Western Australian Symphony Orchestra. Benjamin Northey, conductor; Laurence Jackson, violin; James Crabb, accordion. January 31, 2020.

Perth Concert Hall, WA.  Rear Stalls (Seat CC11, A$74).

Program

Roman Carnival – Overture by Berlioz (1803-1869).

The Four Seasons: Summer by Vivaldi (1678-1741).

Porgy and Bess – A Symphonic Picture by Gershwin (1898-1937), arr. Bennett (1894-1981).

The Three-Cornered Hat – Suite No. 2 by de Falla (1876-1946).

Milanga del Angel by Piazzolla (1921-1992).

Adios Nonino by Piazzolla.

Bolero by Ravel (1875-1937).

Anne and I are visiting Perth for a few days (mostly because “it’s there”), so we got a chance to attend this first concert of the 2020 WASO season.  The music director is Asher Fisch, whom we saw in a Metropolitan Opera production in 2013 – unfortunately it was Wagner’s Parsifal.  The 2020 program is certainly ambitious, with many world-renowned musicians making an appearance.

The main auditorium of the concert hall seats 1729 people; it was first opened in 1973, and a bit overdue for refurbishment.  One complaint is that the seats don’t fold, so people find it difficult to get up to let others pass.  The seats are good, with reasonable leg room.

 

The Perth Concert Hall was completed in 1973.

Before the concert began.

Of course, the most important characteristic of an auditorium is its acoustics.  As tonight was the first time I sat in the auditorium and my first encounter with this orchestra, I don’t know if my impression should be attributed to the concert hall or the orchestra.  In any event, “unrefined” and “coarse” are the two terms that came to mind initially.  If the Wikipedia article on the venue is any guide, the hall “has been described as one of the best fine music acoustics venues in Australia.”  Not the most definitive statement, and Perth being the fourth largest city in Australia does not see much competition; that would still lead to “the orchestra is the problem.”

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons asks a lot of the violinist and soloist.  Laurence Jackson (WASO’s concertmaster) generally delivered on the technique, although there were hints of unsteadiness here and there.  However, as with the preceding piece by Berlioz, the sound from both the soloist and the orchestra sounded coarse.

Robert Russell Bennett, who per the Program was a prolific arranger, was commissioned by Fritz Reiner to take on Porgy and Bess.  Quoting the Program: opens with the sparkling introduction to Act I, … followed by some of the opera’s most memorable songs, including Summertime; I got plenty o’ nuttin; Bess, you is my woman now; There’s a boat that’s leavin’ soon for New York; It ain’t necessarily so; and Oh Lawd, I’m on my way.  I really enjoyed this American classic, even though I wasn’t familiar with all the tunes, and for a moment forgot about how the orchestra sounded.

 After Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

I heard the same Manuel de Falla suite performed by the NJSO last November, and enjoyed it.  It wasn’t unforgettable as I needed my blog entry for that concert to remind me.  Tonight’s was also enjoyable, and in this case helped by the description in the Program, which helps explain how the three dances fit with the story of the ballet.  Seguidillas describes how the townspeople celebrate St. John’s night; Farruca was the vigorous dance by the miller which resulted in his arrest by the corregidor so the latter could try to seduce the miller’s wife, but ended up in a river and had to hang his clothes (including the three-cornered hat) to dry, this resulted in the miller – having escaped – and the corregidor’s switching clothes so the Corregidor got arrested; Jota is the exhilarating dance of the townspeople.

The Argentine Piazzolla studied in France and tried to make a name for himself as a mainstream composer.  When his teacher Nadia Boulanger heard him play the bandoneon, she told him “Astor, your classical pieces are well written, but the true Piazzolla is here, never leave it behind.”  Piazzolla is credited with taking tango into the classical realm and forged a new style called “nuevo tango.”

The Scot James Crabb was introduced by Northey as the “pre-eminent classical accordion player” (or some words to that effect).  I suppose there aren’t that many classical accordion players, so to some extent that has to be true (just like Perth Concert Hall’s acoustics is among the best in Australia).  In any case, the sound of an accordion is easy to like, and the two pieces of music are also easy to get.  Milonga is a forerunner of the tango, and is one of five “angel” pieces Piazzolla composed.  (He also wrote a set of diablo pieces.)  Adios Nonino was written in memory of Piazzolla’s father.  It is considered his most famous piece, and was sometimes touted as the national anthem of Argentina.  I had never heard it before, and thought it sounded too ‘giddy’ to be a haunting elegy.

 James Crabb is the accordion player.

He played an encore that stressed the melodic aspect of the accordion.  Since the accordion is used so little in the classical repertoire, I thought a piece highlighting the different sounds the instrument can make would have been more delightful.

Anne’s interesting remark was “shouldn’t they play Piazzolla’s Summer” so we get to contrast it with that of Vivaldi’s?

To me enjoyment of Ravel’s Bolero is found in how the different instruments sound, how steady the snare drum’s droning is, and how the volume of the orchestra builds up gradually to a climax.  In each of those measures, the orchestra didn’t do as well as I thought it could have.  On the first point, many of the soloists did well, but not all of them, and some of them sounded jazzier than I prefer – one appeal of Ravel is how a rigid line can be made interesting.  The snare drum did fine, if you paid real attention to it; I thought it could be several decibels louder.  The third aspect was most disappointed, the volume dynamic range was narrow until the very end.

 The conductor acknowledging the different musicians after Ravel's Bolero.  The snare drum player is in front of the timpani; he had to repeat the same "phrase" throughout the piece, which required a great deal of concentration.

The conductor Northey took time in both halves to talk about the music, which I thought was very instructive.  He also led the orchestra in a delightful encore.  I didn’t get the composer, but the title was “A sparrow in my cereal.”

Despite my misgivings about the performance, I was nonetheless glad to have gone.  Attendance was great, and the audience seemed enthusiastic.

We only had some light snacks from the hotel lounge before the concert, so it was MacDonald’s burgers afterwards.  We took advantage of free bus transportation to and from the concert.