Adelaide Hills Chamber Players. St John’s Church. 22 Jan 2023
Helen Ayres commented from the stage that the great pianist and musicologist Charles Rosen once opined that the downplaying of Clara Schumann as a composer was “perhaps the chief disaster of the nineteenth century’s prejudice against female composers, which has lasted, indeed, until today”. By including Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op.17 (composed 1845-46) in today’s program as part of the 2023 Adelaide Hills Summer Festival of Music, The Seraphim Trio have said today’s the day! enough! let her be heard! And hear Clara Schumann’s music we did!
Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor sees the violin (Helen Ayres) first state the principal subject in the opening movement that is the taken up by the piano (Anna Goldsworthy), with the cello (Timothy Nankervis) providing a solid backbone. The scherzo second movement strains against the tempo di menuetto pace but the violin keeps it all in check before giving over to lush and sonorous pastoral motifs in the andante third movement that feature some superb playing by Goldsworthy. The fugal allegretto final movement allows all three instruments to shine, and the writing allows them all to be heard distinctly at the same time. Goldsworthy elicits some stunning bell-like tones, and the audience loves it.
Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E flat major, Op.70, No.2, followed the Schumann, and Goldsworthy remarked that of all of Beethoven’s piano trios (there were thirteen in total), this particular one is not frequently performed in concert. It is therefore pleasing that ensembles of the class of The Seraphim Trio are prepared to breathe life into such compositions. It begins with mellow strains, almost tentative, before the melody becomes truly evident, and again Goldsworthy produces beautiful bell-like tones from the upper register. The Seraphims capture the playful nature of the allegretto second movement which concludes almost with false finishes as the three instruments jockey for the last word. The allegretto third movement has a song like quality, and the attractive interplay between the strings and the piano rescues it from all becoming too predictable. But it’s the last movement where the true interest lies. Goldsworthy’s pianism provides the momentum for the piece and has the audience on the edge of their seats, as the piece settles into a calm place before finishing in a dramatic flurry.
What a joy to hear two infrequently performed trios in the warm ambience of a gracious old building by a truly superb ensemble!
Kym Clayton
When: The Festival concludes 23 January 2023.
Details of other concerts are available at adelaidehillschamberplayers.com
Adelaide Hills Chamber Players. Hopgood Theatre. 21 Jan 2023
Adelaide Hills Chamber Players concerts have not previously been reviewed on this site, and this article will correct that omission!
The object of the Adelaide Hills Chamber Players is “to make high quality classical musical experience an easy convenience for Hills dwellers”, and their current “2023 Adelaide Hills Summer Festival of Fine Music” moves that experience down onto the Plains making their fine music making more widely accessible.
Tonight’s concert features William Hennessy AM directing the Hendrickson Strings from the Leader’s Desk in a program including Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4 with Lucinda Collins as soloist. The concert was held on the stage (!) of the Hopgood Theatre in Noarlunga with the appreciative audience siting in an arc around the ensemble. It was intimate.
The theme of the Festival is Romanticism and the Moderns, and in addition to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 (composed 1805-06), the program also featured Sibelius’ Romance in C, Op.42 (composed 1903-04), and Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No.1 (composed 1925). The program traverses a range of musical styles and are a testament to inventiveness in composition.
Musical Director William Hennessy AM commented in his introductory remarks that of all the music that has ever been written over the centuries, very little of it endures in our concert halls, and that which does only does so because it “continues to speak to us”. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 is a high point of the piano repertoire, and it spoke to us of the virtue of communication. The composition is a beautiful and unremitting conversation between the various instrumental voices in the ensemble and the piano. The orchestra usually comprises stings, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, and timpani, but tonight’s performance was an arrangement for string ensemble and piano. With reduced instrumental voicing, there is a risk that the composition will lose some of its soul, but that was not the case in this performance. All the drama remained, and Lucinda Collins played the piano with superb articulation and a well thought out plan for the dynamics. Hennessy stood directly behind her shoulder and their communication was palpable.
Sibelius’ Romance in C is a little gem, and it was written at a difficult time in his life when he was fighting alcohol addiction which was greatly impacting his and his family’s welfare. The work comes in at around five minutes and it seemingly dilates time. It is redolent with conflicting emotions through its three sections, from serenity and peace through to exquisite pain and tension and ultimately resolution. One can easily lose oneself in it. The playing was a joy, especially from the cellos and violas.
The concerto gross is a form that was developed throughout the Baroque period, and it features musical material that is carefully passed around the orchestra from section to section: every instrument gets its moment to speak. Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No.1 is an example of that, although it was not without criticism when it was premièred. The composition has four sections, all different in colour and impact. The ensemble was perhaps not large enough to fully drive home the impact of the dramatic chordal opening of the prelude, but the proximity of the players to the audience allowed us to glimpse the visceral strength with which they played. Hennessy was truly animated, and his energy was contagious. The dirge second movement was contemplative and gave way to a section of dances that seem to be influenced by Aaron Copland Rodeo-esque themes. The violins paired superbly with the piano (played by Simón Pasoz Quintana). The concerto concludes with an allegro fugue in which the outer strings are prominent.
This was a most enjoyable concert, and if you have not done so already, you should add the Adelaide Hills Chamber Players to your listening program when they next perform.
Kym Clayton
When: The Festival concludes 23 January 2023.
Details of other concerts are available at adelaidehillschamberplayers.com
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 16 Dec 2022
From the very moment Melbourne-based tenor Michael Petruccelli intoned the opening phrase “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people”, the capacity audience knew they would be released from the cares of the world, at least for the next two hours.
Petruccelli was late replacement for Nicholas Jones, who was indisposed and unable to perform. How fortunate we are that talent abounds in this country and can be called on at short notice. Petruccelli has a warm and wonderful voice that is well suited to the technical rigours of Handel’s oratorio Messiah. Indeed, his singing throughout was a highlight of the concert.
Joining Petruccelli on stage were soprano Sara Macliver, countertenor Russell Harcourt (who sang the alto line), and baritone David Greco (bass line). From a double manual harpsichord, Erin Helyard conducted the Adelaide Chamber Singers and a pared down Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (strings, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, timpani and chamber organ). In all, around sixty-five singers and musicians gave an appreciative audience an authentic performance that was peppered with sublime moments.
Chief amongst these special moments were the superb performances from the choir, which really is one of the best choral ensembles in Australia and indeed the world. “For unto us a child is born” was imbued with a sense of joy which showed clearly on the faces of the choristers, especially the sopranos. The crystal clear enunciation in “All we, like sheep” was simply astounding.
Harcourt’s well-formed countertenor voice allowed “But who may abide” to slide gently and lucidly above the orchestra, and his performance of the duet “He shall feed his flock” with Macliver was as transcendent as it was technically superb. “Thou art gone up on high” perfectly suited Harcourt’s tessitura, but Helyard permitted the orchestra to dominate him a little in “He was despised”.
Macliver brought her ample skill and knowledge of Messiah to the fore, and her performance of “I know that my Redeemer liveth” bordered on being instrumental in its purity. Almost spine chilling.
Greco brought great sincerity and abundant story-telling skills to all that he sang. He was an audience favourite. “The people that walked in darkness” had ominous tones, as did “Why do the nations”, and “The trumpet shall sound” was sung almost with elation. Trumpeter David Khafagi was at the top of his game.
This was a most comfortable performance of Handel’s Messiah.
Kym Clayton
When: 16 Dec
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
With Amy Shark, Something For Kate, Oscar The Wild, Bermuda Bay. VALO After Race Concert. 4 Dec 2022
In a strange kind of way this was a concert for the antiheroes, quite different to the Noiseworks/Jimmy Barnes fare of the previous evening. Sure, Amy Shark nods her coifed head in the direction of pop stardom (she’s a multiple ARIA award winner, after all) but the same charge cannot be levelled at Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey.
With Something For Kate onstage you know you’re in for a cerebral experience, and it was a surprise to see Dempsey joking with the crowd whilst waiting for a fix and attempting not to be electrocuted by his microphone when a technical malfunction derailed the first three songs. With bass guitarist Stephanie Ashworth and drummer Clint Hyndman and Adrian Stoyles as second guitarist they power through a set stretching back nearly 30 years. Age must be a relative concept, since the crowd were no spring chickens, leavened by a smattering of younger punters.
Monsters and 2020s Situation Room made an appearance in what seems a short set, and they finished with Captain (Million Miles An Hour), which dates back to 1997. Oh shock, a twenty five year old song which sounds as fresh as the day it was penned, sung by a singer who although bearded, sounded much as he did those twenty five years ago. Ashworth, barefoot, whirled around the stage and Hyndman hunches behind his kit, driving the songs behind Dempsey’s sometimes tortured delivery, as he always does.
Earlier, the Music SA’s ‘Bands On Track’ local performers Oscar The Wild and Bermuda Bay had graced the stage. It’s a great initiative from Music SA, giving incredible experience to up-and-comers, invaluable if the live music industry is going to be rebuilt after the ravages of the past three years.
Amy Shark opens her set with Everybody Cries… “We haven’t played a festival like this for a long time. I’m feeling the love up here” she tells the crowd, working hard to make a connection, whether it’s the black and white checkered flag pattern top she’s wearing, or her professed love for Adelaide. The crowd warm to her immediately, so by the time she straps on a Gretsch guitar for The Idiot (about a former partner) the swelling crowd is with her.
The follow up song, Miss You, sees Shark channelling her inner Sheryl Crow, there is syncopation to the vocal delivery which is matched by the band with metronomic precision. The song finishes with a short drum arrangement from Joe Malafu which backs up her later claim that he’s the best in Australia, rolling a succession of triplets around the kit. Shark takes charge during the very apt Psycho; seeing a disturbance in front of the stage she instructs security “Kick him out! We don’t want any fights!” and just as quickly is back into the groove of the song.
As the parkland bats wheel and describe their flight patterns in the deepening dusk she gives us two of the best to finish: new song Only Wanna Be With You is a number which builds to a towering crescendo, and then she tops it with I Said Hi.
With The Killers it begins with a projection of Michelangelo’s David on the screen; a preamble to the strutting and cocky rock pastiche, The Man.
“Them other boys, I don't give a damn // They kiss on the ring, I carry the crown” sings Brandon Flowers as he begins working the crowd. The Killers have been around just short of 20 years; it’s extraordinary how capable and assured Flowers is, let alone the rest of the band. Actually, no, they show just what a wonderful showbiz rock band they are, with a set list of gems and a front-man who seems to love his role and the adulation. As a result The Killers are all class, but it is in the bottom end, where drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr provides the propulsion, that the band really shine.
Vannucci has a commanding presence, both on the video screen and through the music. He commands in the same way that Max Weinberg and Clarence Clemons patrolled the E-Street stage and allowed Bruce Springsteen to do what he does best. Tonight’s performance from The Killers reminds me of the classic 1985 Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band Australian Tour.
As drummers they are not alike: Weinberg was subtle and nuanced, with Vannucci every hit is a measured show of force, yet their authority over the stage is the same.
And there’s yet another connection: The Killers performed three songs with ‘The Boss’ at Madison Square Gardens in New York City just earlier this year.
Think I’m overstating the case? Sing me one – just one – dominant guitar line in a Killers song. Guitarist Dave Keuning with his Ibanez Destroyer is not a guitarist who supplies riffs in the classic sense, and The Killers do not record songs with a big hook in the classic sense. There’s no saxophone as there is in the E-Street Band, that is true, but listen to the sonic build of keyboards and bass guitar, and the three guitar cacophony of Shot At The Night. These songs are based on the simple melody of a synth, or the turn of a phrase. These are songlines, stories being played out with Brandon Flowers not only as showman, but as a character observing and narrating the story. He is some kind of genius in his ability to utilise the lyrics of ‘pop’ songs as powerful expressive vehicles.
Somebody Told Me, Spaceman, and Smile Like You Mean It are all fine examples, the next three songs from tonight’s set list. Simple rock n roll? Hardly. This concert was the full experience, from strobing lights to sky candy (streamers) and images and visual backdrops, gorgeous lighting effects and close up camera shots throughout. Six key band members onstage and another three backing vocalists, a rich textural adventure.
Shot At The Night comes and goes; surely this is one of those bands who have a full set list (‘Every one’s a winner, baby/that’s the truth’), and then Read My Mind makes an appearance, Flowers leans back, says to the 10-12,000 strong crowd “You’re gonna make me work for this, aren’t you?” before intoning the opening lines “I’m on the corner of Main St, just trying to keep it in line”.
All These Things That I’ve Done brings on the narrative where Flowers delivers, not as an old soldier, but prowling the stage like an old huckster, an old Bible thumping fire and brimstone preacher, exhorting – demanding the crowd follow his lead!! It’s never over the top but he knows how to work the crowd over, how to make them see things his way.
When You Were Young follows, then [Are We] Human and all too implausibly soon, Mr Brightside. This is a song which the entire crowd knows, and it appreciably lifts the fervour to a new level in the crowd singalong stakes. There is no fanfare and no encore. A thumpingly short coda from Vannucci is the final goodbye and then it’s all over. They came, they saw, they kicked its butt. It is fitting.
Alex Wheaton
When: Closed
Where: Adelaide 500
Bookings: Closed
Orchestral Concert. Ausfeng. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 17 Nov 2022
The East Meets West Orchestral Concert is an initiative of the China Arts and Entertainment Group and aims to promote mutual friendship and foster cultural ties between China and western countries. The concert was postponed several times due to the pandemic but tonight finally graced the Adelaide Town Hall stage to a capacity audience.
The generously sized program featured music largely written in the western tradition but infused with influences from the east. Half of the program was written by western composers (Puccini, Bizet, and Prokofiev), and the other half by Chinese composers and arrangers (Wang Liping, Wang Fan, Liang Zhao, He Zhanhao, Chen Gang, Zheng Qiufeng, Yin Cherngzong, Chu Wanghua, Liu Zhuang, and Sheng Lihong).
Under the baton of Guy Noble, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra played the diverse program with much gusto, and the audience was treated to two major works – The Yellow River Piano Concerto, and The Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto, as well as excerpts from Puccini’s Turandot and La Bohème, Bizet’s Carmen, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite, and an orchestral piece featuring Guzheng – a Chinese instrument – and several Chinese language songs.
The concert began with Jasmine Flowers from Turandot. It features every section of the orchestra and had the audience buzzing from the start. Noble encouraged the orchestra to play at full voice and at a pace that was marginally too brisk. The Chinese composition Hope Betrayed from the 2010 Chinese TV series The Dream of Red Mansions featured the Guzheng, played by virtuoso Zhao Liang, and vocals by mezzo soprano Victoria Lambourn (who was amplified). Its distinctly oriental sound palette fused beautifully with the score for a standard western orchestra. Liang was dressed in a Mandarin gown and Lambourn in a rich ball gown, and the true spirit of fusion of cultural styles was unleashed. (Members of the audience were impressed that Lambourn sang in Chinese).
Lambourn also sang (without amplification) L’amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle from Carmen. Her voice is beautifully rounded with a pleasing vibrato, and she was able to soar above the orchestra, which Noble allowed to play at something approaching full power. Lambourn took the aria at a moderate tempo and her French articulation was superb.
Violinist Amanda Chen performed the Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto with great style. The single-movement composition traverses a range of styles over its seven distinct sections. From the first introduction on harp and flute, with hints of the pentatonic scale played on the violin, the first section has a rural feel to it, almost in the style of Copland. Chen’s rapid double stopping and spiccato was impressive, and her dialogue with the cello in the lagrimoso section was sublimely lyrical. The final melodic phrase on the violin was barely perceptible as it gently disappeared into the heights of the auditorium.
The second half of the program began with the iconic Montagues and the Capulets from the Romeo and Juliet Suite. Its theme of doomed love echoed the violin concerto, and prefaced the romantic sadness inherent in Si Mi Chiamo Mimi from La Bohème that followed. Soprano Cathy-Di Zhang sang with much passion, and her performance was the highlight of the concert. Her purity of tone and ability to tell a story had the audience spellbound, as did her rendition of Pamir, My Beautiful Hometown, although Noble again allowed the orchestra to almost dominate her.
The evening finished with the famous Yellow River Piano Concerto played by the uber talented Tony Lee – an award winner at the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition. Lee has exceptional forearm strength that allows him to produce fortissimo sounds that are passionate and commanding without being merely loud and harsh. The composition is eclectic and does not follow the standard structure of a western-style concerto, and Lee commanded the diverse styles inherent in the piece. An impressive performance.
It is often said that music is a universal language that speaks across diverse cultures, and tonight’s concert was a perfect example.
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed