North Sydney Symphony Orchestra | Concert 3
September 24, 2023, Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney
The combination of Verbrugghen Hall with its great acoustics and the talented North Sydney Symphony Orchestra proved serendipitous to say the least with a beautifully balanced program.
As so often happens, Mussorgsky never got to hear his Night on the Bare Mountain. He thought of it as his best early creation and a ‘wicked prank’ but his friend and mentor Balakirev panned it unmercifully and despite revisions, it wasn’t played until re-discovered by Georgiy Orlov in 1928 then coming to wide acknowledgement in the Disney film Fantasia. It is the witches’ sabbath on St John’s Eve and a screeching of the strings gives way to a fanfare and march before a bell rings to call the onset of dawn and return to normality. Very eerie and engaging.
Anne Cawrse lectures at the SA Conservatorium and has become an established Australian composer of chamber, orchestral and vocal works. I was pleased with her choice of instrument for a concerto as the cor anglais is my favourite instrument. The cor anglais is larger and deeper than the oboe and is best known for its sublime solo in the Largo of Dvorak’s New World Symphony. Its versatility and beauty was demonstrated by Alexandre Oguey, principal of the SSO who handled the glissandos and trills with ease. Entitled The Rest is Silence, after Huxley’s essay on Hamlet’s last words, it seemed to flow on a misty country light with birds weaving through the clouds – very serene and not a trace of dissonance.
Johan Svendsen was a fairly popular composer in Scandinavia but unlike his Norwegian contemporary, Edward Grieg, hardly achieved wider recognition, his career consisting principally as Musical Director of Copenhagen Royal Opera. He wrote his Andante Funebre as a trio to be played at the funeral of a friend’s 23 year old son and later adapted it for full orchestra. It is written in A_B_A form with the B section, as in so many funereal works, in the Major mode. The sad main theme is really quite catchy while the middle of the B section contains intricate woodwind passages which drew the listener’s attention.
The seventh symphony was Beethoven’s favourite and it’s not difficult to see why. Full of power and joy with sudden changes of tempo and volume and a haunting slow movement containing an intertwining of woodwinds which was played superbly. The perpetuum mobile final movement was described by the irascible Sir Malcolm Sergeant as “A Whole Herd of Elks prancing about!” Well, if so, they must have been happy animals!
The accomplished orchestra was enthusiastically led by Steven Hillinger who has conducted many ensembles in Sydney and interstate and who helped provide a memorable afternoon.
