Musical Landscapes presented by The Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Concert Hall, QPAC
Sun 28th Feb, 2021
Conductor Umberto Clerici
Host Guy Noble
Soloist Warwick Adeney, violin
MENDELSSOHN The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave)
BEETHOVEN Symphony No.6 in F (Pastoral), mvt 4: Thunderstorm
J. STRAUSS JR. On the Beautiful Blue Danube
GRIEG Suite No.1 from Peer Gynt, 7’ mvt 1: Morning,
mvt 4: In the Hall of the Mountain King
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS The Lark Ascending
GRENFELL (River) Mountain Sky
SMETANA The Moldau from Má vlast
A Moving Aural Encapsulation of Nature at it’s Finest
Dr Gemma Regan
Concertmaster Warwick Adeney opened the first concert of the 2021 Music on Sunday's series with a thank you and applause from the Queensland Symphony Orchestra to the audience for their continued support which boosts their weak artistic egos. He followed with the fantastic news that the stellar Maestro Johannes Fritzsch has been appointed as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the QSO until 2023. After having performed with many renowned international orchestras, Fritzsch was QSO’s Chief Conductor from 2008-2014 and fortuitously has since continued as Conductor Laureate. Adelaide violinist Natsuko Yoshimoto will also be joint Concertmaster with Warwick in 2021. The irrepressible host Guy Noble later commented that Natsuko “pops up everywhere, like mushrooms in a forest!”
The Musical Landscapes concert was a musical celebration of nature with two rivers, two mountains, two caves, a storm, and a bird. Mendelssohn and the QSO transported the sardine-packed Concert Hall to the Outer Hebrides and the dramatic natural columnar wonder of Fingal’s Cave. The symphonic poem uses a repeating motif as you approach the momentous aperture, drawing you under dripping stalactites into the darkness as you musically explore the natural wonder. The pulchritudinous Italian conductor Umberto Clerici delicately circled his baton, with the musical rise and swell of the waves as they crashed in and out of the cave.
Noble described his odorous journey via a tunnel in Coolangatta from Sydney, the land of pestilence before introducing Beethoven’s Thunderstorm transitioning into Strauss Jrs’ delicious On The Beautiful Blue Danube waltz. This famously accompanied the docking spacecraft in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, as they “waltzed” together in deep space. The double bases came into their own in recreating the low thunderous rumbles, rising to peeling frenetic crashes and resolving with a peeling piccolo. Unfortunately, the planned silent pause as a transition to the waltz was ripped apart by the ludicrous tone of a miscreant’s mobile phone.
Grieg’s music encapsulated the stunning nature of Norway in Morning from Peer Gynt with the swelling beauty of the mountains crowned by majestic mountains. Paradoxically, he envisioned palm trees and Moroccan deserts when he composed the piece! He also detested the magnificent In the Hall of the Mountain King, describing it as “reeking of cowpats and super Norwegianism!” Clerici and the QSO were brilliant, as the violins and piano described Peer Gynt stealthily tiptoeing past the sleeping trolls through the cave until finally fleeing to crashing cymbals and a pounding kettle drum.
The spiralling notes of the diminutive diva were delicate and delicious in Warwick Adeney’s solos of The Lark Ascending. Nobel described it as Warwick’s “Masterchef signature dish” and despite some noisy coughing from audience members, it was delectable.
Guy Noble had met his match while chatting with the diminutive Clerici who used his podium to meet Guy face on while being teased about why a cellist would be now conducting. Clerici retorted that “a baton makes less bad sounds!”
This was further illustrated by the QSO and Clerici closing with Grenfell’s River Mountain Sky, minus the river. A vibrant aural landscape that was commissioned by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra to mark Tasmania’s Bicentenary.
The closing Vltava (The Moldau) was beautiful, providing a musical travelogue of the water flowing from the Elba, with rivulets of flutes and clarinets and stirring strings until an abrupt end at the sea with a B and E major chord. Terrence Malick’s dark esoteric award-winning film The Tree of Life famously used the movement because of its emotive charm. The tumbling trumpets, trombone and timpani finished pompous and proud with the taunting triangle pervading over them all. The packed lunchtime concert received thunderous applause and five-stage encores, but unfortunately no musical encore finale.
Musical Landscapes was a moving aural encapsulation of nature at it’s finest! Don’t miss the second in the series Shakespearean Classics: Music Inspired by the Bard on the 9th May 2021 featuring more Mendelssohn with Beethoven, Prokofiev, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Verdi.