Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 23 July 2010 - Requiem

Featuring:
- Britten War Requiem

Elena Zelenskaya - Soprano
Timothy Robinson - Tenor
Stephan Loges - Baritone
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus - Jonathan Grieves-Smith: Chorus master
National Boys Choir of Australia - Peter Casey: Chorus master

Tadaaki Otaka - Conductor

I really want to like this concert, but in the end, through no fault of MSO and the performance, I did not really enjoy the concert. The main reason is the unlucky seat that I got. Sandwiched between two gentlemen, one who was breathing heavily through out the concert as if he was about to die soon, and the other who fell asleep most of the time, waking up only in the exciting bit and bobbing his head off-time along. I really wanted to change seats in the middle, but the breaks between the movements are just too short.

Okay, enough of the rants, off to the program now. It was a packed hall that night, and the concert started late. Also, before the concert starts, Jeffrey Crellin, the principal oboist, gave a short talk about the passing of Sir Charles Mackerras. He then returned to his seat, in the chamber orchestra bit. It probably doesn't make sense to anyone who is not familiar with the work, so here's why. The requiem is written for three 'partitions': first, the full orchestra plus the choir, and soprano soloist; second, the chamber orchestra plus the two male soloists; and third, the boys choir. The first and second partition are on stage, while the boys choir sing in the foyer.

The best bits that I enjoyed from the concert is the part written for the boys choir, the twist in the poem in the Offertorium regarding the ending of Abraham and Isaac, the highly original settings of the 'Pleni sunt coeli et terra' in the Sanctus where the choir was quickly chanting those words in different pitches and rhythm, creating this magnificent mumbling effect, the Agnus Dei, and from the duet of Tenor and Baritone in the Libera Me to the end. I really think that the duet was heavily influenced by the last movement of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde which Britten loved. How so? Both poems concern with two people, although in Mahler the concern is about two good friends departing, while in Britten, it's about two foes reuniting in the after life. The end of the piece is dissonant, just like how it should be, I think for a war related piece, to remind the listeners how terrible a war can have.

Wait, hang on, now if I look bad, I actually quite like a lot of the piece, but what ended up as a disappointment is the 'Dies Irae'. I don't know, maybe it's just not exhilarating as Mozart's or Verdi's. I'm not talking about the opening stanzas of the 'Dies Irae' sequence, I'm talking about the whole thing. I guess I'm used to certain way a composer sets certain part of the sequence. For example, Liber Scriptus and Recordare are usually given to the soloists, and Rex Tremendae is usually given to the chorus. Britten reversed a lot of them, and his settings sounded a bit rush, and a little bit less imaginative and creative compared to again, the two requiems by Mozart and Verdi. Oh yes, the biggest let down is the 'Kyrie', which is basically using the fragment of the Introit.

The orchestra played well in general, although I think the orchestration is on the sparse side, with the full orchestra usually stay put during a long chamber orchestra bit, and vice versa. As this was the first time I heard this piece, I can't really comment on the `correctness` of the playing. Both adults and boys choirs were good, no complaint in there. The soloists were alright, although yeah, now I remember it, I felt almost indifferently all the time during the male soloists prolonged settings of the poems. That's another aspect of the piece that I have to get used to enjoy it fully.

Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 14 March 2010 - ACO Soloists

Featuring:
- Franz Schreker Scherzo
- Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto
- CPE Bach Cello Concerto in A minor
- Franz Schreker Intermezzo
- Matthew Hindson Crime and Punishment
- Britten Lachrymae
- JS Bach Concerto for Violin and Oboe BWV 1060

Helena Rathbone - Guest Director and Lead Violin
Christopher Moore - Viola
Timo-Veikko Valve - Cello
Maxime Bibeau - Double Bass
Diana Doherty - Oboe

A virtuosos concert - a very unique programming by ACO utilising all its strings principals. But hang on, where's Richard Tognetti?

Anyway, the program notes gave an early warning to the audience by signalling Schreker is a champion of Schoenberg and Hindemith on top of being friends with Berg and Webern. So, 12-tonal or atonal music to start the program? It turns out Schreker's music is very accessible - and it's full of glorious arching romantic melodies. In simple terms, I would describe his music as late-romantic style with modern twist - almost like Schoenberg's Transfigured Night. I enjoy the tight interwoven melodies and counter melodies of both his Scherzo and Intermezzo.

Diana Doherty stole this concert for me, her solo in Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto was delicious. Playing freely and providing plenty of body gestures expressing the sound from the oboe, Diana lifted my emotion to the very top at the end of first movement of the concerto. The beautiful dialogue the oboe had with the orchestra was well-executed. The second movement painted a picture of pastoral English village while Diana showed off her virtuosic skills in the demanding last bars of the concerto after a more quiet contrasting episode. Brilliant stuff.

While Vaughan Williams' music convinced me with its lyrical lines, CPE Bach's bored me. The rhythmic drive in outer movements of his A minor cello concerto got tired after a little while and I'm not really convinced with the Andante. Timo's virtuosic skills provided some entertainment in the outer movements, but this concerto is definitely not the best of this genre. I was also disappointed with the lack of harpsichord sound - a must have for me to fully enjoy Baroque compositions.

Matthew Hindson wrote a very challenging double bass solo in his Crime and Punishment. Showing off his talent, Maxime Bibeau impressed the audience by a large array of mad skills - fast pizzicatos (with syncopated rhythms!), tapping the finger boards, and playing beautiful melodies with his double bass. The piece itself while interesting, suffered from thematic development. It has several beautiful cadences which could be developed much further, rather than repeated 3-4 times and then discarded.

The major disappointment of the concert for me is Britten's Lachrymae. I might know the reason..I was bored waiting for big virtuoso fireworks from this performance which never came - as it was written as a 'Reflections on a song of Dowland'. I guess I was eaten by the marketing scheme, huh? Put it simply, I was not in the right mind set anticipating this piece. Stupid me, realising it only now, while I should've changed my mindset in the middle of performance.

Last piece of the concert is Bach's C minor concerto for oboe and violin - a crowd pleaser. Familiar melodies with beautiful Adagio instantly won the audience's heart. Not mine, though - I'm still disappointed with the lack of harpsichord sound. Helena and Diana played wonderfully.