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A good sized crowd gathered early for cocktail hour at the Utzon Room in Sydney Opera House. The age range was highly diverse though there were less “suits” of working age in the audience than expected. The Utzon Room is an elegant place for wine and light conversation before a chamber concert as you look out over the water of Sydney Harbour to the Eastern suburbs through floor to ceiling windows. A perfectly timed hour of culture, you are out the door by 7pm ready to take on more activities for the evening.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra showcase some of their best musicians as part of a series of intimate chamber concerts throughout this year. It’s a nice contrast to the larger, full orchestra concerts and a great opportunity to get up close and personal.
Host Genevieve Lang (ABC presenter) opened the concert speaking of the unusually long preparation period the musicians took for Janáček’s String Quartet no. 2. “Intimate Letters” was written in the final years of Janáček’s life and no definitive version was finalised. This gave the musicians options on different sections of the work they could choose between. They began to collate in November last year and hopefully enjoyed the process of putting together their own unique version.
The story behind the writing of the string quartet easily captures the imagination. Janáček, in his 60’s, met and fell head over heels in love with a woman in her 20’s, Kamila Stösslová. When love hits like a freight train, there are no boundaries around age, status, etiquette or the fact she had a husband she was perfectly happy with. Janáček held on to this love for the remainder of his life, writing her more than 700 letters and dedicating a number of his works to her including his later operas and this string quartet. There seems to be very little mention in historic records of what Kamila wrote back, they were likely destroyed by his estranged though not divorced wife, Zdenka. Such are the dramas of an artist’s life.
The Quartet reflects all the intense drama of his love which feels out of control, something he is powerless to stop. The musicians are pushed to the limits technically whilst expressing boundless emotions. The opening movement feels like falling down a funnel with nothing to grab to slow the descent. Falling falling… The next movement is more comfortable. The glow of springtime filled with hope and the warm clean hues of heaven. It’s almost childlike, as if a little boy is shyly sidling up to steal a kiss from the cheek of a girl then running away with a big smile on his face. The third movement wanders about in confusion and frustration. Viola and cello utter a low drone as the lead violin sails high octaves above. The final Allegro movement mixes deep, dark emotions such as fear or anger with snippets of dance and memories of the opening movement to bring us back full circle. It also features the most delicious romantic phrases that, rollercoaster aside, really sum up what Kamila must have meant to him.
The technical difficulty of this work is immense with changes in tempo and some parts as quiet as a whisper. The violins Anna Skálová (leading) and Lerida Delbridge; viola Justin Williams and cello Timothy Nankervis were absolutely superb keeping time, pitch and unity of expression throughout the work.
Lang reappeared to introduce the next piece in this modern contemporary program. There might have been some technical need to extend the patter but the audience was starting to get a little restless before the musicians finally were announced for Rising by still-living American composer Joan Tower.
Tower has been enjoying plenty of attention over these past years. Her Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman inspired by Copland gets plenty of air play on radio and part of it was used during the inaugural festivities of the Biden administration. Tower won three Grammy Awards for her orchestral work Made in America in 2004.
The quartet was joined by Principal flutist to the orchestra Joshua Batty for this work. His tone and technique are outstanding. Assistant concertmaster for the orchestra Delbridge took the lead this time.
Tower’s work was fierce, literally “rising” in many different aspects from tempo, pitch and emotion; growing more angry and wild as the work progresses. The program notes offered only abstract concepts around the piece though, putting it in context to the world today, it might be a suitable expression of the current world revolution against crumbling old systems.
Rising was well matched to Janáček’s quartet though not a complete hit with the audience. Overheard in the foyer and outside on the promenade afterwards:
“It’s not my kind of music”, “thought it would be more romantic”, “clever but not enjoyable”
The program had excellent notes about the music but was unfortunately devoid of any individual description of the players. It would have been great to read more about these talented artists. When performing intimate concerts, these players are the stars of the evening and audience members want to know with whom they are sharing the space.
Classical music programs are always tricky to curate. Works/composers might be chosen because their technical brilliance is fun for the artists, chosen for their topical interest, for their beauty or their entertainment value. There needs to be enough of a balance so the audience can say they truly enjoyed themselves and will definitely be booking another ticket to the next in the series. Perhaps the voices after the concert did not represent the whole? I guess time will tell. Either way, Sydney Symphony continues to provide consistent, quality performance at an international level.
Their chamber series in the Utzon Room has more on offer in the coming months. Check the link below for upcoming concerts.
Related links
Sydney Symphony upcoming performances: https://www.sydneysymphony.com/#calendar
An orchestral piece by Janáček you might enjoy “The Cunning Little Vixen” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a79nSbmy69U
Info about Kamila Stösslová https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamila_St%C3%B6sslov%C3%A1
More details about Janáček and Stösslová near the end of his life https://interlude.hk/on-this-day-12-august-leos-janacek-died/
Program
String Quartet no. 2 “Intimate Letters” by Leoš Janáček
“Rising” by Joan Tower
Performers
Anna Skálová
Lerida Delbridge
Timothy Nankervis
Justin Williams
Joshua Batty
With host Genevieve Lang