Musical director: Leonard
Weiss
Louise Page, Soprano
Llewellyn Hall 15
September
Reviewed by Len Power
Three very different items were presented in the latest
National Capital Orchestra concert and the orchestra met the individual
challenges of these works very well.
The concert commenced with the well-known Vltava (‘The
Moldau’), the second movement from Má vlast (My Country) by Czech composer, Bedřich
Smetana. It was played very well by the
orchestra, bringing out the full colour and nationalistic emotion of this melodic
and illustrative work.
Commissioned for the opening ceremony of the 2006
Commonwealth Games, Christopher Gordon’s ‘Ceremonial Games’ was given its world
concert premiere by the orchestra. The
suite comprises three movements taken from the thirteen of the original event
music. ‘The Arrival’ is suitably grand
and exciting and has a very interesting jazz-like section towards the end. ‘Raising the Flag’ with its appealing and unexpected
percussion was especially well-played by the orchestra. ‘The Celebration’ was a dramatic and vibrant
finale for the suite. The composer was
in the audience and gave conductor, Leonard Weiss, the thumbs-up at the
end. He had every reason to be pleased
as the orchestra played it very well.
 |
| Louise Page, Leonard Weiss and Christopher Gordon |
After interval, Canberra soprano, Louise Page, joined the orchestra for Symphony No. 3, Op. 36, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” by Henryk Górecki. This powerful minimalist work, written in 1976, is in three movements. The first, based around a text taken from a 15th century Polish monastic lament, was sung with great precision and quiet emotion by Louise Page.
 |
| Louise Page and Leonard Weiss |
The second movement, taken from a few lines written on a prison wall from World War 2, was sung with heart-breaking simplicity, making it a very moving experience for the audience. The orchestra’s playing of the final passages of this movement was exceptional. The folk song in the final movement is a song of grief by a mother who has lost her son. Louise Page sang it with a warmth and tenderness that was deeply affecting.
This was a fine concert with good choices of works played
very well by the orchestra with another memorable vocal performance by Louise
Page.
Photos by Peter Hislop
Photos by Peter Hislop
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast in his ‘On Stage’ performing arts radio program on Mondays
and Wednesdays from 3.30pm on Artsound FM 92.7.
