The purity of Augustin Hadelich’s violin playing is startling. His technique delivers an almost unbelievable security and lightness that allows him to take risk with dynamics and the ardent vocalise that seems to inform Brahms best work. The cadenza of the Brahms Violin Concerto (1879) stilled the air with its felicitous reflections and reverberations on the key themes of the first movement. It was deeply pleasurable to be part of a large audience listening intently in deep suspense, riding the crest of invention. This was in many ways the pinnacle of the performance.
The unfolding of the opening Allegro with given with magisterial presence by conductor Donald Runnicles, summoning forth the key elements of the symphonic argument with clarity and a touch of luxuriance.
The Adagio was richly versed by Hadelich, without sentimentalising its many beauties – like dappled sunlight. This restraint allowed the melodic sighs to suggest a deep soulfulness, like the adagio of the second piano concerto, hinting at sadness recollected.
The gypsy finale (Allegro giocoso) was full of fiery exuberance and good humour, setting off many frissons across the kick of its accents - displaced or other wise
The symphonies of Vaughan Williams are not regularly played in Australia, which is a pity.
Like Brahms, Vaughan Williams employed the horn as a summoning force that brings both tension and repose, hymn tune and dissonance, across the Fifth Symphony (1943), as well as across its opening Preludio first movement. Though linked modally to the Third Symphony, this work hints at a more querulous and ambiguous life experience, and another brutal war.
Runnicles let structure and transparent scoring flow with equality facility. The delightful Scherzo follows. Its humour and rough-hewn delights were well sprung on its many dance rhythms.
Like Brahms, the central romanza is a richly inspired meditation on the grief that precedes peace. It floats its calm on the solo cor anglais, suggesting both Sibelius and benediction, unfolding a deep restfulness that is eventually interrupted by anguish, as though the elderly composer was recollecting how when the peace comes it will have been hard won. The movement has many poetic touches, especially when those summoning horns are now asked to re birth the opening cor anglais solo and codify its significance.
The fourth movement Passacaglia with epilogue saw Vaughan Williams in fecund mode, creating a series of variations on material drawn from the first movement. The orchestration is delectable, full of deft invention and again invoking the dance - as well as the intimations of pointillism, the French training with Ravel to the fore. Like the Second Symphony, the epilogue takes us into a rarefied reflection of all that has gone before, the soft soulfulness beautiful paced by the orchestra – until the horn returns with wistful cessation.
This was a tender performance, deeply felt but carefully actioned, shaping its structure and its orchestral felicities with clarity. The climaxes and expressive intent of the Romanza were particularly thrilling in their string unison.
The concert opened with a new work by Melody Eötvös, Pyramidion, which displayed its own thrills, within an angularity that employed repetition and refraction with great intent, almost suggesting some exotic bejewelled world, building into its own peaks. This was a welcome addition to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's 50 fanfares commissions.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra –Concert Hall, Opera House Sydney – September 21, 2022
Gar Jones
The unfolding of the opening Allegro with given with magisterial presence by conductor Donald Runnicles, summoning forth the key elements of the symphonic argument with clarity and a touch of luxuriance.
The Adagio was richly versed by Hadelich, without sentimentalising its many beauties – like dappled sunlight. This restraint allowed the melodic sighs to suggest a deep soulfulness, like the adagio of the second piano concerto, hinting at sadness recollected.
The gypsy finale (Allegro giocoso) was full of fiery exuberance and good humour, setting off many frissons across the kick of its accents - displaced or other wise
The symphonies of Vaughan Williams are not regularly played in Australia, which is a pity.
Like Brahms, Vaughan Williams employed the horn as a summoning force that brings both tension and repose, hymn tune and dissonance, across the Fifth Symphony (1943), as well as across its opening Preludio first movement. Though linked modally to the Third Symphony, this work hints at a more querulous and ambiguous life experience, and another brutal war.
Runnicles let structure and transparent scoring flow with equality facility. The delightful Scherzo follows. Its humour and rough-hewn delights were well sprung on its many dance rhythms.
Like Brahms, the central romanza is a richly inspired meditation on the grief that precedes peace. It floats its calm on the solo cor anglais, suggesting both Sibelius and benediction, unfolding a deep restfulness that is eventually interrupted by anguish, as though the elderly composer was recollecting how when the peace comes it will have been hard won. The movement has many poetic touches, especially when those summoning horns are now asked to re birth the opening cor anglais solo and codify its significance.
The fourth movement Passacaglia with epilogue saw Vaughan Williams in fecund mode, creating a series of variations on material drawn from the first movement. The orchestration is delectable, full of deft invention and again invoking the dance - as well as the intimations of pointillism, the French training with Ravel to the fore. Like the Second Symphony, the epilogue takes us into a rarefied reflection of all that has gone before, the soft soulfulness beautiful paced by the orchestra – until the horn returns with wistful cessation.
This was a tender performance, deeply felt but carefully actioned, shaping its structure and its orchestral felicities with clarity. The climaxes and expressive intent of the Romanza were particularly thrilling in their string unison.
The concert opened with a new work by Melody Eötvös, Pyramidion, which displayed its own thrills, within an angularity that employed repetition and refraction with great intent, almost suggesting some exotic bejewelled world, building into its own peaks. This was a welcome addition to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's 50 fanfares commissions.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra –Concert Hall, Opera House Sydney – September 21, 2022
Gar Jones
