Boulez, Rituel in memoriam Bruno Moderna for orchestra in eight groups
Lentz, Jerusalem (after Blake)
Debussy, La Mer
Meet the Music Series
18.02.15, Sydney Opera House
To give this concert some context, the Sydney Symphony's Meet the Music concert series is designed to be presented to highschoolers from all around Sydney. Instead of the usual 8pm start time, it starts at 6.30pm, the cloakroom is filled to the brim with schoolbags, and the local Maccas and Hungry Jacks joints probably earn quadruple their usual profits.
As an audience member who's watched the Meet the Music series as both a high school student and a post-high-schooler, I really do believe it's really is a great way to be introduced to some amazing music. I still remember the great disdain the whole concert hall expressed when the orchestra performed The Miraculous Mandarin... but didn't present the whole piece because of "time restraints". High schoolers really do get into the music, and they will often give standing ovations and have competitions against other anonymous audience members to see who can clap the last clap before a piece begins. As a surprising side note, no one clapped between movements this time. (I'm not a stickler for clapping between movements, but I thought it was interesting to note that the previous Schumann concert received applause for every movement).
The Boulez was presented for the first half of the concert, and it was accompanied by a brief introduction by Robertson about the work and the orchestra's staging. The musicians were scattered around the hall to create an effect that "would not be able to be recreated in a recording". I'm not sure if my position from the choir stalls added or took away from the effect- while I was able to see all eight groups performing at once without swinging my head around, I felt like the surround-sound quality of the piece was a bit lost (although dynamically the groups were extremely varied due to the distance).
The Boulez work was rhythmically intricate, and both Robertson and the orchestra displayed immense amounts of concentration. Personally, I found Robertson's explanation about the piece very helpful in understanding the composer's inspiration in Japanese funeral procession music.
The second half began with the Australian premiere of Sydney Symphony violinist and composer Georg Lentz's piece Jerusalem (after Blake). The last time I had heard one of Lentz's compositions was back nearly a decade ago when Tabea Zimmermann had played his viola concerto Monh, so naturally I was curious to hear Lentz's Jerusalem after such a long period of time.
Admittedly, although I was looking forward to La Mer the most in the program, I have to say I enjoyed Lentz's work just as much, or even more than La Mer. Lentz created extraordinary effects with the orchestra,and I enjoyed every single moment of it. The one moment which personally stood out for me the most was when the strings were crescendoing into a climax by pushing into their strings with their bows, while being layered with electronic white-noise-esque sounds.
The evening was finished off with La Mer which I had been looking forward to all evening. Concertmaster Andrew Haveron's solos were particularly exquisite and flawless, while the rich Cor Anglais solos by Alexandre Oguey certainly reflected the nature of the piece and was definitely a highlight. The infamous cello soli moment in the first movement felt spontaneous and fresh while maintaining tightness within the section.
Robertson and the orchestra presented the piece without a hitch despite the numerous rubatos and tempo changes. However, my impression by the end of the piece was that while the orchestra had performed the piece at a high standard, they certainly could have taken more risks with the piece.
Overall, although I was enticed into attending this program for the Debussy, I was blown away by Lentz's work, and I am excited to hear more of his compositions in the near future. Unfortunately, although I do see the educational merits of adding Boulez's work to the program, I was unsure if it deserved half of the program.Although the title of the program revolves around Boulez, I personally enjoyed the Lentz and Debussy the most.
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