Musica Viva. Adelaide Town Hall. 13 May 2021
Musica Viva’s current touring program is a triumph. It features the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) orchestra directed by Sophie Rowell, alumnus Harry Ward (violin), and virtuoso pianist Konstantin Shamray. Rowell addresses the large audience from the stage and in speaking briefly about the program she also suggested that ANAM’s fine work with young elite musicians will ensure that classical music performance in Australia is in good hands. After experiencing such a wonderful concert – a mix of new and not so new, with a dash of youth and daring – we can be in no doubt about that.
The program rolls together strange bedfellows, but it works at a number of levels. Firstly, we have the gentle lyricism of an arrangement for piano and string orchestra of Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A minor. This is then sharply contrasted with the brutal beauty of Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings. After the interval we are soothed and transported to an almost other-worldly place by the diffuse grace and refinement of Lamento for Solo Violin and String Orchestra by contemporary Estonian composer Mihkel Kertem. And finally, as if to impose a sense of familiarity, the evening finishes with the ever popular Serenade for Strings in C, Op.48 by Tchaikovsky. Strange bedfellows indeed, but an extremely comfortable ménage à quatre as it turns out.
Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A minor is a single movement composition for piano, violin, viola and cello, and the arrangement by Ward captures the richness and unrepressed passion of the youthful composition. It was written by Mahler when he was only sixteen. The ANAM orchestra is superbly led by Rowell on violin, and features Shamray at his interpretative best, but his performance of the Schnittke is exceptional and worth the ticket price by itself.
Composed in 1979, Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings is not an easy work to listen to, like much of his musical output. Schnittke himself described his music as polystylistic, but others have been less generous and have suggested it is chaotic. The Concerto is awash with disparate musical ideas and mind numbing crashing chords, but Shamray seems to find its gestalt and wows the audience with his virtuosity.
Kerem’s Lamento was originally scored for cello and strings and the version for violin and strings was commissioned by Musica Viva. Ward tapped the inner beauty of the piece and effortlessly made the COVID-masked audience forget they were in the midst of a pandemic, painting for us a pastoral scene of delicate stillness, contemplation and hope. Rowell balanced the ensemble against this vulnerability.
Tchaikovsky’s Serenade isn’t a pot boiler, but it’s comfortable and safe ground. It is of course a well-known piece and an audience favourite, and therein lays a sting. A young ensemble, like ANAM, have no choice but to play it well, very well indeed, otherwise less generous audience members will soundly criticise them and blame an average performance on relative youth. However, ANAM comes up trumps and gives as good a performance as any. With only twenty in the ensemble, clarity and articulation from each musician is vital. Rowell leads beautifully and ANAM follow with precision and passion. All of Tchaikovsky’s lush melodies and subtle nuances come through with style.
Program notes should not be necessary in order to enjoy a concert – the music should speak for itself. Sometimes however they provide insights into the rationale behind the actual programming, which can enhance the listening experience. Musica Viva’s program notes are always a case in point, and they make for interesting reading and provide motivation long after the event to revisit the program through recordings.
Musica Viva’s next tour in Adelaide is on 17 June 2021, and features horn, violin and piano repertoire from Mozart and Brahms, as well as a world première of Australian composer Gordon Kerry’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, which was commissioned for Musica Viva by Julian Burnside. This promises to be another intellectually and aesthetically pleasing concert.
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
Henry Wagons & The Martyrs. The Gov. 28 Apr 2021
I’m a bit bemused as to how one can perform an entire tribute show to the life and songs of Warren Zevon and not mention his astounding sidekick guitarist Waddy Wachtel, who played on the vast majority of his recordings. Yet there it is.
For the sake of posterity, Zevon gave us Werewolves Of London as well as the Linda Ronstadt hit Poor Poor Pitiful Me, both being presented tonight.
Henry Wagons is a consummate craftsman of the stage, quick with a joke or to light up your smoke, and there’s no place he’d rather be. With four piece band The Martyrs backing him up, Wagons is an engaging and vibrant host, at times MC and announcer, at times the singing embodiment of Zevon who (I am astounded to recall) died back in 2003. Time truly does fly.
The show opens with Lawyers, Guns & Money then moves smoothly on to Excitable Boy; how is this going to work when there are so many Zevon penned songs to choose from? Henry Wagons introduces himself, leaping around the stage, nervous energy personified.
I Was In The House When The House Burned Down from 2000s album ‘Life’ll Kill Ya’ comes next, followed by the amazing Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner (back to 1978) allowing Wagons to leap back and forth through time and space though this is for the most part a chronological tale. Somehow it all makes sense and the audience are lapping it up; over three hundred committed Zevon fans and very few of ‘em under the age of fifty.
The songs keep coming: after the mid-time break drummer Holly Thomas takes the microphone for a rendition of Poor Poor Pitiful Me, which is lovely, and yet something is missing. The Martyrs seems to be stuck in second gear, destined not to develop the torque necessary to do these songs (and this performance) justice. And it is a great performance in the hands of musical director and pianist Lachlan Bryan; or it certainly should be. Carmelita is a dead set highlight and it is Werewolves Of London which somewhat predictably closes out the show. Bassist Damian Cafarella gives that jaunty piano signature a solid underpinning.
Finally, in the encore, guitarist Michael Hubbard shows real animation and for a glorious three minutes, or so, The Martyrs (without Wagons onstage) are able to show just what they’re capable of. In The Mutineer, just for a moment or two, the persona of Waddy Wachtel had arrived onstage.
Alex Wheaton
When: 28 Apr
Where: The Gov
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Festival. Musica Viva Australia. Adelaide Town Hall. 2 Mar 2021
Presented as part of the Adelaide Festival, Musica Viva’s first tour of 2021 features the celebrated Streeton Trio (Emma Jardine, violin, Umberto Clerici, cello, and Benjamin Kopp, piano) in concert with the phenomenal Diana Doherty (oboe).
The programme also features a world première performance of a new composition. Before tonight, the art music repertoire for this particular combination of instruments was very limited – a handful of pieces – and so to have a brand new composition (and by an Australian composer to boot!) is indeed a special event.
The Streetons and Doherty are all based in Sydney. They are acclaimed around the world and are part of the musical elite.
The programme begins with Bohuslav Martinů’s 1947 composition Quartet for Oboe, Violin, Cello and Piano. Martinů is infrequently heard in the concert hall and his compositions are characterised by short melodic and rhythmic motifs that are ‘mined’ for additional musical material. The Streetons ensure that the quartet’s motifs are clearly stated and unmistakeably heard again as they re-appear in various guises.
Composed about one hundred and ten years earlier, Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No.1 in D minor is an entirely different proposition. The melodies are expansive, and the thematic and rhythmic structures are more emphatically stated and carefully developed. There is potential for the dense score to come across as leaden but the Streetons ensure the piece retains luminosity and lightness even in the fortissimo passages.
The highlight of the evening is the world première of Skipworth’s Oboe Quartet. It is scored in three movements – allegro moderato, misterioso molto rubato, and allegretto giocosa – and was commissioned for Musica Viva Australia in memory of Anne and Alan Blanckensee, by their son Andrew, family and friends. The work is intensely melody driven, and the oboe in particular shines throughout and infuses the melodic contours with style and momentum. The short dialogues between the oboe and the other instruments, and particularly with the cello at the start of the misterioso, are key to the coherency and enjoyment of the work.
Skipworth’s quartet is an important addition to the repertoire for the particular instrumental combination and, judging by the audience reaction, it is destined to become ‘part of the furniture’.
Kym Clayton
When: Closed in Adelaide. Concerts available in other capital cities.
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: musicaviva.com.au
Adelaide Festival. Heath Quartet. Ukaria Cultural Centre. 9 Mar 2020.
The third and final concert in the Adelaide Festival’s Composer & Citizen mini-series again contrasts the old with the new: the last string quartet by Beethoven, and the last by Michael Tippett.
Tippett’s String Quartet No.5 lacks a formal structure and comprises two broad movements each comprising sections of varying pace and colour. In both movements, the slower sections are almost agonising, and the award winning Heath Quartet (Oliver Heath, violin, Sara Wolstenholme, violin, Gary Pomeroy, viola, and Christopher Murray on cello) dug deep to bring Tippett’s taut but refined composition to life. The composition only yields its subtly constructed melodies in the hands of great technicians, which the Heath’s most certainly are.
By contrast, Beethoven’s String Quartet No.16 in F, Op.135 is more accessible but demands no lesser technique: it is lively and at times feels instinctive as it strives towards resolution and a natural end point. The Heath’s allow the music to do the talking and do not push the emotional content beyond its core, especially in the final allegro movement.
The conversation between the cello and other instruments is beautifully articulated, including the more muscular passages in the finale, and nothing is lost. Questions are posed, and answers are suggested.
The Heath’s are a class ensemble, and they handle the individuality of Tippett and the authority of Beethoven incisively.
The Composer & Citizen series has been a masterstroke of programming.
Kym Clayton
When: 9 Mar
Where: Ukaria Cultural Centre
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Festival. Heath Quartet. Ukaria Cultural Centre. 8 Mar 2020.
Composer and Citizen 2 is the second in a three concert series that explores the relationship between old and new music, and how the practise of one composer has influenced the other. In this concert Michael Tippett’s String Quartet No.2 is juxtaposed with Beethoven’s String Quartet No.3. Both are early works by the respective composers in the string quartet form.
In today’s concert, both compositions are performed by the celebrated Heath Quartet (Oliver Heath, violin, Sara Wolstenholme, violin, Gary Pomeroy, viola, and Christopher Murray, cello). The Heath Quartet won the 2016 Gramophone Chamber Music Award for its recording of the complete string quartets of Tippett, and it is clear to see why.
The rhythmic structure of Tippett’s second quartet is complex with accents that often occur in unexpected places. This establishes a sense of conflict and resolution, which the Heath’s clearly enunciate. Their playing is precise – informed by deep understanding of the music – but it is also ardent, and has impetus and dash. The final movement is especially memorable for the clarity with which the heath’s expose the ‘echos’ of thematic material and the lightness of the first violin’s statements and restatements.
Tippett’s second quartet stands in stark contrast to Beethoven’s third, and the Heath’s perform the Beethoven with unforced elegance but vibrant muscularity when needed. As an ensemble they play with sublime communication and when the four instruments appear to be playing independently with no conversation, the Heath’s – through a gesture, a smile, a nod, a repositioning of body weight – convince us they are together implementing a higher plan that will become clear to the listener. This same impression was also evident in the Tippet.
Marshall Maguire, who curated the program, could not have chosen better.
Kym Clayton
When: 8 Mar
Where: Ukaria Cultural Centre
Bookings: Closed