Image: Baroque by Candlelight at St George’s Cathedral. Photograph via Perth Symphony Orchestra.
Perth Symphony Orchestra wisely chose St George’s Cathedral for this evocative concert, which featured, for the most part, works of Bach, Handel and their contemporaries. So it was indeed ‘Baroque’ and yes, it also featured candles in Menora style holders. A lovely atmosphere, made even more so by clever and colourful projections onto the walls, and occasionally onto the performers. The program was in three sections, each with three items. All the items featured soloists with a remarkable range of instruments.
And excellent items they were. Firstly, a very young gentleman, Joshua Crestwell, winner of the Arts in focus Musical Scholarship at the recent Joondalup Eisteddfod, gave us a fine rendition of a selection from JS Bach’s Partita No.3 in E major, transposed for, of all things, the banjo! This work features some technical difficulties that might faze many older musicians, but young Crestwell took them in his stride.
The orchestra’s first violin, Paul Wright, took the floor with JS Bach’s Violin Concerto in E Major. A confident and experienced musician, Wright can always be counted on to give a professional, expressive performance, as he did here.
The third item was cleverly chosen. JS Bach’s first Prelude of the 48 Preludes and Fugues is a relatively simple-looking piece, but like many such, it has subtleties that can only be appreciated after considerable practice. James Huntingford gave a lovely rendition of the work. As Bach penned it, there is no singable melody – but Gounod found one lurking in the depths, and thus gave us his famous Ave Maria. When Huntingford finished his solo, Prudence Saunders sang the Ave with a lovely simplicity and purity of tone, accompanied by the orchestra.
A pleasant interlude for the first course of supper followed – a hearty, warming serve of chicken and thyme casserole. (As a vegetarian, I did a bit of trading meat for vegetables!) Thus armed against the wintry weather and the pangs of hunger, we proceeded to enjoy the second section of the program.
This section was devoted to works by three contemporaries of JS Bach. Neruda, Telemann and Handel. starting with Neruda’s Trumpet Concerto in E flat major, ably presented by Jenny Coleman and the orchestra. For a music-lover of my age, it is a treat to see a woman playing a brass instrument. It simply was not done, when I was a girl and studying at Sydney Conservatorium. There were certain areas of music that were not open to women in those days – conducting was one, playing brass instruments was another, directing of performances was a third. A fourth – very few women played the organ except, perhaps in non-conformist churches. PSO and its offspring, Perth Chamber Orchestra, are living proof that women can play any instrument they fancy, and conduct, too, as Jessica Gethin proves at every production by either group. And, of course, the company’s producer is a woman, too – Bourby Webster.
Women were featured in the other two items of this bracket – Katherine Potter was soloist in Telemann’s Viola Concerto, and for the last item in the bracket, Handel’s ‘Let the Bright Seraphim’ from his oratorio/opera Samson, Prudence Sanders and Jenny Coleman were front and centre. The conversation between the soprano and the trumpet was utterly lovely.
Time for desert! Pleasantly replete on meringue fruit compote, we settled back for the closing bracket. It was something of a mixed bag, in contrast to the other sections. Even so, we started with a work by a very early Baroque composer, Kapsberger.
In contrast to Bach and the other later Baroque composers, Kapsberger composed for plucked instruments, including the lute and the theorbo, a kind of ‘super-lute’, whose tone differs from that of the normal lute. Aidan Deasy made a magnificent job of the Toccata Arpeggiata for Theorbo. This instrument looks somewhat unwieldy – so long, one would imagine that its player would need a removal van to transport it! Nevertheless, the theorbo’s unique characteristics have given it a new rise in popularity in the last few decades.
Back to JS Bach for the second number! Another young performer, boy soprano Lukas Steinwandel, gave us a touching rendition of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Cantata BVW 147). I suspect we might not have Luke’s voice much longer – if it is going to break at all it will be soon, and then Perth will have a fine tenor or light baritone instead. I’ll take the opportunity to mention here the child actors who came in to entertain us several times between items. Many thanks to Alyssa, Anthony, Christopher, Daisy, Elizabeth, Felix, Hamish – and not forgetting the two Pheobes!
The final number was Nonet for Strings #2 by modern Finnish composer Mustonen. There are four movements – Inquieto, Allegro Impetuoso, Adagio and Vivacissimo, and each lived up to its name. Despite the hour, the Perth Chamber Orchestra ended the program in fine fettle and good spirits.
We are incredibly lucky in Perth – a city of just over two million people – to have such a vast array of talent, and people such as Bourby Webster with the forethought and vision to ensure that professional musicians and other performers have outlets for their amazing talents. Until a year or two ago, I only rarely gave any performance five stars. Just lately, I seem to give nothing else! So …
5 stars out of 5Baroque by Candlelight
Producer: Bourby Webster
Co-Artistic Directors: Jessica Gethin and Paul Wright
Projection: VJ Zoo
