SAMSON ET DALILA
Melbourne Opera
Palais Theatre., St' Kilda
Sunday June 1 at 2:30 pm
it's been quite a while since Saint-Saens' enduring opera of 1877 has been staged here. The one and only time I can recall is from November 1983 when the Victorian State Opera forces, conducted by Richard Divall, presented a version in Hamer Hall, the company's chairman, Sir Rupert Hamer, having to make a small statement defending the microcosmic amount of nudity that occurred during the Bacchanale. Mind you, this was during the oddly strait-laced premiership of John Cain Jr. who was no stranger to the art form. A lot was made of some naked bodies that were intended to spice up Act 3, Scene 2 and the more salacious among us were looking forward to a bit of real Philistine brouhaha, especially as you had to sit through a fair amount of tedium before the fun started and the roof caved in. Let's hope that Melbourne Opera has better luck with its orgy. Details are slim: mezzo Deborah Humble is taking on the temptress role; tenor Rosario La Spina will wind up shorn but triumphant as the strongman judge, The director is Suzanne Chaundy, conductor Raymond Lawrence. It seems as though the company is not using the Palais lounge or balcony while ticket prices range between $69 and $199, never forgetting the $7 'handling fee' which gives an expensive venture a little extra bite - and a fiscal necessity for reasons that nobody can explain to me without blushing.
This program will be repeated on Tuesday June 3 at 7:30 pm.
SCHEHERAZADE
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Monday June 2 at 6:30 pm
Have you ever heard a satisfactory live performance of this marvel of orchestration? I can't say that I have, but my experiences have been limited to three state orchestras in this country. I mean, you can be wrapped in a pleasant cocoon of sound as Rimsky-Korsakov's suite from 1888 moves from its snarling opening bars to the soaring, placid triumph of its conclusion, but an average reading loses your interest in the middle movements to do with the Kalendar Prince, and then the Young Prince and Young Princess which test the phrasing inventiveness of several exposed individual players. Conducting the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in this gem is Elim Chan, the young Hong-Kong-born musician who has been wooed with various degrees of success by British and European organizations. Scheherazade is the only work on this program which belongs to both the Quick Fix at Half Six and the Meet the Music: Years 9-12 series which have different modes of preparation for their two distinct types of audience member. Mind you, it pays to be a secondary school student: their tickets are only $9 each. If you're after the quick fix, your standard ticket costs between $62 and $99 (a hell of a lot for one work); concessionaires can expect to pay $5 less (big deal), and your child under 18 will pay $20. Add the compulsory $7 transaction fee, of course; administering your credit card deployment is so time-consuming.
STEPHEN HOUGH
Melbourne Recital Centre
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, MRC
Monday June 2 at 7:30 pm
The formidable British pianist is a guest of the Melbourne Recital Centre and is always good value, not leat for the spread of his programming. This time round, Stephen Hough opens with a group of three pieces by Cecile Chaminade: Automne from the Op. 35 Six Etudes de concert of 1886, Autrefois from the Op. 87 collection of Six pieces humoristiques written in 1897, and the 1892 Les Sylvains. which is Chaminade's Op. 60. Well, it's his program but the little I've encountered from the French writer's catalogue strikes me as fin-de-siecle Light. This triptych is followed by Liszt's B minor Piano Sonata which will probably overshadow anything that precedes it, anyway. Hough then treats us to his own Sonatina Nostalgica, a 2019 work comprising three movements, all with a combined timing of less than five minutes. This mimics the positioning of the Chaminade in preceding another formidable score: Chopin's final Sonata No. 3, composed in 1844 and enjoying less exposure in the modern recital hall than its predecessor, the Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor. You'd think this presents as a rather eccentric array of offerings; you'd be right. But Hough has the ability to maintain your interest, even in his easy-going moments. Standard tickets cost between $67 and $115, with some half-decent concessions for students and the elderly. There's also the inevitable $7 levy for taking your money, an unreasonable tax which has apparently infected every musical enterprise across the city.
FIRST VOICES SHOWCASE
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Iwaki Auditorium, Southbank
Wednesday June 4 at 6:30 pm
Here is one of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's special excursions - the First Voices First Nation Composer program under a Music and Ideas banner. I don't know how the organization is approaching this concept of giving a voice to Aboriginal writers but this strikes me as tentative. For one thing, it's not hard to fill the Iwaki space. For another, the event is scheduled to last only an hour. For a final touch, all tickets are $15 . . . and you can add on almost half that again for the gouging transaction fee which pushes your price up to $22. Anyway, what do you get for your money? Three works, as it turns out. First comes James Howard's Nyirrimarr Ngamatyata/To Lose Yourself at Sea; followed by Leon Rodgers' Seven Sisters; the set concluding in Fragments by Nathaniel Andrew. Howard is a well-established academic with a solid background in tracing cultural heritage. The piece by Rodgers was programmed in last year's First Voices concert, according to a still-extant website. Andrew presents as the most versatile musician with a strong base in performance both here and overseas. I know nothing of the work of any of them but, if in the audience, would be waiting with anticipation for any sign of innovation or irregularity elements that are absent all too often in the output of contemporary writers.
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Musica Viva Australia
Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank
Tuesday June 10 at 7 pm
An inevitable title, given the Swedish-Norwegian background of this recital's violinist, Johan Dalene. This young celebrity appearing for Musica Viva will be partnered by Hobart-based Jennifer Marten-Smith, latest in a long line of pianists who have partnered Dalene across an active schedule of performances. Mind you, some of the material he's presenting tonight has been part of his duo programs for some time, like Rautavaara's Notturno of 1993, and Ravel's spiky Tzigane from 1924. Dalene also specializes in Grieg's Violin Sonata No. 2, written in a nationalistic blaze during 1865. And he has been known to play Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 8 in G, last of the Op. 30 set of three written in 1902. Three other works that the artists present tonight seem to be new. The most unarguable in this respect us Tilted Scales by (fairly) young Australian Jack Frerer, commissioned for this national tour. Another is Tchaikovsky's Souvenir d'un lieu cher of 1878 in which we will be hearing all three parts, not just the popular Meditation. And Lili Boulanger's D;un matin de printemps enjoys a hearing, written near the composer's death in 1918. Prices range between $20 and $153; don't say you don't have choices. And there's no avoiding the $7 fee which will be really welcome for those who qualify for the cheapest tickets.
A REFLECTION IN TIME
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Thursday June 12 at 7:30 pm
Back in the well-furrowed trench of orchestral concerts as they were held in this country for years, this presentation follows a venerable pattern, its main components a concerto and a symphony. The difference this time around is that the night's three components all show their composers at highpoints in their public careers. Conductor Benjamin Northey opens the event with Barber's Adagio for Strings, originally the slow movement from the 26-year-old composer's String Quartet Op. 11 from 1936. Christian Li, the Australian-born 17-year-old violinist, is soloist in Korngold's concerto of 1945; this has become a standard these days, suffering no little neglect for several years after the composer's death. Finally, Northey takes the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra through Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, written in 1937 allegedly as a response to Stalin-inspired criticism of the composer's modernist tendencies. These days, the work is seen to have undercurrents of protest against the Soviet state and its oppression of artists. You'd be a noggin-head to take all that final movement bombast at face value but plenty of people do. Whatever the reaction you have, Shostakovich was seen as toeing the Party line, especially by the time-serving music critics in the Russia of that time. It's all a fascinating reflection of the decade across which these works were written. Standard tickets tonight fall between $75 and $139, concession card holders enjoying a $5 discount, while children under 18 can get in for $20. And there's the eternal $7 booking/transaction fee/extortion to add on to your cost.
This program will be repeated on Friday June 13 at 7:30 pm in Relaxed Performance mode with special consideration for audience members with disabilities (special prices apply for tickets on this occasion of $35 standard and $30 concession), and on Saturday June 14 at 7:30 pm under regular operating conditions.
ANAM AT THE CONVENT: ELISION ENSEMBLE
Australian National Academy of Music
Rosina Auditorium, Abbotsford Convent
Friday June 20 at 7 pm
The country's premier contemporary chamber ensemble is playing in the Australian National Academy of Music precincts and also features among its ranks some ANAM alumni. All the same, I think that, from the publicity material, regular Elision Ensemble players will be reinforced by current ANAM musicians. In any case, tonight's offerings hold memories for me, including the ensemble's long-time advocacy for the works of Franco Donatoni, whose 1977 Spiri for ten instruments is being played here. Also, the voice of Liza Lim, an Elision essential, will be heard in her Veil for seven players of 1999. Then there's a work by Xenakis to start the second half - his Eonta of 1964, written for a most mixed sextet of piano, two trumpets and three trombones.. We have an Australian premiere in German composer Isabel Mundry's Le Voyage, written in 1996 for four woodwind, three brass, two percussion and a string septet which makes it the most substantial work we'll hear in terms of participant numbers. Lastly, Russian-born German-based writer Dariya Maminova is represented by her Melchior from 2021; scored for two synthesizers and samples, this promises to exhibit the composer's attempts to fuse contemporary with rock - I know: an impossible task but the texts come from Edward Thomas and Pasternak, and the piece lasts for ten minutes. Pricing is one of those 1960s box office deals where you can offer $60 if you have the cash, $40 if you fit into the standard patron category, and $20 if you're feeling the cost of living weighs heavily. And, to show that the organization is really a freedom-loving, libertarian revenant from the hippie era, your booking fee is only $5. As the old song has it, who could ask for anything more?
CLASSIC 100 IN CONCERT
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Friday June 20 at 7:30 pm
Not sure about these popularity polls for serious music because they usually display the responders' lack of musical experience as the outcomes, especially near the top, are numbingly conservative. This year, the ABC Classic FM hosts and announcers have focused on the piano and are asking which work written for this instrument as a solo, as part of a chamber ensemble, or having the instrument in front of an orchestra happens to tickle your fancy. At moments, I feel like doing a Tom Gleeson and fixing the vote by having numerous people propose Boulez's Piano Sonata No. 2, or Webern's posthumous piano scrap, or Paisiello's Concerto in D. You have until 1 pm on Monday June 2 to make your voice heard. Needless to say, patrons won't be hearing the complete election result; rather, selections will be presented by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under conductor Benjamin Northey (who is also billed as having 'creative direction') , with Andrea Lam as the focal pianist who presents the concertos and solos and chamber music extracts: the sole fount of pianistic wisdom - all without Harry Connick Jr. Your normal everyday customer can pay between $59 and $109 for a seat; the concession reduction remains a risible $5 and the booking fee of $7 still obtains, despite the fact that you have no idea what you're going to hear - although I'm guessing that surprises will be almost non-existent.
This program will be repeated on Saturday June 21 at 2 pm.
ACO UNLEASHED
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Sunday June 22 at 2:30 pm
A continuation of the Australian Chamber Orchestra's 50th birthday celebrations, this event serves to showcase some individual talents from the ensemble's ranks. The program has been curated by artistic director Richard Tognetti, but he is shining the opening spotlight on violins Helena Rathbone, Satu Vanska and Anna da Silva Chen (the ACO's latest recruit) through Bach's Triple Concerto BWV 1064R, which actually enjoyed reconstruction as a three-harpsichord concerto during the mid-Leipzig years. Then Vanska takes the solo line in Ravel's Tzigane of 1934, here arranged with a strings and percussion support). After this, we can relish Tognetti's own arrangement of the Beethoven String Quartet No. 11, the Serioso. of 1810 which will be followed by Schubert's 1820 Quartettsatz; that too will probably involve the ensemble rather than a select four - more's the pity. Finally, we hear a true rarity in Jaakko Kuusisto's Cello Concerto, written in 2019. It was the composer's last completed orchestral work before his 2022 death from brain cancer and will have principal Timo-Veikko Valve taking the solo line; as in the Ravel arrangement, this piece's orchestra comprises percussion and strings. Standard tickets range from $49 to $141 in the stalls, the cheapest rising to $71 in the circle. Top price for concession card holders is $113 while Under 35s can get in for a flat $35 for those seats still available.. But there's a lavish $8.50 'handling fee to queer your economical pitch; at the moment, this sum tops the list in add-on costs for following live performances of serious music.
This program will be repeated on Monday June 23 at 7:30 pm.
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Friday June 27 at 11 am
A short program in the MSO Mornings series, chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jaime Martin, has charge of Mussorgsky's formidable piano suite in its Ravel orchestration. For years, this has been held up as an ideal example of how to transcribe from one medium to another and the process is packed with memorable touches, like The Old Castle's saxophone solo, an exposed tuba powering through the first 20 bars of Bydlo, the strings' bite throughout Baba Yaga, and the overwhelming cascades of sonority in the last pages of The Great Gate of Kiev. Fleshing out this experience, if not by much, comes Ravel's Alborada del gracioso; originally a piano piece from the Miroirs collection of 1905 but orchestrated by the composer in 1918. All of which is very interesting if you know the piano originals of both works, although the orchestral tapestries are fascinating in themselves. Your everyday punter pays between $62 and $99, concession holders $5 less, children under 18 pay $20 - and you add on the $7 'transaction fee' to flesh out that warm feeling that always accompanies meaningless, mindless charity.
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