Last Sunday, Queensland Symphony Orchestra shared the stage with the Animal Kingdom. The concert included works from Copland to Debussy, featuring pieces influenced by animals and the natural work. Tailored toward a family audience the concert intrigued all ages. QSO promised animals on stage, the feathered and furry, the small and the large. However, some found the animals harder to spot than others.
The concert opened with Hoe Down from Rodeo, a vibrant and loud number for an eleven thirty start. Composed by Aaron Copland, Hoe Down, had the majority of the audience tapping and ready to gallop off toward the orange horizon. The number was familiar to many of the audience members, a favourite score for Western movie soundtracks. QSO’s performance of the Rodeo seemed a peculiar choice when accompanied with works such as Prelude a Lapres-midi d’un Faune or Le chaperon rouge et le loupe. The theme connecting the pieces in this QSO concert was the animal kingdom, yet the underlying theme appears to be the narratives and myths that we as humans impose on or connect to the environment surrounding us to gain greater understanding of ourselves.
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy-tale The Wild Swans is the story which Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin crafted her 2003 composition on. The entire composition tells the tale of Eliza, a princess whose mother in law turns her eleven brothers into swans, the princess takes it upon herself to save her brothers. QSO performed the Eliza and the Prince piece from Kat-Chernin’s suite, proving to be both delicate and haunting. The piece pays homage to ‘Russian storybook ballet’, serving as a further tribute to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake within its composition.
Concert host, Guy Noble, delighted the audience with clever insights with each ensemble. The influence of swans within classical music was detailed by Noble, he urged the audience to listen for their movement within the music. Amusingly some of the children appeared confused by Noble’s comments, their eyes constantly scanning the stage for these majestic animals who were said to appear when the music started. At one-point Noble highlighted the similarities between the song of a whale and finch, probing the audience with questions as to what animal songs they may recognise from a series of recordings. Audience members joked with Noble, one person suggesting a finch sounded like a kookaburra, much to the enjoyment of the audience.
The highlight of the concert was Overture from Die Fledermaus, the piece was a driven and rich performance. Conductor Richard Davis’ movements on the stage became exuberant and the orchestra transformed with their performance of Overture. Prelude a Lapres-midi d’un Faune composed by Claude Debussy, was nuanced and dreamlike. During the Debussy performance, the audience was still and transfixed, many of the children similarly lost in wonder.
Both children and adults alike were amused by The Flight of the Bumblebee and the Shark Theme from the Jaws Suite pieces. The orchestra played with such intensity during their performance that the room appeared to lose its grandeur and shrink, the comedic yelp of the orchestra reprieving the audience with their humour.
QSO’s Animal Kingdom was an enjoyable Sunday outing, the hall was full of anticipation for the event and the orchestra delivered enjoyment for all. Perhaps there is something to be learned in our pleasure of music influenced by the natural world, something to be valued and savoured into the future.
Concert Hall, QPAC
16th Jun, 2019
Elizabeth Ralph