Soloists shine in wide ranging program

Ably led by Helena Rathbone, the Australian Chamber Orchestra lived up to its reputation as an “orchestra of soloists” last Saturday night with an immensely enjoyable concert at Llewellyn Hall. The wide-ranging but thoughtful program not only gave the orchestra’s members the opportunity to display their virtuosity but also revealed the diverse ways in which composers have explored the expressive potential of the relationship between soloist and ensemble.

The concert opened with a recently resurrected Scherzo by the unjustly neglected Austrian composer Franz Schreker, a delightful work that allowed the 12-member orchestra to demonstrate a richness of sound much greater than their small numbers would suggest.

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Oboe Concerto followed, a work of delicate lyricism belaying its wartime origins. Guest Oboist Diana Doherty’s masterly performance revealed the sinewy power behind the amiable melodic lines, while her engaging stage presence was a welcome reminder of the pleasures of live performance. The lingering high note that ended the piece was a moment of exquisite stillness.

Closing the concert’s first half, the orchestra’s principal cellist, Timo-Veikko Valve, tackled C.P.E. Bach’s hectic and technically demanding Cello Concerto in A Minor, Wq 170 with an effective balance of sensitivity and vigour. Unfortunately, much of the detail of Valve’s performance was lost in the somewhat cavernous surrounds of Llewellyn Hall. Similarly, I would have preferred to hear more of Linda Kent’s harpsichord, which battled ineffectively with the unsympathetic acoustics. The second half began with another piece by Schreker, this time a lovely Intermezzo which opened out from shimmering piano passages into a warm, fin-de-siècle sound world.

Crime and Punishment, a newly commissioned work for double bass by Australian composer Matthew Hindson, gave the ACO’s Maxime Bibeau an opportunity to show off his often overlooked instrument’s extraordinary range of sounds which he evidently grasped with relish. The orchestra’s principal violist, Christopher Moore, brought a concentrated energy to Benjamin Britten’s Lachrymae that powerfully expressed the work’s uneasy blend of anxiety and melancholia.

In contrast, the following work, Bach’s Concert for Violin and Oboe BWV 1060, had an oddly diffuse character, Rathbone’s subtle treatment of the violin part sometimes overshadowed by Doherty’s more direct approach.

Such moments, however, amounted to only minor blemishes on a superb evening of music-making.


Daniel Sanderson | Canberra Times | 16 Mar 2010