How satisfying it is to hear a world-class orchestra perform without any pretensions. Indeed, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra exhibited a restraint in their Boston debut that was crucial to the success of the performance. The orchestra is touring the United States as an official Cultural Ambassador of the Sydney, Australia 2000 Olympic Arts Festival. The November 13 performance at Symphony Hall was also a part of BankBoston's annual Celebrity Series. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the orchestra's 1988 American debut in Carnegie Hall. Led by Dutch conductor Edo de Waart, the orchestra makes its first appearance since then as they tour 11 U.S. cities, performing the music of Beethoven, Richard Strauss and contemporary composer Graeme Koehne.
In virtually all respects, the Aussies were not here to show off. Even their decision to open with contemporary South Australian composer Graeme Koehne's Elevator Music, complete with maracas, hypnotic blues lines and African drum rhythms, was not meant to be flamboyant as it was meant to be fun. It seemed that their intention was to enliven the audience.
However, don't imagine Koehne's piece to be of the modernist or neo-modernist aesthetic just because it is considered contemporary; don't think "Michel Foucault does orchestral music." Rather, the composer opts for the "Reconstructionist" aesthetic--the program notes state, "Koehne has moved towards an affirmation of traditional values and a vital opposition to what he sees as the sham iconoclasm of the avantgardist attitude." In particular, Elevator Music was inspired by the integration of jazz and popular music into orchestral music. But the piece sounds more like film music than a symphony. Koehne calls his piece a contemporary homage to the music of Les Baxter, Henry Mancini and John Barry, but Elevator Music also sounds distinctively Gershwin. Moreover, there is a peculiar consistency in Elevator Music that is hard to find in many modern pieces. Rather than the "degradation" of common time into complex and quirky meters, Koehne sticks mostly to the tried and true 4/4 time signature.
Perhaps it is better to describe what Elevator Music is, rather than what it isn't. Unfortunately, unlike the work of Gershwin, Koehne's piece is too fluffy to be lasting. Picture a tropical island. Now add a world-class orchestra. Ditch the tuxes and toss everyone a Hawaiian shirt or a mumu. Chant "ol‚, ol‚!" You get the idea.
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra next performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major. Despite its numbering, it is still regarded as the earliest of the five mature concertos because his Piano Concerto No. 1, composed at the age of 13 was promoted by his father as the work of an infant prodigy. No. 2 was also the one performed at Beethoven's piano debut on March 29, 1795 in Vienna. Another unique aspect is the size of the orchestra required for a concerto. With the absence of timpani and brass, the orchestra is small indeed. The effect is a composition more in the spirit of the single-emphasis Mozart concerto, even though there are frequent modulations, digressions and development.
No. 2 was played more conservatively and reserved than expected, but perhaps more in Beethoven's intended spirit. Conservative in the sense that they played it up-tempo, the Sydney Symphony brought the piece closer to what Beethoven probably had planned and closer in sound to Mozart. Reserved in the sense that the orchestra played No. 2 as a concerto and not as a symphony. De Waart's conducting gestures were never forced, were never angularly abrupt. This added to the fact that the muted vibrations of the orchestra and the sweet mellow tone of the piano actually, at times, cast more silence than resonance. Certainly, it was somewhat harrowing to hear the vast acoustics of Symphony Hall echo part music along with part emptiness.
But this mutedness should not imply that the performance was lightened-up to the detriment of the music in the same way that a caf‚ au lait manages to retain the integrity of a shot of espresso but just in a more subdued manner. The reward of this "quiet" performance was evident for all who listened carefully. The piano-playing abilities of renowned German pianist Christian Zacharias were both impressive and compelling. Especially touching was the way he handled the "Adagio." Zacharias's ability to juxtapose articulation with lyrical continuity was particularly shown in this movement. His fingers and notes were light, breezy and even playful at times.
The second half of the performance was entirely devoted to Richard Strauss's Symphonia Domestica. When the piece was first performed Strauss was criticized for his tastelessness to compose a symphony about the banal day of a domestic household. The program notes state that a critic even went so far as to call it a "joke in bad taste." Strauss's reply was "I did not mean to make fun. What can be more serious a matter than married life?" Strauss's domestic life is anything but dull. In the span of 24 hours the composer had to deal with an irate wife whom he also finds ravishingly beautiful, the howling of his infant son, and the pressure to compose.
Yes, it is considered Romantic music, but don't expect the opium-filled fun of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. The musical elements are too literal to invite creative interpretation and at times it seemed repetitive in its use of musical devices. An overly-dramatic orchestra might have felt compelled to dilute parts of the Symphonia Domestica into a pre-Stravinsky and Debussy prototype. Many arpeggios sound very much like those of Debussy. And it is true that some percussion lines sound so much like The Rite of Spring that a timpani-player might have to hold himself back in order to play it as Strauss intended.
Although the Sydney Symphony Orchestra did not leave a lasting impression, their interpretation still should be appreciated. The audience was given the opportunity to listen to unconventional modern interpretations of orchestral music--often remaining true to the composers' intentions.
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