A Winter’s Journey

Musica Viva. The Adelaide Town Hall. 21 Jul 2022

Wow! Just wow! What an event! What a performance!

Musica Viva’s A Winter’s Journey is a visual and aural feast.  Allan Clayton MBE exquisitely sings Schubert’s iconic song-cycle Winterreise to Kate Golla’s empathetic piano accompaniment enveloped in an intimate wrap-around backdrop of animated projections of Australian landscapes by Fred Williams OBE.  

Published in 1828, Winterreise is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert and is a setting of twenty-four poems by German poet Wilhelm Müller.  Although there is not a single narrative, collectively the poems tell a story of a young man’s unrequited love.  The songs are contemplative and ooze despair, but they are exquisite to listen to, and they require a singer who is at the top of his game.  Clayton is most certainly that, and his performance merited the standing ovation he received, but there is much more to the concert than that.

In recent times, video projection technology has become increasingly significant in the staging of major theatre productions, such as Barry Kosky’s The Magic Flute in the 2019 Adelaide Festival, and the Sydney Theatre Company’s The Picture of Dorian Gray in this year’s Adelaide Festival.  (It is also to be used in the much anticipated Brisbane Ring Cycle, should COVID ever allow the production to come to fruition.)  The technology is also being used to bring visual art to wider audiences, such as the recent Van Gogh Alive event which is allegedly the most visited multi-sensory experience in the world.  And at this very moment, we are in the midst of the Illuminate Adelaide festival. 

The use of such technology might therefore be cliché in some respects, but its use in A Winter’s Journey is of an entirely different order.  It is not merely used to provide a visual element to what is essentially an aural experience, or to provide a setting, but rather it is used to reinterpret a work of high art (namely, Schubert’s composition) and give it an entirely different context.  In her Director’s Note, Dr Lindy Hume AM says that “Winterreise is a portrait in landscape” and in this performance the action is reimagined from the bleak later in the yearess of an icy European winter to an altogether different environment – that of the unforgiving but beautiful Australian bush and outback.  The conceptualisation at the heart of this reimagination is nothing short of genius.  As a skilled sommelier matches wines to a fine dinner, so the creatives behind A Winter’s Journey have selected paintings by Williams to complement the text of Müller’s poetry that Schubert has so beautifully set to music.  Sometimes the motivation for the choice is a word, a phrase, or perhaps just a subliminal thought?  Whatever the rationale, the combination of the projections, Golla’s playing, and Clayton’s singing and a characterisation of the songs is sublime.

At the beginning, Clayton and Golla come on stage.  Golla sits at the Steinway grand piano which is located on a highly-polished inky-black floor framed on two sides by large untextured plain walls that soon prove to be projection screens.  It delineates a performance space. The lighting is dim, almost eerie.  Clayton stands away from the performance space and begins singing Gute Nacht, the first song of the Winterreise cycle.  Memories of his critically acclaimed performance in the title role of Brett Dean’s opera Hamlet at the Adelaide Festival in 2018 come rushing back, and we know we are listening to a tenor who is master of his craft.  He then joins Golla in the performance space as if to signify that his alter ego’s journey is about to commence.  For the next seventy minutes, David Bergman’s evocative video design (who, incidentally was responsible for the magic behind The Picture of Dorian Gray), Matthew Marshall’s empathetic and moody lighting design and Hume’s considered dramaturgy and direction all combine perfectly to allow Clayton and Golla to give flight to beautiful music making.  With the fading notes of the last song, Clayton walks out of the confines of the performance space, the lights dim and the journey is over.

Benjamin Britten once observed just how much Winterreise relies on the vocalist and pianist to bring it to life:  “…One of the most alarming things I always find, when performing this work, is that there is actually so little on the page.  [Schubert] gets the most extraordinary moods and atmospheres with so few notes... He leaves it all very much up to the performers.”  Clayton and Golla indeed rise to the occasion, and produce a world-class reading of Schubert’s Winterreise.

This performance is a remarkable triumph for Musica Viva and for all who have brought it to life.  You simply must not pass up the opportunity to see it, or to see it again, which should be easy because it will be broadcast.

Kym Clayton

When: Closed in Adelaide.  

Other performances available in Canberra and Sydney, with an online concert on Wednesday 7 December at 7pm AEST. 

Where: Adelaide Town Hall

Bookings: musicaviva.com

Symphony Series 4: Serenity

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 24 Jun 2022

Serenity is the fourth concert in the ASO’s current Symphony Series, and that is certainly what we received for much of the program.  However, serenity gave way to rampant exuberance in a blistering reading of Mussorgsky’s iconic Pictures at an Exhibition to finish the concert.

As is now the norm, the ASO begins the concert with a performance of Pudnanthi Padninthi (The Coming and the Going) composed by Jack Buckskin and Jamie Goldsmith arranged by Mark Simeon Ferguson.  It is presented as an Acknowledgement of Country, and it has the effect of wakening our senses to wider possibilities.

The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams is an achingly beautiful piece that is so well named.  One can almost visualise a skylark on wing – rising and hovering, circling, descending, and all the time warbling its evocative song.  Emily Sun on violin is mesmerising.  Her playing is articulate, crystal clear, and emulates the skylark to perfection.  Her dynamics are astute, with pianissimo moments that are barely audible, and exquisitely controlled.  Minimal vibrato, maximum impact.  Thirteen minutes of transporting tranquillity that was enabled by unaffected playing from the orchestra under the calculated direction of Benjamin Northey.

And then to a world première no less.  Cathy Milliken’s Ediacaran Fields is the fifth component of her orchestral cycle Earth Plays, and it is a noteworthy piece.  It is not a composition that requires explanation through detailed program notes in order to be enjoyed.  It stands alone as ‘pure music’, and if wanting to own a recording of it is a testimony to its quality and enjoyability, then this reviewer cannot wait until it is released on CD or similar.  Milliken was in attendance and prefaced the performance with some words of explanation about the piece. This added to the enjoyment.

Ediacaran Fields is a musical response to Milliken’s musings about the nature of the existence of certain soft-bodied creatures that existed in what was the watery environment of South Australia’s Flinders Ranges some 550 million years ago.  (Fossilised remains of these animals can be found in the world famous Ediacara fields at Nilpena Station.)  The composition uses the full resources of the orchestra, with a broad dynamic and melodic palette.  Having been told by Milliken that the piece “begins seven times over” as a reference to the biblical stories of creation allows the audience to understand the piece better, but, as has been said above, the pure music stands by itself. 

A highlight of Ediacaran Fields is audience participation!  About one-hundred audience members were supplied with small stones to ‘click’ together at various times during the performance under the direction of members of the percussion section of the orchestra and the conductor.  The effect is remarkable.  The sound is hypnotic.  Our imaginations entertain all manner of interpretations as to the purpose of the ‘clicks’. Do they represent random changes in the evolution of species?  Whatever they represent, the audience is enthusiastic in its applause. Ediacaran Fields deserves a place in concert programs around the world for many years to come.

Emily Sun re-joins the orchestra after the interval for a technically assured performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, which is a piece originally composed for the legendary violin virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate.  It is melodic, difficult to play, and it gets the pulse racing.  Sun’s performance demonstrates in spades her virtuosity and technical mastery of her instrument, but her approach perhaps errs on the side of being restrained, such as in the double and triple stopped passages that were executed sweetly rather than played with strident passion.  The audience are clearly delighted with Sun’s performance, and the wolf whistling that ensues is almost akin to the reception a pop star receives!

Northey was at the top of his game with a spirited and passionate interpretation of Ravels’ orchestrated arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition.  The orchestration places a sharp focus on almost every section of the orchestra.  There is a moment in the sun for everyone, and for example, it is such a joy to see the timpanist in full flight relishing every drum roll, and the tuba taking the lead, and the strings savagely bowing in unison.  It’s stirring stuff: sometimes zealous and impassioned, and sometimes serene.

Kym Clayton

When: Closed

Where: Adelaide Town Hall

Bookings: Closed

Lior & Domini: Animal in Hiding

Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Dunstan Playhouse. 23 Jun 2022

What is the Cabaret Festival really about? If it’s truly about showcasing excellence in the ‘cabaret genre’ – which traditionally has been a purposeful fusion of musical theatre and satirical comedy with a healthy dose of subversion – then shows like Animal in Hiding performed by Lior Attar (more commonly known simply as Lior) and Domini Forster don’t really fit that description. Animal in Hiding is therefore more likely to appeal to those who are already acquainted with the artist rather than to someone who is looking for something ‘edgy’. However, Lior & Domini: Animal in Hiding is a pleasing, entertaining and comfortable show.

Animal in Hiding is the name of Lior and Domini’s latest collaborative album that was conceived and produced during lockdown, and the concert was essentially a heart-felt performance of its song list held together by a warm and friendly conversation with the appreciative (and clearly devoted) audience. As a Cabaret Festival event, perhaps the song list could have been more risk-taking and varied to reveal the wider musical personalities of the artists.

Lior and Domini’s voices combine and complement each other beautifully. There is a purity in the vocal and instrumental (mainly guitar and some ukulele) sounds they produce that is so harmonically stylish that it sounds beguilingly simple. Such is the art of singer-songwriters who are at the top of their games, as are Lior and Domini. Their style is essentially of the folk tradition, but, refreshingly, their diction is crystal clear and unaffected, and not a word of their sophisticated story telling is lost.

A highlight of the concert was Lior’s performance of Gloria, which is a song he wrote about a chance meeting with an older woman while he was out walking his dog at dusk. She asked whether he would kindly walk her to her home, because she was apprehensive about making her way home in the dark alone. As they walked, a conversation struck up, as you’d expect, and Lior learned much about Gloria’s incredible life. The song beautifully captures ‘the moment’.

This reviewer would rather have enjoyed the performance in the intimacy of a much smaller venue in a true cabaret setting. Perhaps Lior and Domini might feel the same?

Kym Clayton

When: Closed

Where: Dunstan Playhouse

Bookings: Closed in Adelaide.

Touring Nationally: lior.com.au

Paul Grabowsky & Andrea Lam

Musica Viva. Adelaide Town Hall. 15 Jun 2022

In this intriguing concert, classical pianist Andrea Lam performs JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations followed by an improvised version ‘composed’ and performed by jazz musician Paul Grabowsky. However, such programming is not unique: in the 2008 Adelaide Fringe Festival Grabowsky joined forces with Clemens Leske Jnr to present the same program. This reviewer was fortunate enough to also see that concert and noted in a review that “…Leske used a standard umpteen-paged score, and Grabowsky relied on a few tattered pieces of paper that precariously balanced on the piano’s music stand!”

Wind the clock forward fourteen years and there are differences in the performances: no scores (or scraps of paper) are used; Lam’s performance is truly heartfelt, with suggestions of spontaneity that are not usually evident in a ‘read’ performance; and Grabowsky’s extemporisation plumbs new depths of sophistication that derive from focussed enquiry into the score over an extended time period.

Bach’s Goldberg Variations (often simply referred to as ‘the Goldbergs’) comprise an ‘aria’ followed by thirty diverse variations, and then a repeat of the aria. The whole composition clocks in at around forty minutes, and is almost solely in the key of G. Unlike other sets of variations (such as Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations) the Goldbergs are based on the bass line of the aria rather than its delicate and beautiful melody line. The Goldbergs were originally written for a two-manual harpsichord, but the set is better known and appreciated when played on piano. Famed Canadian pianist Glenn Gould shot to fame with his iconic 1955 recording. Since then, the Goldbergs have been re-expressed in many different instrumental arrangements – some work, others don’t – but those that do keep the counterpoint clear and unfussed. In 2018, the Australian Chamber Orchestra performed an arrangement in the Adelaide Town Hall by Bernard Labadie for a baroque ensemble (including a theorbo!). That arrangement worked well.

The Goldbergs are special – audiences never tire of hearing them – and tonight’s double presentation was a treat. At the beginning, Lam walks on stage in near darkness and sits at the Steinway. An ethereal light gradually wells up and reveals her in silent contemplation. She places her hands on the keyboard and then charms the familiar and well-loved melody of the Aria out of the piano. Lam perhaps uses more sustaining pedal than is needed, but the sound remains precise, especially in the ornamentation and rhythmic changes. The dynamic shifts are exhilarating. The individual voices in the canons and fugues are crystal clear, and seemingly in the blink of an eye the Aria is repeated and it’s all over.

After a substantial adjustment to the piano’s fine-tuning during the interval, which earned some cheeky applause by the audience that was rewarded by a flashing smile from the resident piano technician, it is Grabowsky’s turn. He begins with a faithful reading of the Aria, but this soon gives way to improvisation. After all, that’s his trade, and he excels at it. He is extreme with the changing dynamics, and clearly enjoys not being constrained by the score. His improvised variations to the Aria’s bass line are often more apparent than what occurs in a literal reading, and at other times they slip into the mists of musical reverie as he seemingly invokes Gould and mutters silently away to himself. At the half-way point of his performance, his version becomes sparse, but this soon gives way to untrammelled enthusiasm. We try and bring the ‘original’ to mind, but it’s not easy. Our mind plays tricks: is Grabowsky channelling other composers as well? Occasionally we hear something and arrogantly think it seems derivative, but then it’s gone in a flash. Such is Grabowsky’s genius. Out of this the Aria re-emerges, but this time in a gently improvised form, and his response to the Goldbergs is over. Never to be heard like that again, ever.

Kym Clayton

When: Closed in Adelaide, touring interstate

Where: Adelaide Town Hall

Bookings: musicaviva.com.au