Music Review:
Jennifer Gall
No-one left
the Fitter’s Workshop on Saturday night unmoved after the performance of Max
Richter’s Recomposed-The Four Seasons by
Vivaldi. Written in Winter 2011, Richter set out to find a new vision for
Vivaldi’s original journey through the seasons. In an interview for ABC Classic
FM, Richter explained his motivation and his process for writing the work:
When I was a young child I
fell in love with Vivaldi's original, but over the years, hearing it
principally in shopping centres, advertising jingles, on telephone hold systems
and similar places, I stopped being able to hear it as music; it had become an
irritant - much to my dismay! So I set out to try to find a new way to engage
with this wonderful material, by writing through it anew - similarly to how
scribes once illuminated manuscripts - and thus rediscovering it for myself. I
deliberately didn't want to give it a modernist imprint but to remain in
sympathy and in keeping with Vivaldi's own musical language.
What we heard in the concert at the Fitter’s Workshop was an
intensified view of the universal seasonal landscape, in which nature and human
emotion are powerfully enmeshed. The opening Spring movement was a joyous cacophony
of birdsong, growing in complexity till it filled the ears and imagination. By stripping
back Vivaldi’s original score and distilling the absolute musical essence into
looped thematic motifs Richter follows in Vivaldi’s footsteps, but he records
his observations in a way that shakes the listener out of complacency with new
music that moves us deeply.
The Festival Strings did a magnificent job, navigating the
tempo variations; never faltering as they recreated Spring birdsong, a Summer
storm, a wild Autumn dance party, and shivering crashing Winter icicles, all with the intensity of Richter's demanding minimalist score. Tim Fain
grasped the challenging soloist role and led the musical exploration deftly
while Roland Peelman kept a steady hand on the harpsichord directing the
ensemble with his trademark precision.
Alice Giles and the Seven Harp Ensemble - (SHE)
Alice Giles and the Seven Harp Ensemble - (SHE)
In comparison, the first half of the evening was a gentler
more introspective program. The prestigious Seven Harp Ensemble (SHE) led by
Alice Giles performed two atmospheric new compositions by Ross Edwards – Harp Mantras and Mary Finsterer’s Four Interludes. While these works
exploited the textural possibilities of an ensemble of 7 harps, it was interesting that neither composer capitalized on the potential to empower the voice of each instrument in the consort, displaying the many technical possibilities of these marvelous instruments. Peemoeller’s arrangement of Saint-Saens Danse Macabre, in comparison, demonstrated how each harp could use
its voice to create a dramatic whole.
These quibbles aside, the more meditative repertoire played
by SHE created an ethereal introduction to the concert, leading us forward for
Max Richter’s dazzling re-awakening of the Four Seasons in the second half of
the concert - a truly transformative experience.
(Images Courtesy of Peter Hislop)
(Images Courtesy of Peter Hislop)
