Featuring:
- Brett Dean Testament
- Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
- Beethoven Symphony No. 4
Dejan Lazic - Piano
Richard Tognetti - Artistic Director and Lead Violin
This was a Beethoven-flavoured concert, with 2 major Beethoven pieces and a piece by Brett Dean who was inspired by Beethoven's Heiligenstadt Testament. The piece - Testament - started off with unison strings playing what was described as 'sound losing grip' in the program. This was emphasised by similar idea in the woodwinds. The piece was really slow in the beginning and I lost interest as the music progressed. It doesn't help that I'm not familiar with any Beethoven's String Quartet, and therefore couldn't notice where Brett Dean quoted the slow movement of Op. 59 No. 1 in this piece. I can't honestly say I was impressed with the music. However, the problem might not be with the music; I was a bit tired that day and my concentration was wobbly that day. The finale was much better, although again, the piece in general didn't have any strong impression on me.
Dejan Lazic gave a very refreshing performance of Beethoven's 4th piano concerto. Although the opening did not convince me, due to Dejan did not play the full note value of the opening chords, he compensated it with a few interesting things. The most notable aspect is he played his own cadenza (which I confirmed when I talked to him after the concert). The cadenza is a unique blend of Chopin, Rachmaninov, Scarlatti, and possibly a bit of Beethoven himself (Dejan told me that Busoni is one of the composer in the mix). The other notable aspect is the use of rubato, and the playing of a high degree of freedom in the tempo. He would slow down the tempo in a beautiful cadence, only to do an accelerando in the following phrases. His phrasings are delicate, while the ever present bass line provides the overall balance. The ACO accompanied Dejan's freedom of tempo dutifully, and overall provided a wonderful accompaniment throughout. ACO really shone in the second movement - a small chamber orchestra producing big sfz and accented notes effortlessly. While Dejan's playing in this movement is fine, it did not manage to move me as much as other recordings that I know of. The third movement rises out from the depths of hell in second movement into the exuberance of joy. I loved the balance of the counter melodies of violas and cellos against the violins in the opening of this finale. Again, Dejan played his own cadenza in this movement in the style as far removed as from Beethoven's own cadenza. The coda was exciting and played prestissimo to a thunderous applause. After several curtain calls, Dejan gave an encore - a rather fast Chopin's Minute Waltz. Not my favourite rendition, but I won't complain when a soloist gave an encore in the concert.
One more note about Dejan. I noticed he's very much down-earthed guy when signing autographs for the audiences. Every time an audience came up and praised him for a wonderful performance, he would bow down deeply to express his gratitude. Also, he stood up all the time during his interactions with the audience although he could have easily sat down.
The final piece of the concert is Beethoven's much neglected 4th symphony. This, along with the 8th symphony, are my favourite Beethoven symphonies. I'm not saying that they are the greatest piece of music that Beethoven wrote, but I just feel extremely happy when listening to both of them. I commend ACO to have the balls to program this underrated symphony. At first, I was a bit skeptical on how ACO can successfully play this piece with only small number of double basses (only 2). Could they possibly sustain this piece? Turns out that they can, and coupled that with beautiful playings of every sections of the orchestra (esp. the woodwinds!), you'll get a knock out performance. Richard's choice of tempo is on the fast side (as usual for his Beethoven), and it works out really well with the energy that ACO put for this performance. I still can't get over the way Richard conducted with his bow though. The audience seemed to love the performance, and it's a good advertisement for this much neglected symphony. Thumbs up for programming this ACO!
Wednesday 18 November 2009
Saturday 14 November 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 13 November 2009 - Coloratura Showcase
Featuring:
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Sinfonia
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Eccomi in lieta vesta..O quante volte
- Respighi Fountains of Rome
- Puccini Gianni Schicchi: O mio babbino caro
- Rossini The Barber of Seville: Overture
- Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor: Regnava nel silenzio..Quando rapito in estasi
- Berlioz Romeo and Juliet: Romeo alone - Festivities at the Capulets'
- Gounod Romeo and Juliet: Je veux vivre
- Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
- Ambroise Thomas Hamlet: Ophelia's Mad Scene
Emma Matthews - Soprano
Alexander Shelley - Conductor
The star of this 'Celebrity concert' is supposed to be Sumi Jo. However, due to last minute injury, she cancelled her appearance in this concert to my disappointment. There are 10 programs on offer, with an orchestral piece alternating with a soprano aria sung by the replacement soloist, Emma Matthews. Emma is currently the principal artist of Opera Australia and should be a fair substitute to Sumi Jo. On top of that, Alexander Shelley who did a wonderful job conducting Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade MSO during last year's Sidney Myer free concert is the conductor of the night. Needless to say, my expectation of this concert is high.
Unfortunately though, my expectation was not met. The orchestra sounded a little bit uninspired in some of the opera numbers (maybe partly of the music itself?), but did a fair job in Rossini's Barber of Seville overture. I enjoyed Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun despite some unclean entries from some members of the orchestra. Also, the climax in the piece was a bit underwhelming.
Emma Matthews is a soprano who behaved like one on stage. She even changed her dress during the interval, and did plenty of what I called over-the-top gestures (esp. when she acted very girlishly in Gounod's aria). I guess, she's a prima donna after all and most of them act like one. Or maybe, she needs to act like that to be in the right mood for the character she's singing (she certainly acts like a deranged person in Ophelia's mad scene). Anyway, seeing someone's gestures or attitudes on stage is not the reason why I attended classical music concert - I can go to opera instead - , and I'm fine with all of that as long as the artist has the talent to match it. In Emma case, she definitely has a wonderful voice, a great range and control on the higher pitch, although her voice was occasionally swamped by the orchestra's fortissimo. Her notes ornamentation in particular (which is really the most important thing in the bel canto repertoire) impressed me. She's especially impressive at Donizetti's and Thomas' arias and the audience loved that high (C?) notes that she produced in the climaxes. Her other arias were fine, but not particularly impressive.
I guess the main reason why I did not enjoy this concert very much is the program. Bel canto music is not my cup of tea (at least not yet), and there were just too much of them that night. I'm looking forward to entirely different programs in ACO's Beethoven 4 concert.
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Sinfonia
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Eccomi in lieta vesta..O quante volte
- Respighi Fountains of Rome
- Puccini Gianni Schicchi: O mio babbino caro
- Rossini The Barber of Seville: Overture
- Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor: Regnava nel silenzio..Quando rapito in estasi
- Berlioz Romeo and Juliet: Romeo alone - Festivities at the Capulets'
- Gounod Romeo and Juliet: Je veux vivre
- Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
- Ambroise Thomas Hamlet: Ophelia's Mad Scene
Emma Matthews - Soprano
Alexander Shelley - Conductor
The star of this 'Celebrity concert' is supposed to be Sumi Jo. However, due to last minute injury, she cancelled her appearance in this concert to my disappointment. There are 10 programs on offer, with an orchestral piece alternating with a soprano aria sung by the replacement soloist, Emma Matthews. Emma is currently the principal artist of Opera Australia and should be a fair substitute to Sumi Jo. On top of that, Alexander Shelley who did a wonderful job conducting Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade MSO during last year's Sidney Myer free concert is the conductor of the night. Needless to say, my expectation of this concert is high.
Unfortunately though, my expectation was not met. The orchestra sounded a little bit uninspired in some of the opera numbers (maybe partly of the music itself?), but did a fair job in Rossini's Barber of Seville overture. I enjoyed Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun despite some unclean entries from some members of the orchestra. Also, the climax in the piece was a bit underwhelming.
Emma Matthews is a soprano who behaved like one on stage. She even changed her dress during the interval, and did plenty of what I called over-the-top gestures (esp. when she acted very girlishly in Gounod's aria). I guess, she's a prima donna after all and most of them act like one. Or maybe, she needs to act like that to be in the right mood for the character she's singing (she certainly acts like a deranged person in Ophelia's mad scene). Anyway, seeing someone's gestures or attitudes on stage is not the reason why I attended classical music concert - I can go to opera instead - , and I'm fine with all of that as long as the artist has the talent to match it. In Emma case, she definitely has a wonderful voice, a great range and control on the higher pitch, although her voice was occasionally swamped by the orchestra's fortissimo. Her notes ornamentation in particular (which is really the most important thing in the bel canto repertoire) impressed me. She's especially impressive at Donizetti's and Thomas' arias and the audience loved that high (C?) notes that she produced in the climaxes. Her other arias were fine, but not particularly impressive.
I guess the main reason why I did not enjoy this concert very much is the program. Bel canto music is not my cup of tea (at least not yet), and there were just too much of them that night. I'm looking forward to entirely different programs in ACO's Beethoven 4 concert.
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