Pekka Kuusisto, Sam Amidon and the ACO participating in a living tradition.
Music Review: Jennifer Gall
What an ensemble! Expertise and imagination
in equal measure, and camaraderie that communicates the excitement of playing
every note in collaboration. The ACO continue to explore partnerships despite the
miss-givings reviewers (including myself) have voiced, and in this tour they
have stuck gold. Richard Tognetti’s willingness to invite guest directors to tour is a wise insurance policy against falling into weary repetition of
canonical composers and an investment in the longevity of the ensemble. Pekka
Kuusisto directs with impeccable rhythmic strength energized with intense musicianship
and risk taking curiosity. And of course he has a splendid dry wit. Each performance
in this tour will be fresh.
Divided into two parts - music describing
death and hopelessness and music describing redemption and regeneration - the repertoire
interweaves art music and folk music expertly, alternating Janáček’s Quartet No 1 with solo sung ballads to take the audience on a
journey through despair and hope into a hypnotic space of equanimity created by
John Adam’s ‘Shaker Loops’. Leading the way along the musical path was young
American singer, Sam Amidon, whose raw vocal clarity in collaboration with Nico
Muhly’s exceptional instrumental arrangements keeps shivers running up and down
the spine throughout.
Writing orchestral accompaniments for traditional
song styles is perhaps the most difficult kind of arrangement to attempt. Many
ballads were originally unaccompanied and intentionally stark. If the strings
attempt to mimic the melody they swamp the singer and overwhelm the subtle
nuances a skilled traditional singer will impart. Muhly’s arrangements create open-tuned planes of sound, almost like building a resonating chamber in which
the vocal line could be articulated and magnified.
Amidon is a true traditional singer. He
is not pitch perfect in the way we would expect of art song, opera or pop music
performers and the tendency to bend notes, sharpen or flatten them slightly
keeps us on edge and listening intently. There is no comfort to be offered when
you are re-telling the details of a murderer operating somewhere between
reality and insanity – and a ballad singer wants you to really feel this weirdness. Our own Australian Sally Sloane is a
fine example of such a singer and can be heard online through the National
Library of Australia’s digitised folk music collections.
The responses of the two people next to me
in Llewellyn Hall – one in her early twenties, the other in his late 60s summed
up the appeal of the concert. The 20 year old was deeply moved by the stark
beauty of Sam Amidon’s singing style and the extraordinary ability of the
orchestra to become one with the singer. The 60-something gentleman exclaimed
in admiration that he would never forget the concert and pondered how the
orchestra could keep playing the evocative, shivering patterns demanded by John
Adam’s ‘Shaker Loops’. “Do they go home
now and put their arms in iced water? How do they train to play like that for
that length of time? – Utterly amazing!”
Image credits: Dan Mahon
