Australian Chamber Orchestra
Richard Tognetti (concertmaster and
director)
Teddy Tahu Rhodes (bass-baritone)
Wednesday 27 February 2002
Concert Hall, Perth
Mozart: overture to Don Giovanni
Sibelius: incidental music to
Kuolema, Op. 44
Grieg: Den Bergtekne (The Mountain
Thrall), Op. 32
Beethoven: overture to The Creatures of
Prometheus
Mozart:
"Der Vogelfänger bin
ich ja" from Die Zauberflöte
"Rivolgete
a lui lo sguardo" from Così fan
tutte
"Hai gia vinta la causa
...
Vedro
mentr'io sospiro" from Le nozze di
Figaro
"Non più andrai" from Le nozze di
Figaro
Haydn: Symphony No. 104 in D major, "London"
There is always excitement in the air when the Australian Chamber
Orchestra comes to town, and their first national concert tour of 2002
(preceding an April tour of the United States) did not disappoint. Accompanying
them this time was the outstanding young baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, a star on
the rise if ever there was one. As of last year he became a resident principal
artist of Opera Australia, and has appeared in North America and Europe; he made
a particularly auspicious debut as the alternate Joseph de Rocher in the
premiere run of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking in San Francisco.
The ACO is known for its adventurous repertoire, and leader Richard Tognetti is committed to exposing his staunch followers to the wilder shores of 20th- and 21st-century music. On this occasion, there was a distinct leaning towards the Classical style, but there were unfamiliar treasures from Sibelius and Grieg to balance the popular crowd-pleasers.
The night got off to a powerful start with the overture to Mozart's Don Giovanni, with the relatively small orchestra (not far off the original Prague forces) producing a surprising amount of sound in the large Perth Concert Hall. This venue has very good acoustics, and the power came as much from the focused concentration of the players as from sheer volume; as many instrumental colors could be heard in the forceful passages as in the more lyrical sections.
Kuolema, meaning "Death," is a Finnish play for which Sibelius provided the incidental music performed here. Despite some fairytale elements, it is essentially a dark realist work. There are six movements, the second of which is a song — a defiant repudiation of Jack Frost which alternated slow orchestral passages with dramatic verses verging on the declamatory. (Rhodes stood behind the orchestra for this, to striking effect.) There are a number of pictorial touches such as a high tremolo string passage depicting the fluttering of cranes' wings; the final movement, representing the burning house which kills the hero, starts out almost jauntily and then turns to a repetitive orchestral structure which seems to look forward to minimalism. In the ACO's hands, this was a powerful and compelling work, and we should hear it more often.
Grieg's song Der Bergtekne features those topical creatures, elves, but here in their original and rather sinister guise. The singer describes his encounter with elves who beguile him from his way, never to return home. A pair of stanzas before the final one depict in a lyrical and yearning fashion the singer's realization that he is to be denied an earthly love. Rhodes' delivery of these verses was riveting, as he conveyed the loss and regret of the enthralled mortal.
The Creatures of Prometheus is one of those Beethoven party pieces which can look forward to a warm audience reception, especially when played with the spirit and accuracy engendered by Tognetti in his band. This overture displayed to particular advantage the dazzling precision of the ACO's string work.
In the Mozart arias, Teddy Tahu Rhodes showed his charismatic stage presence and his dramatic range, differentiating nicely the different personae involved: the rustic birdcatcher, the deceiving lover Guglielmo (in an aria discarded by Mozart from the original Così fan tutte), Count Almaviva furious at being upstaged by his servant, and said servant exuberantly teasing Cherubino. In the last aria, after the singing stopped, the young baritone turned his back on the audience to allow the orchestra to finish the cabaletta on a rousing note. Rhodes has an excellent voice for Mozart: a little dry on top perhaps, but rich and resonant in the lower notes, and light and flexible when required. It also doesn't hurt that he is tall, lithe and handsome.
It is hard (for some of us, at least) to take too seriously a composer who
has written some one hundred and eight symphonies, or at any rate to expect much
depth in those works. Yet Haydn's symphonies are enduringly popular, and the ACO
played the latish No. 104 (the "London," one of twelve composed in that city) to
round off the evening. Perhaps the similarity of its opening to that of the
Don Giovanni overture — both begin with isolated chords in D
— suggested it as a fitting finale. Yet whatever one's level of
fondness for Haydn might be, the symphony did serve to demonstrate the real
strength of the ACO: its unswerving attention to every detail of every work it
brings before us. Every performance of every piece is presented with equal care
to every nuance. There seems to be no such thing as an off-day or a
bread-and-butter performance for this orchestra; every outing creates a high
sense of expectation in its audiences — and sends them away more than
satisfied.
