European journey
Balmain Sinfonia, conductor Gary Stavrou
Reviewed by Ben Oxley
Dvorak, My Homeland - Donizetti, Una furtive lagrima for wind quintet
Dvorak, My Homeland - Donizetti, Una furtive lagrima for wind quintet
Enescu, Romanian Rhapsody No. 2
Mozart, Bassoon Concerto, soloist Ben Hoadley
Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade
Is there room in Sydney's arts calendar for another orchestra? Would you go out to Macquarie University to hear them? Balmain Sinfonia's opening concert of their 2014 season began in middle Europe: Czech charm well balanced and assertive in the popular My Homeland overture. It is cast in the composer’s best national style, with effective use of folk tunes, set in chromatic passages well handled by the players. Part of the work includes a song that became part of the Czech National Anthem. Here it was given a stirring and aptly heroic performance by Stavrou and the full orchestra.
Then we left for Italy, and an item not set down in the program: Una furtiva lagrima for wind quintet. Lovely interlude - where was the tenor? Perhaps we could count this as an early encore. The quintet gave the aria refinement, with clear ensemble, solos handled well by the horn and bassoon.
Off to Romania, and a lavish birthday gift from a doting husband. In fact, according to our conductor you can 'have' the orchestra - at a very reasonable price. Beethoven for banknotes? Or bars of Bach for gold bars? Yehudi Menuhin (a former student and friend) poignantly described Enescu as “the most extraordinary human being, the greatest musician and the most powerful influence ever exercised upon me.” The unison string writing reminiscent of Bartok has a lustre even in the Macquarie Theatre's somewhat dry acoustic. The advantage is that each solo instrument is heard with clarity. Oboe and cor anglais gave distinctive colour to this traditional tonal piece.
What Mozart conjured in Salzburg at eighteen years of age, our bassoon soloist Ben Hoadley really brought to the fore, his reed dancing along with the strings, oboes and horns. Ben Hoadley is a bassoon graduate of Tanglewood and the New England Conservatory in Boston. He has played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as well as the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, and NZSO. The evenness of Hoadley's sound across the instrument was admirable: several entries started high and light, all gaining from his finesse.
Discussions with the aproned staff at interval over the name for Australian sparkling wine (can't say Champagne) sent us back north to Russia in Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Alastair Duff-Forbes led the symphonic splendour in the skillful violin solos. Full brass complement balanced the lush strings and winds. Percussion featured too in excellent ensemble.
I was pleasantly surprised - messaging a colleague to confirm that the Sinfonia are the real deal. "What's in the next concert?", I asked. "We'll know after the committee meeting", the box office lady replied. What we do know is that it's on Sunday 15 June and details will be online at http://balmainsinfonia.com/concerts/next-concert/. See you there?
Is there room in Sydney's arts calendar for another orchestra? Would you go out to Macquarie University to hear them? Balmain Sinfonia's opening concert of their 2014 season began in middle Europe: Czech charm well balanced and assertive in the popular My Homeland overture. It is cast in the composer’s best national style, with effective use of folk tunes, set in chromatic passages well handled by the players. Part of the work includes a song that became part of the Czech National Anthem. Here it was given a stirring and aptly heroic performance by Stavrou and the full orchestra.
Then we left for Italy, and an item not set down in the program: Una furtiva lagrima for wind quintet. Lovely interlude - where was the tenor? Perhaps we could count this as an early encore. The quintet gave the aria refinement, with clear ensemble, solos handled well by the horn and bassoon.
Off to Romania, and a lavish birthday gift from a doting husband. In fact, according to our conductor you can 'have' the orchestra - at a very reasonable price. Beethoven for banknotes? Or bars of Bach for gold bars? Yehudi Menuhin (a former student and friend) poignantly described Enescu as “the most extraordinary human being, the greatest musician and the most powerful influence ever exercised upon me.” The unison string writing reminiscent of Bartok has a lustre even in the Macquarie Theatre's somewhat dry acoustic. The advantage is that each solo instrument is heard with clarity. Oboe and cor anglais gave distinctive colour to this traditional tonal piece.
What Mozart conjured in Salzburg at eighteen years of age, our bassoon soloist Ben Hoadley really brought to the fore, his reed dancing along with the strings, oboes and horns. Ben Hoadley is a bassoon graduate of Tanglewood and the New England Conservatory in Boston. He has played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as well as the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, and NZSO. The evenness of Hoadley's sound across the instrument was admirable: several entries started high and light, all gaining from his finesse.
Discussions with the aproned staff at interval over the name for Australian sparkling wine (can't say Champagne) sent us back north to Russia in Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Alastair Duff-Forbes led the symphonic splendour in the skillful violin solos. Full brass complement balanced the lush strings and winds. Percussion featured too in excellent ensemble.
I was pleasantly surprised - messaging a colleague to confirm that the Sinfonia are the real deal. "What's in the next concert?", I asked. "We'll know after the committee meeting", the box office lady replied. What we do know is that it's on Sunday 15 June and details will be online at http://balmainsinfonia.com/concerts/next-concert/. See you there?
