I’m fairly certain I expected more from this, and I know for certain that I expected, at the very least, an interval. What it was, was the first in the new and revamped series of Discover concerts, four of which will be given this year. Conductor, teacher, entertainer, bon vivant, and he with the rather large knowledge of all the crotchets and semiquavers, tempos and rhythms, themes and keys, and everything else to do with classical music – the one and only Richard Gill – had led me to believe, from my attendance at the series last year, that there was to be a near revolution in how the concerts would be presented. We were to hear full symphonies, for instance, instead of pieces no more in length than about 15 minutes. We would be able to go more in depth, too, perhaps. Yet this didn’t seem to be the case.
Certainly we heard the full symphony – Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 in F major, Op.68, Sinfonia pastorale. But it felt – though one didn’t have a stopwatch out to time it – that the analysis went for about the same time that it went for last year, and the only reason the concert was somewhat longer is because the work being analysed needed more time to be played, after the analysis was done, in full. So it was a bit like an election, I suppose: there were promises that everything would be new and wonderful, that we were going to enter into a golden age of prosperity and what have you. But, in the end, nothing really changes, and we’re left with what we had before.
Which isn’t to say that this concert/lecture was bad, mind you, for ‘what we had before’ was rather good, truth be told. Gill is a most engaging and eloquent speaker, who can work a crowd with the best of them. And his insights and, more importantly, his ability to transmit them in a coherent manner, is a joy to listen to.
We learned, for instance, about how Beethoven was thought literally insane by the critics of the time, breaking as he did many of the classical rules that were in full force back in his day. (What a foolish lot we critics are – someone should round us all up and put the critical establishment out of its misery.) We learnt about bridges in music as well, including a protracted explanation of the bridge in the first movement, Gill showing us where one of the facets of Beethoven’s genius lay, namely in providing seamless transitions in his music. We learnt about the disastrous premiere, a four hour concert of world premieres on a cold winter’s night, with a one-rehearsal-only orchestra that refused to rehearse with the composer in the room. And we learnt about Beethoven’s use of counterpoint, among many, many other things. One never leaves a Discover concert without knowing something new.
Also of interest on the evening was the opening speech by managing director of the Sydney Symphony, Rory Jeffes. He took to the City Recital Hall stage to give a rather warm tribute to a recently passed patron, Joan MacKenize, who was a member of the Sydney Symphony council. (While it’s probably quite gauche for one to apply critical analysis to tributes, one can say that this was definitely one of the most heartfelt and touching this critic has heard.) MacKenzie left, from what one can gather, a substantial provision for the Sydney Symphony in her will, and the SSO have created a Joan MacKenzie Violin Scholarship in perpetuity from the funds, the first of which was awarded to one of the new members of the Sydney Symphony Sinfonia (the SSO mentor orchestra), a male violinist whose name I have completely forgotten, and can’t find anywhere on their website. Photos were taken, hands were shaken, and the evening began.
The performance of the symphony wasn’t the best one has heard (the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s rendition last year was one of 2012’s fondest memories), but it had its moments, just not enough of them. It doesn’t feel like all that much has changed with the Discover series, but if it ain’t broke…
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Discover Beethoven’s Pastoral
Sydney Symphony
Conductor: Richard Gill
BEETHOVEN – Symphony No.6 in F major, Op.68, Sinfonia pastorale
City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
5 March
