BY ANTONIA ZAPPIA
The Musician Project Orchestra
Brahms 1
Sydney Conservatorium’s Verbruggen Hall, 15 November
The Musician Project Orchestra is a platform for aspiring musicians to work alongside seasoned professionals from some of Australia’s finest orchestras and ensembles. The orchestra is peppered with current music students, recent graduates and participants from youth orchestras across the country. Their performance was excellent overall and, like many other impressed patrons whom I spoke to that day, I was happy to participate in a system where I could pay what I thought the performance deserved – and that was a great deal. I did hear a little mumbling from patrons at the end of the performance about how contributions could be made, and perhaps the instructions could have been reiterated afterwards by those passing around the donations basket. But from the program notes to the range of ages in the audience, this was an inclusive concert.
Schubert’s ‘Incidental Music to Rosamunde’, D.797 was a royal treat. The programmatic switches were thematically ingenious, capturing the essence of the story beautifully. The ‘Overture: Die Zauberhaufe’ D.644 presented a few intonation issues at its opening in the strings section. The witty exchanges between members of the flute, clarinet and horn sections were absolutely suburb. Hats off to the strings for making the jaunts in the cut time of the allegro vivace so deliciously boisterous! They were sometimes, unfortunately, overshadowed by balance issues in the tutti section – perhaps owing to the hall’s acoustic. Nonetheless, I was utterly convinced of the stunning interplay between the heroine and antagonist’s themes throughout these well-chosen selections. The Entr’act 1 was a perfect ending to this tale. I was engrossed by the idea of Rosamunde’s arch nemesis Fulgentius suffering a dramatic demise at the hands of the death roll tremolos expertly delivered by the timpani, violas and cellos.
After a 15 minute interval to recover from the impassioned theatrics, the orchestra soared into Brahms’ First Symphony. I lamented not having a road map of the movement names in the program. However, I laughed heartily to myself at the apt description: ‘This piece is a very complicated middle finger to Wagner, Liszt and the entire “New German School”’. After approximately 21 years of composition, this powerful symphony hopefully provided sweet vengeance for Brahms. Movement I’s opening minute was stunningly played, sweltering with a glorious zeal. Throughout each movement the tutti moments carried this unmistaken enthusiasm. Movement II (Andante sostenuto) featured scene stealing performances from the concertmaster Rebecca Chan. Her work alongside principle horn Heath Parkinson was sublime and deftly captured the movement’s solemn elegance. One moment that seized my attention was the violent athleticism of the strings’ pizzicato playing in the last movement’s beginning – truly chilling. As the concert roared to an end, the bassists threw their heads back in triumphant majesty. McBride’s excellent conducting led this wonderful orchestra to a standout victory that was proceeded, deservingly, by five minutes worth of continuous clapping.
If you were one of the unfortunate souls who missed this performance, don’t fret, you can like the Musician Project on Facebook, subscribe to their channel on Youtube or follow them on Soundcloud. This orchestra, and its group of aspiring and seasoned professionals, is well worth every penny!
