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| AWO. Photo: Peter Hislop |
THIS is a big orchestra. 80
musicians, including 60 string players, mostly mid-career professional
orchestral musicians from Australian and European orchestras.
These are
musicians at the height of their musical abilities enjoying the opportunity to
perform with an orchestra of their peers. There were smiles all around as they
walked onto the stage, with nods and waves to friends in the audience. This
quickly turned to focused attention on the music as they were joined by the
conductor and musical director Alexander Briger.
The first
work was Nigel Westlake’s Flying Dreams, a reworking of his
orchestral score for the 2015 film Paper Planes. This is a work full or
complex orchestration, with layers of shifting tonal colour. It takes advantage
of the size of the orchestra with each section blending together, yet distinct.
The immediate impression was a wonderful balance of sound. Smaller orchestras
can struggle balancing the brass with the strings and woodwinds, but here it
just worked.
This was
followed by Taras Bulba, a Rhapsody for Orchestra by the Czech composer
Leos Janáček. This work also took advantage of the size of the orchestra, with
the addition of an organ, harp and four percussionists. Janacek was fascinated
by Russia and much of his work had Russian themes. Taras Bulba is based on a
novella by Gogol and tells the story of the various unpleasant deaths of
the Cossack Taras Bulba and his two sons. There is romance, battles and
executions depicted in the score of this fascinating piece of music. This work
is a particular favourite of Briger and the orchestra responded to his
enthusiasm with vigour and precision.
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| Par of the strings section. Photo: Peter Hislop |
The final
work in the program was Symphony No.2 in D major, Op.43 by Jean Sibelius. This
did not quite seem to have the cohesion of the first two works, but still a
stirring performance and final few minutes building to the climactic ending was
orchestral playing at its most inspiring.
The
delight of the musicians was obvious and the audience could sense they relished
the chance to play in this orchestra. As the audience were leaving the eight
bass players remained on stage so they could have a group photo taken, grins
still on their faces. It said a lot about how the musicians felt.
This
concert was the second of only two performances this year. There is no
performance in Sydney and curious that no members of the Sydney Symphony
Orchestra are included in the AWO. Perhaps clashes of schedules
intervened.
