Elgar’s Violin Concerto was the standout item of this triple bill, performed at the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House on the 1st March 2025.The Sydney Symphony Orchestra was in fine form throughout the recital, under the baton of Simon Young. With Elgar it was superlative. The achievement, deservedly appreciated by its audience, was built on the virtuoso violin of Elgar’s composition, played by Andrew Haveron. Although it is William’s piece that is subtitled a pastoral, one cannot but imagine a bucolic rural setting for Elgar. Written in the fin de siecle, the high drama of a Romantic drama in nature has long gone. Society is optimistic after decades of peace. Nature is domesticated and close to human life – a country brook comes to mind with the Concerto, but one interlaced precisely like a tapestry, of free running water, deep ponds, shady emotions and lingering wistful dreams. The violin (and orchestral) performance matched the music – exquisite, sensitive, nuanced. A pleasure that is both familiar yet strange. The music charmed, as it explored a tender lyricism that is as quiet as it is close to pure. The music was precise and so was the orchestra’s execution.
Vaughan Williams’ Pastoral Symphony (Symphony Number 3) by comparison has much more flourish and contrasts – a soft delicate romanticism, that is however not sustained. We are, by analogy, on the wings of a low flying bird, in the stroking motion of broken wings that falter as much as they rise. Williams composes on the very end of the Victorian/Edwardian age – war is on the horizon, and his landscape is fraught in its blessings. The piece is nostalgic, and awkward. Lauren Fagan (soprano) sings the emotional climax with a delightful poignant delivery from the organist’s box. What a wonderful lament for the increasingly distant reality of a secure peaceful world.
Strangely it was Elgar who resonated more for myself than Williams – despite the relevance of the latter for our current times. It was good for an imaginary work to lull us after the raw disconcerting week of world affairs that preceded. Art can hit the reset button, and conjure a possible fantasy that contests what might be disturbing in reality.
Carl Vine’s Dreams Undreamt was the first item of the evening’s program. It is difficult to fully appraise it – this new, commissioned work (done through the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s 50 Fanfares project) seemed out of place in its modernist, often discordant style, with longer works composed well over a century before. It was great to have the composer take applause – the piece is not long, and hopefully it can be heard in a program of work of its kind.
Photography by Jay Pa
