Adelaide Festival. Adelaide Town Hall. 3 Mar 2014
The Kelemen Quartet hails from Hungary, a land-locked country, and so it is no surprise they should be lured to the famous beaches of Sydney for a bit of R&R when the occasion recently presented itself. Unfortunately cellist Dóra Kokas had an unscheduled run-in with an Argentinian surfer that resulted in her breaking her wrist! At short notice Hungarian compatriot and (very) talented cellist Ákos Takács packed his bag, grabbed a visa on the way to the airport and flew to Australia to allow the quartet’s tour for Musica Viva tour to continue.
Onwards! The show must go on!
The Kelemen Quartet has a string of international successes and awards under its belt, including winning the Musica Viva Grand Prize at the 2011 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, which really put them under the spotlight. However, they have also been on the receiving end of some ‘interesting’ criticism, including the following from the music critic of the Dallas News: “If it could curb its excesses, the Kelemen Quartet could be one of the world’s great string quartets”! Could be?
Last night’s concert was part of part of the Adelaide Festival and was ‘bookended’ by Haydn (Quartet in D, Op.20, No.4) and Beethoven (Quartet in C Op.59, No.3, “Razumovsky”), but the real interest and excitement lay with the two ‘inner’ pieces – the dynamic Quartet No. 4 Sz.91 by Bartók, and Ross Edward’s evocative ‘Ecstatic Dance’ for two violins. The Beethoven and (particularly) the Haydn have measured self-assurance (and delicacy in parts) that need to be respected, and contrasting tempi and dynamics need to be balanced. The players were a little exuberant at times, and perhaps this is what the Dallas critic was getting at.
The Bartok however was scintillating, and each member of the ensemble was perfectly attuned to the dynamism and inventiveness of the composition. It is a piece that is difficult to listen to on a CD – it needs the visuals as well – and the communication between the two violinists (Barnabás Kelemen and Katalin Kokas) was electric and was a focus of great interest and attention.
Although a relatively recent composition (1990), the ‘Ecstatic Dance’ has textural and tonal (almost folk music) similarities with the Bartok and was an effective segue into the Beethoven. Kelemen and Gábor Homoki had the (physically) long score stretched out between two music stands and inched their way across the stage as they played it. (Almost a Fringe Festival act!) Apparently they only had the one copy and had not had it long enough to memorise or sufficiently ‘internalise’ it, a result of a program change due to Kokas’ accident. However, you wouldn’t have thought so – they attacked it with zeal and with an understanding that would make you think they had been playing it for years. An absorbing performance.
The Dallas critic was almost right when he observed that the Kelemen Quartet could be one of the world’s great string quartets. They are already.
Kym Clayton
When: 28 Feb to 16 Mar
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. Michael Griffiths. Le Cascadeur, Garden of Unearthly Delights. Feb 2014.
Make no mistake, Michael Griffiths is a quality and experienced professional performer (including Jersey Boys), and his show ‘Sweet Dreams - Songs by Annie Lennox’ is pure class and highly recommended.
Alone on stage with his Roland digital piano, Griffiths sings and performs a biographical survey of Annie Lennox’s life with particular emphasis on key events that shaped her musical journey. He ‘becomes’ Annie Lennox (without resorting to drag or any affectation) and talks in the first person about ‘his’/Lennox’s life and music.
Written by Australian writer/director Dean Bryant, the show comprises a cleverly constructed sequence of well researched anecdotes and carefully selected iconic Lennox/ Eurthymics songs that help tell the story of her life with humour and insight. Griffiths’ vocals are smooth and strong, and the result is a totally feel-good and immensely satisfying cabaret performance.
With no other musical backing apart from the keyboard, some of the numbers obviously lack the big production sounds of the original versions that were devised by Lennox’s musical and one-time life partner Dave Stewart, but it didn’t matter one jot. It allowed Griffiths’ engaging and warm personality to come through, and his ample acting skill took flight. His vocal inflexion and his piercing gaze totally draw you in.
His performance of ‘There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)’ and ‘Sweet Dreams’ were highlights, as was his enactment of Lennox’s ‘ritual’ (apparently) to purge herself and the world of any inferior lyrics she may have invented. Highly amusing.
This show leaves you with a wide smile on your face, a song in your heart, a new appreciation of Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics, and it leaves you wanting more.
Kym Clayton
When: 27 Feb to 16 Mar
Where: Garden of Unearthly Delights – Le Cascadeur
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adeladie Fringe. Presented by Live and Let Die. The Big Slapple. 25 Febr 2014.
The 48 Lounge in the Convention Centre is an impressive venue, and it was decked out to set the scene for a night of 007, but it was a disappointment.
Singers Grant Pearson and Jacqui Yeo were joined by a three piece band (bass and lead guitars, drum kit) as well as a backing tape which filled in the requisite orchestral strings, brass and woodwind that give the customary richness to the theme songs from Bond movies. They were also accompanied by numerous video projections of the teaser openings to each of the films they featured.
The projections were a constant and dominant feature of the concert and at times over took musicians and singers, and in the case of Pearson this wasn’t altogether a bad thing. Yes he can sing with substantial power, and yes he can (over) sustain very long notes, but these are akin to party tricks and do not make a singer. Unfortunately he was frequently off pitch and off tempo, and his treatment of vowel sounds would make Professor Higgins turn in his grave. Perhaps there were problems with the fold back?
Yeo however fared much better and her versions of ‘Skyfall’ and ‘License to Kill’ were a highlight. She has powerful voice, knows how to use a microphone and has excellent breathing, but her performance did not always reach the heights of the two aforementioned songs originally recorded by Adele and Arethra Franklin. Much of the problem was the backing arrangements, which too often inappropriately dominated and ‘smeared’
the vocal line.
The concert was like the curate’s egg – it had good bits and not-so-good bits.
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: The Big Slapple
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Fringe. Presented by Marianna Grynchuk. Pilgrim Uniting Church. 23 Feb 2014
With the afternoon sun streaming through the stained glass windows of the Pilgrim Uniting Church, a capacity audience was treated to a superb all-Chopin concert by pianist Marianna Grynchuck.
Playing with the confidence of someone much older, Grynchuck amply demonstrated why she has often been named South Australia’s most promising pianist. She has excellent technique and plays with strength, accuracy and authority. The program she chose was varied and generous, and included the Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise Brilliante Op.22 (the solo piano version, no orchestra), Sonata No.2 in B flat minor (aka the ‘Funeral Sonata’), and the opus 10 Etudes, all twelve of them.
The joy of Chopin lies in the beautiful melodies, usually in the right hand, and the inventive but robust accompaniment and embellishment in the left hand. The temptation is to over pedal and lose the delicateness in the upper registers. This was the fate of the Andante Spianato and the bold Grand Polonaise Brilliante which should be introduced with much gusto, but was placed at a disadvantage and could only survive by being played louder and louder. However, as is often the case, it all comes down to personal taste, and Grynchuck played it with flair and passion surpassing her years.
The B flat minor sonata is sometimes accused of lacking cohesion. It is stormy, lyrical, melodic, funereal, and virtuosic. It needs to be played with attention to all these things, and Grynchuck did just that. Perhaps the first movement was again over-pedalled, and the occasional ‘sforzando piano’ was more ‘forte’ than ‘piano’ but Grynchuck extracted the full measure of gravitas from the third movement funeral march. The unrelenting parallel octaves of the final movement were delivered with constancy and controlled power. Impressive.
The twelve etudes are not often programmed as a complete set – some come across more as ‘exercises’, which indeed they are. Others are instantly recognisable as concert encores, such as No.3 in E major (aka ‘Tristesse’ or ‘L’Adieu’), in which Grynchuck was most successful in drawing out the beautiful melody.
This young lady has the potential to go a long way
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Pilgrim Uniting Church
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Fringe. Presented by Mark De Raad. Elder Hall. 21 Feb 2014
Sally Whitwell is an ARIA award-winning pianist, and it is plain to see why. Not only is she a talented musician who plays the piano extremely well, she also has a persona that gives her an additional dimension – she is an actress, but not in the conventional sense.
On a stage filled with pianos and more than two dozen standard lamps (lighting by the acclaimed Nigel Levings), Whitwell ‘pipes’ herself slowly onto the stage playing a melodica. She sits at the piano and delivers up Philip Glass superbly. She is never tempted to over pedal and her forearm strength is beautifully controlled yielding sensitive dynamics. The warm acoustic of the Elder Hall is used to perfection. The music of Elena Kats-Chernin follows and then Yann Tierswen which is punctuated with majestic arm crossovers – almost arrogant but pregnant with understanding. Whitwell is a joy to watch. In between pieces, an unseen voice expressively recites extracts from Alison Croggon’s poem ‘Divinations’. The readings fit hand in glove with the music, and demand attention, and Whitwell also plays miniatures on a toy piano and the melodica.
This is a musical event, but it doesn’t get close to preparing you for the program that follows the interval, when Whitwell is joined by acclaimed South Australian born dramatic soprano Marie Angel in an Australian premier performance of Michael Nyman’s ‘8 Lust Songs: I Sonetti Lussuriosi’, which he wrote for her. The songs are settings of 16th century poems that were banned at the time by the Catholic Church because of their eroticism. Sung in Italian, the songs tell of the sexual desires of a man and a woman, and Angel’s demonstrable acting skills bring them to life. She is at times lude, lurid, voyeuristic and always uninhibited. Initially many audience members did not know how to react and clearly felt uncomfortable and squirmed in their seats. Mission accomplished. Whitwell, who was now dressed in a petite black dress and a scarlet red corset, played Nyman’s score with authority but never detracted from Angel. They were partners, not competitors. The first three songs almost seemed not to suit Angel’s tessitura, but she was truly impressive in the fourth and fifth songs with their contrasting percussive and legato effects. In a stroke of directorial genius, the Stage Manger was located on stage and assumed the (silent) role of the man. Throughout the cycle he was looking at a laptop and viewing images of what one assumes were of her. One’s attention was increasingly drawn to him as he reacted to the songs – a subtle but captivating performance.
At the conclusion the large audience were deservedly generous in their applause. It was an intriguing event. If you are into minimalist piano music and art songs, then this one is for you.
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Elder Hall
Bookings: Closed