BY JAMES WHITING
Fairy Tales: Schumann, Bruch and Borodin
Omega Ensemble: Samuel Hogarth (piano), Airena Nakamura (violin), Maria Raspopova (piano), David Rowden (clarinet), Paul Stender (cello), Neil Thompson (viola), Catalin Ungureanu (violin)
Sydney Opera House, 17 June
The Omega Ensemble welcomed guests out of an increasing Sydney chill into the Opera House’s Utzon Room to hear their Fairy Tales concert. Pleasantly full, the room evoked an intimate fireside: huddled with auditors and warm with soft, gold light. The scene was set for the program’s first piece and its namesake, Robert Schumann’s Märchenernzählungen.
The age-old invitation ‘Once upon a time’ could almost be heard in the piece’s jovial opening, rendered instantly infectious by the ensemble’s performance. Onward, Schumann’s images were unfolded as illustrated pages. Adventurous, lively moments yielded to a gentle lyricism that might have accompanied the dancing footfalls of a princess in her true love’s arms.
Six of Max Bruch’s Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano brought the concert’s first part to an end. Here, among other pleasures, the gentleness of clarinet cantilena formed an arresting contrast with ochre bursts from the viola.
Nestled at the program’s heart was the excitement of the Australian premiere of Samuel Hogarth’s 2017 Trio for Clarinet, Piano and Cello. Hogarth introduced his work and touched on the scope it provides for exploring different facets of the clarinet’s stylistic potential. In actuality, this description holds true for each instrument in the trio, as all were allowed rich breadth of expression.
Alexander Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 in D Major gave this concert a more-than-happy ending. The well-known Notturno did not fail to move: it rose from the impeccable playing of the ensemble with ineffable bittersweetness, eddying even as the waves that shivered in the wind-beaten water visible beyond the window. It was not without a tinge of regret that the audience exchanged the concert hall for the icy outdoors that day. But this program proved that one good tale leads to another.
Image supplied.
