Musica Viva. Adelaide Town Hall. 14 Jul 2026
Just before the commencement of the concert, a concertgoer sitting behind me whispered to her friend, “I think Musica Viva might be in trouble in Adelaide.” She was referring to the rather modest-sized audience: large areas of the vast Adelaide Town Hall auditorium were unfilled. Her comment echoed my own musings, and one’s mind naturally turns to possible explanations. Much has been written about today’s ticket-purchasing habits, and two things are apparent: people are increasingly leaving purchases until the last minute (and can therefore be influenced by such things as the vagaries of the weather–and it was bitterly cold in Adelaide last night!), while the cost-of-living crisis continues to place discretionary spending, such as entertainment, under pressure. But in the case of art music concerts, other factors also come into play, including programming and performers, and both are central to this recital.
In Musica Viva's current Australian tour, The Fairy’s Kiss, featuring Leila Josefowicz on violin and John Novacek on piano, the musicianship on display is simply world-class. Josefowicz and Novacek demonstrate the expressive possibilities inherent in the violin-piano partnership, treating both instruments as equal voices. Their performance also revealed the inestimable value of two musicians who have worked together over many years.
The program, however, was ambitious and, for that very reason, not universally appealing. It comprised Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, L.140 by Claude Debussy, Mythes, Op. 30 by Karol Szymanowski, Mriya by Charlotte Bray, and Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy's Kiss) by Igor Stravinsky. All four works are superb and redolent with possibility and interest. Collectively, though, the program asked more of its audience than it gave in immediate gratification. While each work was intriguing in its own right, their aggregate never quite ignited the audience’s passions. Even so, the audience left wanting more, although that may have owed something to the delightful encore: a rag for violin and piano composed by Novacek himself.
None of the four works function as a conventional violin sonata with piano accompaniment, not even the Debussy which is named a sonata. Each demands two equal virtuosi, highlighting the sonorities and technical possibilities of both instruments. Although Josefowicz occupied the traditional downstage position and played with expressive physicality, Novacek was every bit her equal. Her fearless virtuosity and command of advanced violin technique were matched by his rhythmic vitality and remarkable ability to respond instantly to her exquisitely balanced phrasing.
Although all four works challenged the conventions of violin-piano writing in their own time, placing the Stravinsky last was a wise programming decision. It is the most immediately engaging work, and Josefowicz appeared more at home with its rhythmic brilliance and energetic dialogue than with the fleeting musical ideas and harmonic ambiguity of the Debussy that opened the concert. Even so, both artists beautifully captured the piece’s playfulness and its occasional nod to the American idiom.
With her rapid double-stopping and authority in executing quarter-tones, Josefowicz was quite remarkable in the Szymanowski. Novacek proved the ideal partner, his controlled dynamics, lightness of touch, and effortless changes of rhythm and tempo beautifully capturing the work's shimmering, impressionistic sound world.
Bray's Mriya (Dream) is a musical response to Ukraine's soul and courage as its people defend themselves in Putin's war. Knowing this inevitably shapes one's listening. The work is more abstractly dramatic than lyrical, and at times the two instruments sound like combatants, with no real resolution. There are moments of silence, as though the guns have briefly ceased firing. At other times the piano and violin are concordant, perhaps hinting at the long-desired, yet still unattained, peace.
Having the Stravinsky follow such a troubling work comes as a welcome relief. It is theatre, giving the audience licence to enjoy itself—especially in the closing coda, which is toe-tappingly brilliant, technically demanding and exhilarating to watch. It is almost as if one is watching and listening to a ballet, only without the dancers!
The Fairy's Kiss is not an easy program to experience, and in lesser hands than those of Leila Josefowicz and John Novacek it could easily have become an excessively intellectual exercise. Instead, their artistry transformed it into an evening that was rewarding.
The lasting impression of this concert is that its four composers each explore different conceptions of the expressive possibilities of the violin-piano duo, all spectacularly realised by a partnership of rare refinement and musicality. Leila Josefowicz and John Novacek together are really something else. Partnerships of this calibre don't come along every day.
Kym Clayton
When: 14 Jul
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
