Precision, endurance and overwhelming waves of sound; that is what graced Government House Ballroom on the 20th of September as the West Australian Symphony Orchestra delivered their Chamber Series program ‘Reverie. Part of double program weekend also comprised of The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace and clearly designed to utilise the players unrequired for the choral superwork, Reverie was a prime example of creative and pragmatic programming by Evan Keanna and the programming team including Alan Tyrrell who emceed the afternoon.
The program consisted of three distinct chamber works: Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel, Einmal Anders!, John Adam’s Shaker Loops, and Antonin Dvořák’s Serenade for Wind Instruments. The program, coming in at just over an hour long, provided opportunity for the (predominantly principal) players of the orchestra to show off their skills in a chamber setting. I remain somewhat puzzled by the 25-minute intermission which added almost 50% to the total run time which, even accounting for the ensemble changes and perhaps no longer prime continence of the audience, seemed overkill.
WASO’s Chamber Series concert, Reverie. Photography: Daniel James Grant
A Hasenöhrl arrangement of Richard Strauss’s major work for a large orchestra of quadruple winds and extended brass section opened the program. Brought down to just five instruments, this performance brought the power and weight of the large forces to their condensed ensemble. Led by associate 2nd Violin Kylie Liang, the group were enmeshed in timbre and energy.
From the opening note, Liang’s clarity and precision in performance and in leadership were outstanding. The rich, lyrical tone projected better than any I can recall from a member of the orchestra in the five years I have been attending WASO concerts and did not wane as the complexity of the part grew through the work. Some quick research indicated that Liang has not appeared as a soloist during her 16 years with WASO but I would hope that will soon be remedied.
Sam Howie’s clarinet was graceful in its flourishes and Giovanni Vinci, Francesco Lo Surdo, and Adam Mikulicz provided watchful support, waiting gently for their own flashes of melodic foreground.
This was not the work that I supposed would bring the best performance of the afternoon and yet the ensembleship of the quintet under its confident leadership was a delight.
WASO’s Chamber Series concert, Reverie. Photography: Daniel James Grant
John Adam’s Shaker Loops is a staple of American minimalism and compositionally my favourite work of the program. A work which plays with subtle timbral and rhythmic shifts, Shaker Loops relies on the musicians performing as a single organism, blending so intimately that their sounds become one until one of them momentarily reaches beyond the rest. The ensemble of string players led by associate concertmaster Riley Skevington showed flashes of brilliance in achieving this but failed to persist as a single breathing organism for the duration of the work. The first chord change in the opening movement was navigated perfectly, almost two minutes into the work, it was seamless and stark without being confronting; the end of the third movement too, with its dying harmonics was beautifully ethereal. Around these moments, the work lost its momentum on occasion. Some accidentally synchronised rebowings or deviations from the group timbre drew attention from the machine of the piece with its steady integral rhythm and broke the encompassing wash that was created in the best moments.
Further convinced that the problem with contemporary classical music is not the music itself but the image and way it was presented, a concertgoer near me exclaimed after the Adams that “I didn’t think I would like it but as I got into it… oh that was amazing!” Now I realise that Adams is among the more ‘palatable’ of contemporary composers (and now only just contemporary) but so often new music is pitched as the vegetable of the concert; something concertgoers don’t like but should eat because it’s good for them or so they ‘learn to like it.’ These approaches will always lead audiences away from such music and make it that much harder for them to appreciate the music judgement free. Food for thought (to keep the metaphor alive).
After the (potentially) unnecessary intermission, Antonin Dvořák’s Serenade for Wind Instruments graced the stage. Often neglected in favour of its cousin the Serenade for Strings in E major, it was a pleasant change of pace to see the requirements of the creative programming bring out this lesser known work of Dvořák. The rendition was lively and enjoyable but is strangely often the case in concerts, not my favourite of the program despite being the ‘headline’ work of the afternoon. The ensemble played well together, led subtly by Allan Meyer at the clarinet. Meyer and principal oboe Liz Chee passes melodic lines with clean timbral matching and fluidity while the horn section made up of David Cross, Rob Gladstone and Julia Brooke stood out for their restraint and patience.
It is wonderful to see WASO continue to present the Chamber Series and show of the talents of a different selection of their musicians, the talent of which runs deep through the orchestra. WASOs next major concert will be the premiere of James Ledger’s Clarinet Concerto with soloist Ashley Smith on the 2nd and 3rd of October.