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| Maria Mazo Photo: Peter Hislop |
2015 Canberra International Music Festival
Fitters
Workshop, Tuesday May 5th, 2015.
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
The Fitters Workshop provided a surprisingly cosy refuge from the appropriately chilly winds which accompanied this rewarding, and beautifully staged sampling of the works of four Russian masters.
The major
work of the evening, Shostakovich’s popular “Piano Quintet in G.Minor, Op.57”
was written in 1940 for pianist and string quartet. On this occasion the
pianist was Daniel De Borah whose confident approach to the work’s complexities
was echoed in the very fine performance of the Tinalley String Quartet, led on
this occasion by guest violinist, Eoin Anderson.
Two works by
Scriabin, his “Sonata No.4 in F Sharp Major, Op. 30”, stunningly executed by
Maria Mazo, who has become something of an audience favourite throughout the
festival, and the lovely poeme “Vers la flamme’ for piano, Op. 72” with its
unusual harmonies and tremolos sensitively highlighted by Gabi Sultana,
provided contrasted examples of his output.
There were
also two Stravinsky inclusions. The first, his four-song cycle, “Pribaoutki”,
which featured Andrew O’Connor, obviously relishing the opportunity to exercise
his rich bass-baritone with the nonsense rhymes, and with the ANAM wind and
string players, conducted by Roland Peelman, providing superb accompaniment
before continuing on to give an excellent account the march, waltz and polka
which make up Stravinsky’s testing 1915 composition “Trois pieces faciles”.
The real
highlight of the night however was the spine-tingling, a Capella rendition of the
Rachmaninov vesper “Blessed is the Man” which was given an impeccable
performance by the Song Company and YAFF vocalists, conducted by Peelman, which
also provided a reminder of the beauty of The Fitters acoustic for this type of
performance.
This review first published in the digital Edition of CITY NEWS on 5th May, 2015