lace, a strand of pearls and sensible shoes. She sits and reads from a large folder a script written by Hess's great nephew Nigel Hess. It's a nicely unfettered narrative in the first person, modest, sometimes droll, always succinct and pleasantly phrased. Routledge delivers it with consummate ease.
Piers Lane at the grand piano brings the Hess concerts to life playing the music she performed - Schubert German Dances, some Brahms and Bach, Chopin, Beethoven and Scarlatti. They are delicate pieces, sweet and pretty, and he fingers them lightly.
He finishes up with Hess's own special arrangement of Bach's ‘Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring’.
It's all very smooth and professional. Two masters of their arts recreating the mastery of another. It makes for a soothing and civilized evening's entertainment.
Samela Harris
When: 23 to 24 May 2014
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
