Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 24 May 2025
The second concert in the ASO’s Brahms Symphonies series included Wagner’s Prelude to Act 1 of Lohengrin, Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No 1 in G minor, Op.25, and Brahms’ Symphony No.2 in D, Op.73.
Again, Mark Wigglesworth led the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Sir Stephen Hough performed the concerto.
In the first concert there was a clear connection between the works on the program, but the connections in the second concert are a little more abstract: Wagner was suspicious of Mendelssohn (and Brahms to an extent) who in turn was lauded by Schumann who thought that Brahms was going to be the next big thing after Beethoven who was also revered by Wagner. The connections don’t really matter to the typical member of the audience: all they want is to be entertained with iconic music, and that is exactly what they got.
Wigglesworth showed his flexibility and broad experience throughout the program. From the carefully controlled dynamics of the Prelude to Lohengrin, with its exquisitely controlled long crescendos and decrescendos, through to the beautifully articulated dialogues between piano and orchestra in the Mendelssohn, to the exchanges between the woodwinds and strings in the Brahms, Wigglesworth demonstrated his command of it all.
Hough was again precise at the piano, but the romanticism of the concerto was never stifled. The three-way communication between Hough, Wigglesworth, and concertmaster Kate Suthers was a highlight.
The reading of the Brahms was ‘standard’ and Wigglesworth controlled the exacting dynamics. No instrument was given anything approaching a free rein, although the bowing of the principal viola was something to admire; passionate and exuberant. The audience enjoyed the first movement of the symphony so much that they broke into spontaneous applause when it ended. The orchestra took this in their stride and an unleashed almost plangent woodwinds in the second movement, gracious strings in the third and a spirited tutti in the final movement.
At the end Wigglesworth asked the woodwinds to take the first bow, followed by the horns, and then the brass before a full bow. Throughout, the audience clapped and cheered, and wolf whistled. They were indeed entertained with excellent performances of iconic music by an orchestra of which Adelaide can be rightly proud.
Kym Clayton
When: 24 May
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
