BY ANGUS MCPHERSON
Sibelius 2
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Sydney Opera House, 8 October
Timpani, gong and a sizzling heat-haze from the violins launches Peter Sculthorpe’s ‘Sun Music II’. The score is marked ‘Feroce’, or fierce, and this is exactly the mood David Robertson elicited from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra with his crisp, exact movements. ‘Sun Music II’ is almost a concerto for timpani and percussion, the soloists at the back of the orchestra on bongos and timbales. The SSO’s timpanist Richard Miller stands in the centre, working a full shift with barely a moment to breathe from the beginning of the Sculthorpe to the finale of Sibelius’ Second Symphony.
Sculthorpe’s driving Balinese-inspired rhythms have a frantic relentlessness that is nonetheless bound within a tight framework of pulse. Even the traditionally pitched instruments, the wind, brass and strings, are given a percussive bent; rhythms are notated precisely in the score, but pitches are often no more specific than ‘any very high note’ or ‘any very low note’. The trombones growl and the double basses stamp their feet between dissonant pizzicato attacks.
Andrew Haveron is soloist for Walton’s Violin Concerto and as one of the SSO’s concertmasters he is obviously familiar with both orchestra and conductor. This is evident in the easy ensemble and relaxed rapport he enjoys with Robertson. Haveron’s playing is technically immaculate, and unassumingly virtuosic, devoid of showy gestures or affectations. He plays a newly acquired violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini in 1757, purchased by SSO patron Vicki Olsson, and this is the instrument’s official debut. The sound Haveron draws from the Guadagnini is smooth and refined; the instrument has wonderful body in the high register and Haveron achieves projection and clarity without ever sounding loud.
Robertson’s flowing tempo helps bind the fragmentary elements that coalesce into the first movement of Sibelius’ Second Symphony. His gestures are expansive and open, and when the first movement ends he moves straight into the second virtually without pause. While this created a broader narrative across the first half of the symphony, it denied the audience the chance to fully absorb the final moments of the first movement – not to mention the opportunity to cough! This symphony has beautiful moments for every section of the orchestra, and the bassoons are kept particularly busy, but the double basses handle the swells in the pizzicato opening of the second movement masterfully and Diana Doherty’s oboe solos in the third movement shine. Robertson expertly controls the accumulation of power that builds to the triumphant, anthem-like finale, demonstrating why this symphony has been so attractive to those wishing to project a narrative of Finnish nationalism onto the music.
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra was in fine form under David Robertson’s direction, bringing aggressive energy to Sculthorpe’s percussive ‘Sun Music II’ and expansive beauty to Sibelius’ sweeping melodies. Andrew Haveron’s pristine performance of the Walton Violin Concerto was a glowing endorsement for Vicki Olsson’s new Guadagnini violin.
Image supplied. Credit: Christine Brewster.
