Adelaide Town hall. 3 Nov 2016
The Tallis Scholars are Renaissance choral music specialists, and they are at the pinnacle of their craft. Quite simply, they are without equal, and much of it is down to Peter Philips, their founder and conductor.
Philips has a sense of theatre. He has the choir file in and form a gentle crescent on the stage, and as it happened they were nearly in order of height. In what almost resembles a Mexican wave, they open their music scores one after the other, doing it all in reverse order when they file off at the end of the first half of the programme. When it is all over, and they depart the stage for the final time at the concert concussion, Phillips’ conductor’s score is left on his music stand centre-stage, illuminated by a bright spotlight from above. It is the score of the awe-inspiring Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis – that remarkable composer from the time of Elizabeth after whom the ensemble is named.
These are just little things that drive home the sense of occasion and make one realise that a performance by The Tallis Scholars is a special thing; something to cherish.
Philips places the members of his ensemble judiciously in relation to each other. For some pieces he has some of them stand in different places, presumably to facilitate them singing a different ‘voice’. In Arvo Pärt’s unusual Which Was The Son Of, Philips positions all the tenors and basses in the centre and flanks them on both sides with the altos and sopranos. The male ‘centre’ focuses our attention on the fact that the subject of the composition is the (male) genealogy of Jesus Christ (according the Gospel of Luke). It is perhaps the least successful piece of the evening. In John Taverner’s As One Who Has Slept, a quartet of voices is sent to a back corner of the stage and provides a liturgical drone effect common to Taverner’s music, underlining his attachment to the Russian Orthodox faith. It is a highlight of the evening.
But all roads point to the Spem in Alium – the finale of the evening – and everything else in the program which precedes it, and it is all exquisite, is doomed to take second chair. The ten Tallis Scholars are joined by thirty members of the internationally renowned Adelaide Chamber Singers. Their combined forces produce a world class performance and Philips remarks as much at the end of the performance. Of course he is right to say so.
So what does one do for an encore? How does one follow Spem in Alium? Well the answer is you don’t, you simply repeat it, at least some of it, and that is exactly what happened.
The audience leaves in a state of sublime contentment.
Kym Clayton
When: 3 Nov 2016
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Festival Theatre. 29 Oct 2016
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 is a crowd pleaser, and thirty year old Australian and internationally renowned pianist Jayson Gillham’s performance at the piano earned him three well deserved standing ovations from the large Festival Theatre audience. Maestro Jeffrey Tate graciously remained in the wings and allowed Gillham to enjoy the applause by himself, but Tate deserved it just as much. Between them they found a sublime balance in dynamics, phrasing and pace. Gillham’s generously sized but beautifully controlled dexterous hands were never required to coax anything more than exactly what was needed from the majestic Steinway. Gillham was especially fine in the second part of the second movement, and his sensitivity transported the audience to another place. The clarity was palpable largely due to judicious use of the pedal. Once it was over, and the exuberant applause and wolf-whistling was spent, Gillham tossed off a piece of Bach as if he was at the beginning of a recital, and not at the end of a mighty Beethoven concerto. Gillham certainly has a long and bright future in front of him, and pray we see more of him in Adelaide.
The evening began with a standard reading of Wagner’s Prelude to Act 1 of The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, which is all about the brass and stately themes. Tate ‘gets’ Wagner and he lets the music speak for itself. Absent were exaggerations in dynamics and hastened tempos in bridging sections. It all came out as it should, as if we were settling back to enjoy the entire opera: it was measured and assured, and pointed towards something full of promise.
As good as the Wagner and the Beethoven were, the main event was after the interval and came in the form of Richard Strauss’ majestic tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life). Coming in at around forty minutes - as much as the overture and the concerto combined - there is more than ample opportunity for the conductor and orchestra to create an undisciplined mashup, but Tate led the forces of the enlarged Adelaide Symphony Orchestra on a clear and conquering path towards musical nirvana. Allegedly autobiographical, Ein Heldenleben has a programme but one’s enjoyment of it is not contingent on understanding the nuances of the programme. Who really cares that the solo violin, which was exquisitely played by concertmaster Natsuko Yoshimoto supposedly represents Strauss’s own wife. It really doesn’t matter, and nor does it matter that the played-through movements lack any substantial musical unity, apart from the gorgeous leitmotifs that act as musical glue. Ein Heldenleben is not everyone’s cup of tea, but, like Wagner, Tate ‘gets’ Strauss and its myriad voices sang brightly with delicately balanced passion.
This was a lesson in balance reached from the vantage point of deep understanding.
Kym Clayton
When: 29 Oct
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 7 Oct 2016
Tasmin Little is a passionate conversationalist: throughout her clear and nuanced reading of Delius’ Violin Concerto she moves backwards and between inviolable concentration and almost casual dialogue with whichever section of the orchestra takes her fancy. The result is as good as you can get, and she extracts panoply of finely wrought emotions from her 1757 Guadagnini violin.
Acclaimed principal guest conductor Jeffrey Tate provides Little with great support from the podium. The dynamic balance between orchestra and solo violin is finely poised, but none more so than between the sections of the orchestra. Each and every musical idea that brings one section of the orchestra into prominence over the others is clearly heard, and it is a delight.
Such carefully constructed balance is ever apparent throughout Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll. Tate put to the sword the unfair quip that Wagner is full of beautiful moments but interminable minutes (or words to that effect!). The audience wishes the performance would never end. Tate observes what the piece has to offer, and carries the orchestra along in search of it.
Brahms’ Symphony No.3 is a fascinating composition. The entire four movements end quietly and peacefully, and at its end there is not the immediate and abrupt burst of applause from the audience that is typical of symphonies that end with a flourish. Rather, the audience is lulled into a contemplative state and Tate’s gentle yet persuasive conducting of the Adelaide Symphony certainly has that effect; especially in the inner two movements.
This performance is characterised by delicate and seemingly effortless balance. Bravo Tate!
Kym Clayton
When: 7 Oct
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
Musica Viva. Adelaide Town Hall. 5 Oct 2016
In a concert comprising Mozart, Janáček, Saint-Saëns and contemporary Australian composer Jane Stanley, violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Andrew Tyson have a richly varied musical palette upon which to demonstrate their prowess as both individuals and as a musical partnership.
Technically, both young artists are exceptional talents, and musically they are both sophisticated and contemplative. At times their lyricism is achingly beautiful, and at other times their treatment of dissonance and spiky rhythms draws on the impetuosity of youth and demands to be listened to - here we are and we have something to say; and they do, and it is impressive.
Beilman and Tyson draw out the inherent sunniness of Mozart’s Sonata No 35 in A, and their treatment of the andante third movement is particularly expressive. It resembles a polite and respectful dialogue, with each instrument taking turns to progress the conversation. This is turned on its head in Janáček’s Vioin Sonata with both instruments boisterously clamoring for ascendency, resolving in the final adagio fourth movement in which Beilman and Tyson are at their sublime best.
Stanley’s Cerulean Orbits is a very new composition, and this is its second performance ever. In addressing the audience from the stage, Tyson notes that the piece is so new that it was his and Beilman’s very great pleasure to help the composer workshop and refine the piece only a few short weeks before.
However, Cerulean Orbits did not overly please the audience who appear to enjoy compositions that are more tonal and with obvious structure, such as Saint-Saëns’ Sonata No 1 in D minor which rounds the concert out with a veritable cornucopia of melodies. Beilman and Tyson are in their element, and they sustain the energy and momentum that the piece demands. It is an exhilarating, razor-edge ride.
Still only in their mid-twenties, Beilman and Tyson are already successful and experienced musicians, and each has an impressive list of awards and prizes to his name. They are prodigiously talented and can look forward to long and successful futures.
Kym Clayton
When: 5 Oct
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 23 Sep 2016
The main billing was Elgar’s Cello Concerto, but Prokofiev’s 5th Symphony stole the show. Guest Conductor Michael Stern led the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in what was an engulfing performance.
Prokofiev wrote seven symphonies, and for my taste this is perhaps the best. Its strength and audacity is balanced by moments of great softness and aching tenderness. The briskness and spiky rhythms of the second movement are evocative of Prokofiev’s ballet scores, and contrast superbly with the stately regality of the first with echoes of its thematic material in the almost dissonant last movement.
Stern was at the top of his game. He plumbed the depths of the piece and produced a textured live performance that far excels many recordings. Guest Associate concert master Ike See was most engaging to watch throughout the performance. Like Stern, he ‘gets’ Prokofiev.
The concert began with a regulation performance of Debussy’s ever-popular Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, which if anything was slightly overpowered and less nuanced than it might be. Geoffrey Collins was his usual excellent self on flute.
It is a programming joy that the ASO occasionally chooses to feature its own principal musicians in concerto performances, and on this occasion Principal Cello Simon Cobcroft took the role of soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto and amply demonstrated that he is a world class musician. Cobcroft is a contained yet graceful musician, and his face is the window into his musical soul. The strained opening chords were matched by anxious grimaces on his brow, the forceful pizzicati in the slow second movement were punctuated by his defiant chin. The emotional third movement was written serenely in a half smile and Cobcroft worked very well with Stern in the fourth to keep up the pace.
Stern atypically addressed the audience at the conclusion of the concert to tell us something we already knew, that the ASO is class outfit!
Kym Clayton
When: 23 Sep
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed