Lynne Lancaster

AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA PRESENTS SEQUENZA ITALIANA @ CITY RECITAL HALL

ACO

This amazing concert was thrilling and exciting, in parts challenging our conceptions of stuffy ‘ classical ‘ music . Led by internationally renowned guest artist Maestro Giovanni Sollima on cello it blended Italian classics with extraordinary contemporary works .We were treated to a musical feast of some of the most difficult and technically complex pieces written in Italy over the period of 400 years covered in the programme,

First on the programme was the short but lustrous Montiverdi (arr. strings) Lamento della ninfa (The Nymph’s Lament), spritely yet achingly beautiful, with soaring melancholy cello.

Berio’s Sequenzas for Violin, Viola and Double Bass had percussive fingering by Maxime Bibeau on double bass that included very fast pizzicato. The insistent violin solo as played by Satu Vanska was sharp and questioning. It was a most unusual dialogue between the two instruments, the double bass emphatic and grumpy at times, the violin skittering and nervous. At one point the double bass sounds like a whale while the violin was softer yet sharp and spiky in their dramatically lit dialogue. Towards the end it is back to percussive fingering on the double bass ( including hand slaps ) and the dialogue continues ..

Leonardo Leo’s Cello Concerto No.3 in D minor composed in 1737/38 was off to a graceful yet dynamic waltz-like start.  Sollima wraps himself around the cello, passionately playing with his eyes closed, swaying with the music which is full of the sunlight of southern Italy. He is full of passionate yet playful energy. (We can see how he can play anything from rock music to a melting ice cello in the Italian Alps).

In the first movement Sollima plays with elegant, refined fingering and leads the conversation between strings and cello. A blisteringly fast solo is an emphatic statement by the cello that interrupts the strings.

In the second movement Sollima makes the cello sweetly sing its aria while the third movement is brisker, somewhat more joyous. The two halves of the violin sections state the melody and the cello has various epigrammatic flourishes. Sollima bobs and sways with the music, towards the end with a look of surprise or as if searching for something taking us to the very fast and sudden conclusion.

The Paganini Introduction and Variations on Dal tuo stellate soglio from Rossini’s Moses in Egypt was soaring, passionate and Romantic, with lots of swoops and swirls. In this fiendishly difficult solo Vanska on violin was dazzling and fiery, playing with great elan. The orchestra was obviously having a terrific time and clearly in rapport with Sollima and Vanska.

The Rossini (arr. Eliodoro Sollima) ‘Une larme’ Theme and Variations for Cello and Strings was first after interval, with its pizzicatto pinpricks by the violins ,scampering rhythms and melancholic, extended bel canto phrases. which convey the sadness of the theme, but make a terrific showcase for the solo cellist.

Sollima was sonorous on the cello, dynamic, precise and controlled yet passionately expressive with a delicate touch.

The Scelsi C’est bien la nuit from Nuits featured complex, defiant strings and a most unusual spell binding double bass solo by Maxime Bibeau.

The final striking work on the programme was Sollima’s own Fecit Neap 17… for Cello, Strings and Continuo ( “made in Naples, seventeen hundreds”), playful and vibrant. Sollima enters with his cello – which is at first draped with a tea towel and has a brush attached to its endpin. He also tries to play the tailpiece.

Sollima also at one point held the bow fiercely in his teeth at one point and plucked strings with his fingers. The work is written in the style of an 18th-century Neapolitan composer, and repeats in some ways the concert’s theme as the contemporary 21st century examined the Italian past – a jam session of Baroque cadenzas perhaps. Dizzying virtuosity and sharp spiky emphatic bowing is blended with stylish eclecticism bringing the concert to a dynamic conclusion with its frenzied exuberance.

Running time – just on 2 hours including one interval.

The ACO in SEQUENZA ITALIANA tours nationally 25 June – 10 July.

MONTEVERDI (arr. strings) Lamento della ninfa
BERIO Sequenzas for Violin, Viola and Double Bass
LEO Cello Concerto No.3 in D minor
PAGANINI Introduction and Variations on‘Dal tuo stellate soglio’ from Rossini’s Moses in Egypt
ROSSINI (arr. Eliodoro Sollima) ‘Une larme’ Theme and Variations for Cello andStrings
SCELSI C’est bien la nuit from Nuits
GIOVANNI SOLLIMA Fecit Neap 17… for Cello, Strings and Continuo
Giovanni Sollima Director & Cello
Satu Vänskä Leader & Violin
Maxime Bibeau Double bass

https://www.aco.com.au/whats_on/event_detail/sequenza-italiana

Published by Lynne Lancaster

A passionate theatre person Lynne is originally from Sydney and holds a B.Ed (Art) - a postgraduate Diploma in Information Management (Librarianship) and an MA in Theatre. While living in London ( 2002 -2007 ) Lynne completed the dance criticism course at Sadlers Wells linked in with Chichester University. Lynne has worked for both Ticketek and Ticketmaster here in Australia and was involved with the original production of THE BOY FROM OZ An Ausdance member Lynne is passionate about dance and has studied ballet and Flamenco. Before moving to London she photographed the Sydney Dance Company and Australian Ballet among other companies and has exhibited internationally. Lynne is a SAMAG member and a volunteer at the Art Gallery of NSW. Currently Lynne writes for arthub, danceinforma and sydneyartsguide.