Program
Jouissance by Ford (b. 1957).
Gran Turismo by Norman (b. 1979).
Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, Op. 102 “Double
Concerto” by Brahms (1833-1897).
Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 by Dvorak (1841-1904).
A little before 10 pm Saturday night I got this email
message saying there will be a live broadcast of an ACO concert at 10 pm (2 pm
Sunday in Sydney). I tuned in to take a
look, but ended up sitting through the entire concert. Even though the video froze a few times, it
was still a very good broadcast.
I had seen posters for the ACO in Australia, but the
timing of my visits had never been right, so I have not been at one of their
concerts, and knew very little about them.
In the back of my mind I think of them as an Orpheus-wannabe, probably
not as good. Turns out they have an
“artistic director and violin,” and they are also quite good. For this concert they had many guest
orchestra members. For instance, three
additional cellist to the usual three, and two guest bassists in addition to
the one on their regular roster. Therefore,
the “final product” may not be a reflection of the ensemble itself, for better
or for worse.
Jouissance is best described as a trumpet fanfare,
and was performed by ACO’s (guest) principal trumpet Visa Haarala. Andrew Ford started this as a piece for two trumpets,
but there was really no explanation of how it ended up in this form. The title was meant to denote “joy,” but
colloquially the French word could also mean orgasm. That confirms my thinking that it is rather
pretentious (and in this case comical) to be too clever with choice of titles,
a relatively recent phenomenon for some composers. The Annotator had the wit to question if the
piece was placed too early in the program.
The trumpet was situated in the organist area of the
auditorium (high and in the back). The
lights then shone on the stage (for this concert hall it is surrounded by the
audience) where eight violinists pounded away at Andrew Norman’s 8-minute Gran
Turismo. Even though the sound could
be monotonous after a while, it was nonetheless interesting to see how the
musicians interacted with each other in this rather difficult piece. The piece was supposed to reflect Norman’s
discovery of Futurist art and the video game called Gran Turismo. I quote from the Program (which I found online):
“Tropes of Futurist art … and racing games became the basis for the work’s
composition: visual drama, divided space, … competition … HIGHER! LOUDER!
FASTER! … orchestra revving its engines …” Fair enough, a couple of days later
(typing this inside United 179) I could remember the energy, but very little of
how the piece sounded.
Brahms’s double concerto doesn’t get performed a lot, so
I decided to keep the TV on. Brahms
often consulted with Joseph Joachim on violin pieces, but the two friends had a
falling out because Brahms defended Amalie, Joachim’s wife, whom Joachim
believed had an affair (not with Brahms).
After several years, Brahms wrote this piece somewhat as a peace
offering, and the premiere was performed by Joachim and Robert Hausmann, conducted
by Brahms. With this background, one
could catch what the music was trying to say.
Without this background, it would still have been a brilliant piece for
the soloists, even though initial reception by critics was not the warmest. The three movements are Allegro, Andante, and
Vivace non troppo.
Brahms’s violin music generally isn’t flamboyant, but can
be very difficult. He didn’t use a lot
of the techniques beloved by – say – Paganini.
The difficulty is in the copious use of double stops, syncopation, and
intricate phrasing. I was following
along with the score and was amazed at the lines and lines of double stops for
the solo violin. I don’t play the cello,
but can assume the same high demands on the cellist.
The first movement was really well-performed. The interplay between the two soloists and
the orchestra was just right. Very often
it was so intimate that it felt like chamber music rather than an orchestral
work. The level of playing dropped a bit
for second and third movements, unfortunately.
When the players were assembled on stage, I thought there
was not going to be a conductor. Turns
out Tognetti did quite a bit of conductor with his bow while he wasn’t playing
the violin. I was worried all the flips
would break the bow. He didn’t need a score for the orchestra, but one for
himself; something I never understand.
This photo was copied from an ACO Facebook entry. The two soloists have their backs to each other. Not intentional, but interesting for this concerto of friendship. (This was not taken at the Sydney Opera House.)
The Dvorak symphony is often referred to as the
composer’s “pastoral” symphony. Sure
enough, it began with birds singing.
This symphony can sound great when performed well, or it can sound
dragged out with a mediocre orchestra.
While not mediocre, it certainly wasn’t great. With the help of a competent video director,
one could see the individual players as they played their lines, and the
flutist (Sally Parker) got a lot of screen time. Even though some of the tunes are simple,
they do add a lot to the adjective “pastoral.”
Tognetti was the conductor, and didn’t play the violin at all.
In the Program Andrew Ford had a rather lengthy article
that started with the provocative question “Why does history think less of
Dvorak than of Brahms?” He proceeded to
discuss how national composers (Dvorak, Verdi, etc) are different from the
mainline German-Austrian heritage, and how music could have lyrics or
motifs. Some interesting points, some
points a bit hard to follow, but at the end “the reader can decide,” or “more
thinking needs to be done.” (Those are
my words.)
The ACO evidently has an instrument acquisition program
that has had quite a bit of success, and this is the first Program I saw
listing the instrument played by each individual. Instruments range from a violin made in 1600
(!) to one made in 1989.
Overall, this was an interesting encounter with the ACO,
even though it was over the internet. Here is a Sydney Morning Herald review of the concert, it mentions there were 52 players for the Dvorak symphony, three times the number of regular ACO musicians.
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