BY LAURA BIEMMI, TRENDS EDITOR
Side by Side
West Australian Symphony Orchestra with Australian National Academy of Music
Perth Concert Hall, 26 July
The West Australian Symphony Orchestra really, really treated its Perth audience last Friday night.
It had programmed two hearty Russian works for us, secured the iconic Simone Young to conduct, and filled out its orchestra with members of the Australian National Academy of Music.
As a result, the Perth Concert Hall was extremely full, with empty seats few and far between, and the pre-concert bustle of the foyer was livelier than usual.
For us in Perth, seeing performances from those at ANAM is a rare occurrence, with the institution’s Melbourne base so far removed from ours. And yet, the 30-or-so ANAM musicians looked extremely comfortable alongside their WASO mentors. Even though the median age of the orchestra had dipped somewhat, those from ANAM looked right at home with WASO.
Most audiences are familiar with Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet in suite form, with movements extracted and modified from the original ballet score. In a move that rendered the music simultaneously familiar and alien, Young extracted excerpts from the ballet itself, and ordered the numbers in a non-sequential yet coherent narrative.
The Introduction to Act 1 was sweet and inviting, coaxing the audience into Prokofiev’s sound-world of charming melodies and striking dissonances. In this movement, it was especially lovely to hear a couple of wind duets that showcased WASO principals and ANAM performers.
As the orchestra shifted into the Dance of the Knights, it became apparent that Young intended to push the orchestra to its limit, with an unceasing attention to rhythmic detail and intensity of colour. I’ve heard this movement many times, in many iterations, and this was the most thrilling I could remember.
The rest of the movements were presented with WASO’s characteristic polish and charm, yet with a freshness that could be attributed to the familiar-yet-not music (I was surprised at the sporadic left-turns the ballet score took compared to the suite), and the youthful energy of the ANAM players. At the emotional conclusion of the piece (RIP, Rom and Jules!) it was positively wholesome to watch the WASO members interact with and congratulate their proteges. Good vibes all around!
Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 (also known as Leningrad) is a tough piece for performers and audiences alike. Clocking in at approximately 80 minutes in length, and written in 1941 to honour of the war-torn city of Leningrad, the symphony requires all involved to experience music loaded with serious, heavy themes for a prolonged period of time. Yet Young, WASO, and the representatives of ANAM handled the demands of the score beautifully.
The first movement showcased the orchestra’s warm, balanced string tone in the opening, which then turned into a sweet pastoral section before dissolving into a tense melody passed between several sections and underscored by a snare ostinato. Young and the orchestra refused to allow the iterations of the famed melody to descend into tedium, and maintained the tension right up until the furious triple-forte peak. But it was the moments of stillness and calm – moments that cropped up in every movement – that were most unnerving. Young and WASO navigated the ebbs and flows of the score brilliantly, and as in the Prokofiev, there were some lovely wind duets (and sometimes trios!) that beautifully showcased the musicianship of the ANAM players.
After the penultimate chord (an unsettling brightness to an otherwise dark work), it was clear Leningrad was crowd pleaser; the work finished to deafening applause.
Despite the dark themes explored throughout the heavy program, the collaboration between WASO and ANAM was an outstanding affair. My only wish was that there was more showcasing of the talents of the young ANAM players besides a smattering of duets and trios, but that’s more a reflection of my wish to see more amounts of ANAM musicianship. So, ANAM, you’re welcome back to Perth anytime!
Images supplied. Featured: Simone Young by Klaus Lefebvre.
