The Queensland Symphony Orchestra Presents Around the World, Music on Sundays
Concert Hall, QPAC
29 Aug, 2021
Conductor Peter Luff
Host Vivienne Collier-Vickers
Soloist Imants Larsens, viola
Copland Fanfare for the Common Man
Beethoven Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Op.43
Bruch Romance in F major, for Viola & Orchestra, op.85
Dvořák Slavonic Dances Op.72, No.7
Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess)
Handel Overture from Royal Fireworks Music
Borodin In the Steppes of Central Asia
Hisaishi My Neighbor Totoro
Sculthorpe Small Town
Sharpe Blades of Toledo
Sibelius Finlandia, Op.26
Dr Gemma Regan
Violist Imants Larsens delivered a deliciously sweet solo, like manna from the Gods
The Queensland audience appeased their wanderlust with an aural journey Around the World, as part of the QSO’s Music on Sundays series. The familiar exuberant host, Guy Noble, was again missing due to the continued lockdown in Sydney. However, the QSO’s own French Horn player Vivienne Collier-Vickers more than made up for his omission with her sparkling wit and intriguing insights as a musician.
Copland’s iconic Fanfare for the Common Man was an epic introduction to the concert. The thunderous drums and a standing fanfare from the brass section evoked visions of the resilience and versatility of humankind, and was played when the space shuttle Endeavour landed after it’s final mission in 2012. The Overture to the Creatures of Prometheus by Beethoven followed with the Allegro depicting Prometheus violently snatching fire from the sky. Racing violins accompanied by flirtatious flutes and cheery clarinets repeat the main motif of the short allegorical overture.
A highlight of the concert, of which there were many, was the viola solo of Bruch’s Romance in F major for Viola & Orchestra played by Swiss-born Section Principal Imants Larsens. Having played the viola since the tender age of three, Larsen’s command of the instrument was incredible. He delivered a deliciously sweet and poignant solo, like manna from the Gods. The soulful crooning of the viola was accompanied by the clarinets snaking up the scales, ending with a lingering note from the bassoon which stilled the breath.
The Bohemian music of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances evoked frivolities around the camp fire as the percussion section let fly with the timpani, cymbals and triangle. Ravel’s piece also had the percussionists in a flurry of activity recreating a Spanish aural backdrop. The pizzicato strings and an etheric harp emulated the excitement of a dancing Princess in the Spanish Royal Court. The title Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) was regretfully chosen by Ravel as he had originally liked the sound of the title, yet it was a celebration of life rather than death.
We then travelled to England with Handel’s Royal Fireworks, composed to accompany a firework display for George II in 1749 and mark the end of the War of the Austrian succession. Writer Horace Walpole described the firework event as 'pitiful and ill-conducted with only two persons killed!’ Fortunately, the QSO’s delivery was much more successful than the fireworks igniting pleasure in the audience.
An insightful chat between host Collier-Vickers and the West Australian Conductor Peter Luff revealed that he has had a close association with the QSO for over 30 years, in the role of Associate Principal Horn. He has also worked Around the World and is currently Head of Performance and Associate Professor at the Queensland Conservatorium at Griffith University. Collier-Vickers asked which was the easier role, playing the horn or conducting? To which Luff admitted that he found it easier to conduct as his mistakes were silent! After which he was told to ‘return to his pedestal, sorry, podium’ to finish the QSO’s journey Around the World.
The last segment skipped from Borodin’s oriental timbre In the Steppes of Central Asia to Japan with Hisaishi’s My Neighbor Totoro, titillating the anime fans. Peter Sculthorpe’s Small Town highlighted Australia, then we were led to Spain by the three trombonists taking front stage in Zorro masks and sombreros for a brilliant Mariachi-styled delivery of Sharpe’s Blades of Toledo. Another hop to the land of ice and elves concluded the concert with Sibelius’s most popular piece Finlandia.
A bonus swift encore with the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss Sr had the audience on their feet with applause in appreciation of another momentous and insightful concert from the QSO. Journeying not only Around the World but through a gamut of emotions evoked by the World’s best composers, played by one of the World’s finest orchestras.
Fortunately, the concert was recorded for ABC Classic radio and to be played on-air in the future as part of the live concert series.