Apart from excellent music making, the emphasis of the Australian National Academy of Music’s 2013 Opening Performance was on youth. With the exception of the opening piece by Steve Reich, the works by Britten, Lutoslawski and Shostakovich were all written when these composers were on the brink of illustrious careers. How fitting that these works were performed by musicians on the threshold of theirs.
As has come to be expected at ANAM concerts, the venue space was used imaginatively. The five performers needed for the Reich work gradually emerged from various points of the hall. It must have come as quite a surprise to have the person sitting next to you start percussing away on a very loud pair of wooden sticks. Artistic Director, Paul Dean, led the small ensemble in a fascinating and disciplined rendering of Reich’s hypnotic rhythmic explorations. It was also fitting that the concert began by featuring the new addition to the ANAM orchestral line-up: a percussion section. As Paul Dean stated in his welcoming address, this addition constitutes the final piece of the orchestral jigsaw puzzle for ANAM.
The brass section, which had been added the previous year, joined the percussionists in Britten’s Russian Funeral. Composed in 1936 for a concert to be given by the London Labour Choral Union, Britten based some of his thematic material on a song from the Russian Revolution praising those who had died in the cause of freedom. Rich-toned brass, disquieting trumpets with snarling mutes and the solemn marching of heavy drumbeats all contributed to a dramatic, persuasive performance.
The expert guidance of conductor James Judd was further evident in Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem. As one of the pre-eminent interpreters of British orchestral music and as Principal Conductor of the Asian Youth Orchestra, Judd is ideally placed to reveal the genius of this demanding work. Under his baton all sections of the orchestra impressed with their musicality, precision and range of colour. Britten’s unusual featuring of the saxophone in all three movements was given its due with some fine playing by Matt Hinchcliffe.
Aidan Boase and Gladys Chua began the second half of the program at the two pianos placed in the centre of the auditorium. Again, some members of the audience were given a spectacularly up-close-and-personal experience by being placed, literally, right up against the instruments. ‘Variations on a theme by Paganini’ is well-known and Lutoslawski’s 1941 creation is an exhilarating version that relies on considerable virtuosity and spot on coordination on the part of the pianists, both of whom were well equipped for the job.
Just as Lutoslawski made a living during the war as a bar pianist, so the 18 year old Shostakovich was forced to survive by playing the piano in a silent movies cinema. His remarkable ability to evoke emotion graphically and to create swift changes in mood was apparently nurtured by this experience. The complexity of his musical expressiveness, coupled with his prodigious skills in orchestration, provides many challenges for an orchestra. There were so many moments of terrific playing from all principals, as well as the orchestra as a whole, that it is difficult to single out individuals for special comment. Suffice to say, the newest section of the ANAM orchestra made a most auspicious debut. Even the Town Hall clock striking the ninth hour made an eerily appropriate addition to the final movement and seemed to galvanise the orchestra into the last impassioned assault.
If their opening concert is any indication of what is to come, then this will be an exciting year for ANAM and its ever-increasing band of followers. Such was the popularity of this concert that the very long waiting list for tickets indicated that the hall could have been filled twice over. So, if you are planning to attend any ANAM concerts this year, you would be well advised to make your bookings early or learn to deal with disappointment.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
ANAM 2013 Opening Performance
Australian National Academy of Music
James Judd, conductor
ANAM Orchestra
REICH: Music for Pieces of Wood, for 5 pairs of tuned claves
BRITTEN: Russian Funeral, for brass and Percussion
BRITTEN: Sinfonia da Requiem
LUTOSLAWSKI: Variations on a Theme by Paganini, for 2 pianos
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No I in F minor
South Melbourne Town Hall, South Melbourne
1 March
