The New World: Majestic Music Inspired by America
Presented by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Alondra de la Parra
Percussion Martin Grubinger
Dorman Frozen in Time I Indoafrica
II Eurasia
III The Americas
Dvořák Symphony No.9 Op. 95 (From the New World) I Adagio-Allegro molto
II Largo
III Molto vivace
IV Allegro con fuoco
A majestic concert of firsts celebrating the diversity of the percussion section
We welcome back our esteemed Alondra de la Parra, Conductor and Music Director of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, from her travels conducting at the Orchestre de Paris, visiting with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, a debut at Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, and the world premiere of the new production T.H.A.M.O.S at Mozartwoche in Salzburg. Alondra has conducted over 100 of the world’s most prestigious orchestras with her vibrant hip-swaying Latin-American style.
Joining Alondra and the QSO in his Australian debut performance, was Martin Grubinger from Zurich University of the Arts and the University of Music and Dramatic Arts Mozarteum in Salzburg. Martin is considered to be the world’s best multi-percussionist as he is technically flawless and has won multiple awards.
The performance opened with the Australian premiere of Avner Dorman’s Frozen in Time, which was written specifically for Martin Grubinger, premiering in Hamburg in 2007 with Australian Simone Young conducting. In this concert of firsts, Martin had pride of place at the front of the stage surrounded by multiple percussive instruments, each of which he described and introduced to the audience including various drums, the merimbaphone, the cencerros (a keyboard of cowbells) and the crotales cymbals.
The piece is a musical journey through the tectonic geological movements of the Earth over time. IndoAfrica opened with a crash of cymbals simulating an avalanche, and a theme based on South Indian cyclic rhythms known as Tãlas, with the merimba sounding like a gamelan. Although Martin appeared to be frantically thrashing about, he was actually moving seamlessly from one percussive instrument to the next, until he embarked on the various drums, emulating the African rhythms as the two continents collide. As the three movements progressed the music transitioned through to a Siciliana, with a slow tempo and lilting rhythms. The final movement was a favourite, with a combination of jazz, rock, swing and even the tango, creating a symphonic rondo of the sounds of American rhythms and styles. At one stage Martin had what seemed to be two fistfuls of mallets frantically hitting a plethora of notes on a multitude of instruments!
The performance was incredible and dynamic to watch. Martin seemed to have boundless energy and limitless musical skills, ensuring his place amongst the masters of multi-percussionists.
After a prolonged applause and a stage rearrangement, the QSO were at their best with Dvořák’s Symphony No.9, titled From The New World, but often referred to as the New World Symphony. The slow but evocative solo of the cor anglais played by Vivienne Brooke was the highlight of Dvořák’s New World Symphony, inspired by the African American slave songs and Native American spiritual melodies. The beginning of the fourth theme is reminiscent of the infamous Jaws theme by John Williams, with a sinister start until the French horn picks up the bold metered theme evocative of ships with their white sails amongst a raging sea. The theme returns throughout until it crashes brilliantly into a glorious, brassy finale.
The audience were able to understand better and follow along with the New World Symphony with a new Visual Listening Guide created by Hannah-Chan Hartley. She designed it to help structure listening by enriching an individual’s understanding of a symphonic masterwork in a visually engaging and comprehensible way, regardless of musical background. Each movement was divided into parts and information such as the main instruments playing at one time, the themes, key and transitions were severely represented in pictograms. Around 200 school students attended the concert and they will have found it an invaluable musical learning tool. Looking around most of the regular QSO attendees were following the representation of the score intermittently, preferring to be lost in the magic of the music. I found it to be fascinating to see how often various times were repeated and how often the key changed throughout the symphony. It was an ingenious method of displaying classical music without a score. The New World concert was a majestic concert of firsts celebrating the diversity of the percussion section. You can hear the recording of this concert, The New World on ABC Classic on 23 August 2019 at 1pm and 31 October at 12pm.
Concert Hall, QPAC
9th and 10th August 2019
By Dr Gemma Regan