Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 10 November 2008 - Euphoric Tour

Featuring:
- Prokofiev - Symphony No. 1 in D major, 'Classical'
- Brahms - Double Concerto for violin and cello
- Beethoven - Symphony No. 8 in F major

My first ACO concert. My first time purchasing student ticket - $18.00 (very cheap!). Got a seat high up in the balcony. This will be the last time I sat at the balcony in Hamer Hall, I just couldn't stand looking down at a very sharp angle for a long long time. I was quite lucky that I still able to see the lead violinist - if I were to be seated a couple more seats up, seeing the soloists would be impossible.

Prokofiev's classical symphony is a very fine music - 'witty' is the adjective that I use to describe this symphony. All movements were very much enjoyable with the last two movements pleased me the most. Surely it's time to check out Prokofiev's other symphonies?

Brahms Double Concerto was a little bit disappointing. Did not really enjoy the performance and I even thought the musical lines were muddy at times. Not even the lovely theme of the Andante engaged me in the performance. The finale fared much better, but as a whole, the performance did not satisfy me as much as the legendary Rostropovich, Oistrakh and Szell recording on EMI. We were given a small piece as an encore, I couldn't really recall what the piece was, but it was a duet between violin and cello, both of them playing pizzicato throughout.

Beethoven 8 was the highlight of the night. Although it's not as famous as the big Beethoven symphonies (think of the Third (Eroica), Fifth, Sixth (Pastorale), Seventh and Ninth), this is the only symphony of Beethoven that never failed to made me grin from the beginning till the end. The whole symphony is just pure fun! Listen to the big opening movement, the playful scherzo of the second movement, the minuet and the fantastic trio of the third movement and the musical jokes in the final movement! The performance was very fine throughout - the fast tempo taken definitely helped as well. The playing of the timpanist was really fine in the final passages of the last movement and it was very exciting to watch him hitting the kettledrums!

After Beethoven 8, Richard Tognetti gave a small 'speech' about the future closure of ANAM at the end of this year. At the end of his speech, he suddenly announced that students from ANAM will join the ACO to give the audience two encores: Tchaikovsky's Waltz of Flower from the Nutcracker and Sibelius' 'Scene with Cranes' suite from the tone poem from Kuolema.

I am one out of the many people who is very disappointed with the federal government decision to stop funding Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), effectively closing it down at the end of this year. I've attended several concerts of ANAM students in South Melbourne Town Hall and have enjoyed immensely some of the programs offered. Particularly fond in my memory are the gorgeous performance of Mozart's Wind Quintet K. 452 and Sonata for Two Pianos K. 448. Also, a very memorable night of Schubert's concert by Emmanuel Ax who was invited to give masterclass in the academy. I urge everyone to sign the online petition to stop government from closing the academy which can be found in ANAM website.

Ensemble Liaison & Friends - Concert 4: Lullaby & Doina

4 November 2008

Featuring:
- Beethoven - Cello Sonata No. 4 in C major, Op. 102 No. 1
- Jean Franciax - Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Piano
- Osvaldo Golijov - Lullaby and Doina for Flute, Clarinet and Strings
- Schubert - Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 "The Trout"

Ensemble Liaison:
- Svetlana Bogosavljevic - Cello
- David Griffiths - Clarinet
- Timothy Young - Piano
Friends:
- Wilma Smith - Violin
- Katie Chilmaid - Violin
- Simon Oswell - Viola
- Alex Henery - Double Bass
- Mardi McSullea - Flute

There's reason for late reviews: these past few weeks had been quite hectic. Assignments, exams, and old/new personal problems had taken their tolls on me and I just did not have time to do blogging. I'll try my best to recall the experience of this concert.

I have never listened to any of the pieces from that night's concert before.

Short summary:
Wasn't really impressed with Beethoven's Cello Sonata. Sure, there were some brilliant passages, but on a whole, it wasn't quite memorable. Also, the cellist sounded a little bit overwhelmed by the pianist in this performance.

The Franciax's piece was described by the clarinetist as a 'circus music' and he couldn't describe it better. A very challenging piece for clarinetist to perform - plenty of notes in fast tempo portraying fun and bouncy atmosphere of a circus act is what came into my mind when listening to it.

Golijov's piece was another interesting one. It was apparently used in the 2000 movie The Man Who Cried starring Johnny Depp and Cate Blanchett. The music was quite haunting and started out very somber. In the middle of the piece, after the double bass player put down his bow and took a deep breath, the music picked up its tempo and the double bass player launched himself to a prolonged, very exciting to watch, fast pizzicato passages. This performance was definitely the highlights of the night for me.

I have to pity myself for not being entirely impressed with Schubert's Trout Quintet. I am not sure what happened but I lost my concentration in the middle of the first movement. Only the folksy tune in the last movement restored my interest of this music. This is the piece that I have to listen again to get why it is so popular.