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Review: Sydney Symphony Orchestra – Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra

A disappointing commission and two flavourless readings of colourful and dynamic works opens the SSO’s 2019 Masters Series.
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Conductor David Robertson. Image via sydneysymphony.com.

It would appear that the intention of this concert was for the SSO to stride confidently into unfamiliar and fresh territory for its opening concert in the 2019 Masters Series with Janácek’s bloodthirsty orchestral rhapsody Taras Bulba, a newly commissioned work by veteran American minimalist Steve Reich and one of Bartók’s masterpieces, his Concerto for Orchestra.

Based upon Nikolai Gogol’s Russian literary classic Taras Bulba, Janácek’s score in three scenes is packed with narrative, superbly delineated and directed by the orchestra’s chief conductor and artistic director David Robertson. Robertson’s direction was expressive, precise and athletic, while always maintaining a dynamic drive. The SSO partly met his challenge with a succinct performance of this colouristic composition, rich sonorities achieved with the addition of organ (enthusiastically played by David Drury), elaborate, dazzling tubular bell writing performed by Rebecca Lagos and fine solos throughout from concertmaster Andrew Haveron.

An unusual layout of the orchestra was required for Steve Reich’s Music for Ensemble and Orchestra (2018) in five movements (named 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) jointly commissioned by no fewer than six orchestras: the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic. Two pianos (played by Lisa Moore and Sally Whitwell) faced one another in the centre of the orchestra with vibraphones beside them, while two horseshoes of strings and principal woodwinds formed the ‘ensemble’ behind and in front. The work was well performed by the orchestra and ensemble employing Reich’s trademark delicacy of texture, slowly shifting melodic ‘clouds’, elaborated harmonic blocks and keyboard/percussion background ostinato.  I have to say, however, that the 82-year-old composer’s style is now sounding somewhat tired, little having changed in his technical repertoire for years. The work seemed overly long and static on the occasion of its Australian premiere.

Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra should be a high-impact, virtuosic powerhouse. It was composed at the invitation of Serge Koussevitzky, completed in only two months and is full of the excitement, enthusiasm and future hopes of this political refugee to the promised land of the USA. Although the SSO’s performance was neat and tidy, Robertson was unable to lift the orchestra into any kind of ebullience despite his best efforts, resulting in a relatively forgettable reading.

Rating: 3 stars ★★★ 

Sydney Symphony Orchestra – Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra

David Robertson, conductor

Masters Series

15 February 2019

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

David Barmby
About the Author
David Barmby is former head of artistic planning of Musica Viva Australia, director of music at St James' Anglican Church, King Street, artistic administrator of Bach 2000 (Melbourne Festival), the Australian National Academy of Music and Melbourne Recital Centre.