Mozart and Brahms: Music to Soothe Your Soul presented by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Concert Hall, QPAC
28th-29th May, 2021
Conductor Alexander Briger
Soloist Diana Doherty, oboe
MOZART Oboe Concerto in C, K.314
BRAHMS Symphony No.2 in D, Op. 73
Dr Gemma Regan
Diana Doherty swooped and dived tracing spiral patterns in the air
The concert hall was laden with high school students as part of the QSO’s musical education program. They were in for a treat with an inaugural visit by Alexander Briger OA, one of Australia’s most pre-eminent conductors and recipient of the Order of Australia for his services to music. It was also a privilege to have the internationally renowned oboe soloist Diana Doherty, principal oboist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing the oboe solo in the Oboe Concerto.
Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C major was only rediscovered in 1920 by musicologist Bernhard Paumgartner in Salzburg’s Mozarteum library. It was thought to have been lost after Mozart sent the score to Joseph Haydn for his student to play. It is a cheeky adaptation of his D major Flute Concerto composed for his virtuoso oboist and friend, Friedrich Ramm when the time was short.
The oboe concerto is close to my heart having been used constantly as a calming backdrop whilst studying and writing my PhD. So it was a great privilege to be able to witness the incredible dexterity of Diana Doherty, one of the world's greatest oboists performing such a favourite piece. Huw Jones, Principal oboe for the QSO had also been inspired by Doherty whilst hearing her play at the Opera House with the SSO as an impressionable teenager.
Doherty swooped and dived with the music, tracing spiral patterns in the air as she flew up and down the scales. The third movement, the Rondo: Allegretto is a favourite, allowing Doherty and QSO oboists Huw Jones and Alexa Murray to display their virtuosity. The orchestra intermittently pauses for sublime passages from the oboe. Doherty used the mirroring counterpoints to great effect, causing chuckles from the audience and a wry smile after each solo. The audience cheered at the conclusion with thunderous applause for such an adept and witty performance on such a temperamental instrument, due to the delicate double reed.
The full complement of the QSO took to the stage for the Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D. Conductor Alexander Briger admitted that incredibly it had taken him fifty years to debut with the QSO, as he now usually lives in Paris. He is mostly known as an opera specialist with upcoming engagements at the Montreal Opera, the Paris Philharmonie and the Bolshoi in Moscow. Mozart and Brahms is his speciality along with Beethoven and Janáček, so he was a perfect choice for the concert.
Brahms’ Symphony No.2 is known as the “sunny symphony” as it is more joyful than his others. It was composed in 1877 while he holidayed in Pörtschach, on the edge of Lake Worth in the Austrian Alps. Nevertheless, it still has moments of darkness despite being in a major key. Haydn himself admitted that he is a “severely melancholic person” commenting that “black wings are constantly flapping above us”. The slow rumbles of the tremolo timpani and the tuba and trombones added a sinister flavour to the “sunny” symphony.
The QSO played the first movement, the Allegro non troppo with the repeat, which is rarely done in performances. Another key feature of the piece was the sliding technique of the violins, portamento, where the fingers slide along the string to each note intentionally included by Brahms as a technique that is rarely used now.
The ferocious fourth movement Allegro con spirito, was full of vim and vigour, perhaps stimulated by Brahms hiking through the Alps. Briger was almost head-banging with the vigorous thrusts of his baton! The three-note motif which appears in all four movements returns to carry the schizophrenic symphony to an ironically joyous conclusion and rapturous applause.
Alexander Briger seamlessly slid into the role of QSO conductor to help deliver a sumptuous concert to soothe the soul. Fortunately, you can relive the concert on ABC Classic as the Classic Live Concert on the 5th June at 1 pm (AEDT).