 |
| AYO with Lior - Nigel Westlake - Lou Bennett |
Composed and
written by Nigel Westlake, Lior and Dr Lou Bennett AM, with additional lyric
content Sarah Gory.
Australian
Youth Orchestra conducted by Nigel Westlake.
Llewellyn
Hall, Canberra, 9th July, 2023.
Reviewed by
BILL STEPHENS.
Visits to
Canberra by the Australian Youth orchestra are always highly anticipated
events, both for the opportunities they provide to hear outstanding young emerging
musicians and for the stimulating repertoire choices.
The
repertoire for this year’s program was particularly exciting, consisting of
three new works by one of country’s most celebrated composers, Nigel Westlake,
who would conduct all of his compositions.
Adding to
the excitement was the fact that one of these works was the world premiere of a
major symphonic work, Ngapa William
Cooper, which celebrates a significant First Nation’s activist and
incorporates his Yorta Yorta language to be performed by his great, great,
great granddaughter, Dr Lou Bennett AM.
Ngapa William Cooper is the result of collaboration
between composer Nigel Westlake, singer-songwriter Lior, and performer and
academic Dr Lou Bennett AM. A chamber version of this work had been premiered at
the 2023 Adelaide Festival.
The Australian
Youth Orchestra subsequently commissioned Westlake to develop the work as an
orchestral suite for full symphony orchestra; along with two other of his
works, The Glass Soldier and Beneath the Waves. All three would be performed
at this concert.
Ngapa
William Cooper campaigned tirelessly for Aboriginal representation in
Parliament. He founded the Australian Aborigines’ League in Melbourne and in
1938 famously led its members on a march to the German Consulate to deliver a
formal petition condemning the persecution of Germany’s Jews and calling for it
to end.
Although the
protesters were denied entry by the Nazi German consul, who refused to receive
their petition, Cooper continued to fight for equal rights for Aboriginal
people and to stand in solidarity with the Jewish.
Composed in
seven sections, the first being an unaccompanied “Exile/Call to Ancestors”
performed by Lior and Lou Bennett, the next six sections of Ngapa William Cooper, drew on the full
power of the 87 piece orchestra to create a series of individual dramatic
sections entitled The Noise, The Silence,
Yakapna-Nuk, The Meeting, The Protest, and finally, At the End Of My Days.
For each
section, Westlake exercised the skills of the orchestra’s talented young emerging
instrumentalists with his talent with creating arresting orchestrations,
sometimes utilising unusual instruments, even bunches of gum leaves at some
points, to create powerful auditory images. .
The young
musicians responded brilliantly to his concise conducting, especially during the
Stravinsky-like complexities of The
Protest section where the inconsistent sound balance was finally corrected
allowing the audience to relish the gorgeous vocal harmonies of Lior and
Bennett.
Both singers
used microphones because each of the six sections contained evocative
explanatory lyrics which were beautifully performed by Lior and Lou Bennett
singing in both English and Yorta Yorta. Disappointingly however, during the
early sections, the vocalists had to battle to be heard above the poor
sound-mix, sending the audience scrambling for their programs in order to
follow the lyrics.
Despite this
blemish however the audience was fully aware that it was experiencing a remarkable
performance of an epic work which it rewarded it with a vociferous standing
ovation.
 |
| Nigel Westlake - Lior - Lou Bennett taking bows after AYO's premiere preformance of Ngapa William Cooper |
Preceding Ngapa William Cooper, the orchestra
offered two other Westlake compositions, both also arranged and conducted by
the composer himself.
The first, The Glass Soldier, was a suite in four
movements utilising music originally written for Hannie Rayson’s play of the
same name. This beautiful work, commemorated the life and exploits of a young
soldier, N.H.Ferguson, who lost his sight as a result of injuries received
during the First World War.
Lushly
orchestrated, this warmly lyrical, delightfully textured score was given a superb
performance by the orchestra, during which a dramatic, moving trumpet solo by Arkie
Moore drew spontaneous applause from the appreciative audience.
Westlake’s
other work was a gorgeous suite for cello and orchestra, Beneath the Waves, especially
commissioned from Westlake by the Australian Youth Orchestra to showcase the virtuosic
talents of cellist Sharon Grigoryan.
Westlake
based this suite on music originally composed for the film Blueback. His deep love of the ocean, inherited from his fisherman
father, was immediately obvious in the melodic swirls of music that effectively
conjured up the rise and fall and changing moods of the sea.
Sharon Grigoryan with AYO performing "Beneath the Waves"
Grigoryan,
spot-lit on a small rostrum in front of the orchestra, led the orchestra in a
luminous performance of this suite, which Westlake conducted with such
impressive attention to detail and phrasing that it was possible to become
fascinated by the accuracy of the bowing of the string section while entranced
by the warmth of tone elicited from her cello by Grigoryan, or captivated by an
extraordinary section during which Grigoryan mimicked the call of whales with
her instrument.
Photos by Peter Hislop
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au