The Sydney Symphony Orchestra are one of Australia’s biggest performing arts organisations. They present a very wide array of concerts throughout the year. You can choose from pure, classical favourites, to new works, the full orchestra in Sydney’s largest venues through to smaller ensembles in an intimate setting. Last night at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, they presented a program one could only call “extraordinary”. There was a good sized audience including many school children which is great to see.
The evening opened with “The Unanswered Question” by Charles Ives, composed originally in 1908. The work breaks apart traditional musical structures, instead, offering 3 distinct voices which are so far separated as to feel they are performing different works. The first is the string section on stage providing a gentle background representing the routine, repetitive days of our lives. A solo trumpet can be heard in the foyer of the Grand Circle asking a profound question about the meaning of life. Stage left is a group of 4 flutes representing “the Answerers”, we might see them as humans desperately trying to come up with the right answer. Each time the trumpet “asks”, the flutes gabble amongst themselves, trying to provide the answer. They argue, become more agitated and finally give up answering. Without knowing this story, which was not mentioned in the pre-concert talk, the work appears ridiculous, almost comical. The seriousness and vigilance of the flute players caused a giggle amongst some in the crowd. It was a short piece and, yes, it likely left more than a few with unanswered questions by the close.
The remainder of the first half featured a “World Premiere” of a heavily updated work by Australian composer Nigel Westlake. Westlake is one of our most successful live composers with wonderful concert hall and chamber pieces along with commercial fame drawn from his film work including the “Babe” movies and “Miss Potter”. Program wise, it was a lovely connection to use Westlake’s work as an introduction to the second half.
Westlake wrote this Percussion Concerto “When the Clock Strikes Me” for his friend Rebecca Lagos, Principal Percussionist for Sydney Symphony back in 2006 who performed again tonight. The early performances were highly popular and successful. However, Westlake decided some major editing would smarten it up and help the work “get to the point”, thus the relaunch and new premiere.
An enormous array of percussion instruments were laid out across the front of the concert hall stage. From percussive keyboards to a drum kit, wooden temple blocks and household saucepans, the majority were laid around where Lagos stood so she could spin on a dime, changing mallets/sticks and play a whole new sound within a fraction of a second. Only a few times would she leave this enclave of choices to run across the stage to play the Xylophone or Marimba.
The work was fun from the beginning, making full use of the orchestra. The rhythms had both the audience and musicians grooving along from time to time. Lagos was totally in her element, her body jamming and swaying as she played. The work is astounding and the audience roared with delight at the close, followed by a standing ovation. Outstanding work from a sublime musician backed by her favourite orchestra. Westlake appeared on stage to receive acknowledgement as well and gave Lagos a lovely hug.
After interval came the titular piece for the concert which is also a World Premiere. SSO audiences are well familiar with Holst’s “The Planets”. Keeping the score and interpretation intact, this was an entirely different presentation. Lucas van Woerkum was originally educated to become a professional French Horn player in Holland but deviated, and eventually moved completely, into filmmaking. To combine his two passions of film and music, his graduation project was a film about Mahler which was so successful, it premiered at the Holland Festival and was later screened at the Louvre.
Van Woerkum is now onto his fifth major work matching film to Classical Music as they have become extremely popular. Usually, when film and orchestra are paired, the conductor is given a click track to follow. Although rather wooden, it is an accurate method of making sure the orchestra and the film stay in sync, much like the Marvel, Star Wars and Toy Story concerts you may have already attended with Sydney Symphony. The difference with van Woerkum’s film is that he harnesses the latest technology to literally become a player upon the stage alongside the musicians. The 252 scenes/shots are loaded into software which can be sped up, slowed down or cut. Van Woerkum sits on stage, off to the side of the orchestra. He watches and listens to conductor Benjamin Northey who is free to interpret the music at his own tempi. Van Woerkum works in real time to edit the movie to line up with this tempi. It’s a first for Sydney audiences to witness this type of live editing on stage and the effect was brilliant.
This is the third of a trilogy of van Woerkum’s film/orchestra projects exploring death. The first, “The Isle of the Dead”, was about the fear of death and featured Rachmaninov’s work of the same name. The second was around the transcendence from physical life to the afterlife, called “The Echo of Being” based around pieces from Mahler’s symphonies. This third film is titled “Loss” based around Holst’s The Planets.
The plot of the silent film (great for any country) is based around a couple who both grieve the separation caused by one of them dying (one of them on this side and one of them on the other side). The roles were played by master actors Emma Thompson and Greg Wise, both superb in sharing intense and delicate internal emotion with us as they pass through the stages of grief. They were supported by contemporary dancers from Arts Umbrella Vancouver.
One of the couple is a painter which gave plenty of opportunity to film the micro and the macro of life. Close up, watching water, paint, oil and metallics swirl and mix together was a lovely connection to the scenes of outer space we might easily imagine whilst listening to The Planets. Other times there were broad span drone shots of the spectacular English countryside and a house perched on the White Cliffs of Dover. Every scene was so tastefully chosen. The story unfolding, matched to the movements of The Planets, all made perfect sense. We viewed the life they shared together, filled with creativity, colour and material success which, in the end, meant nothing when one of them was missing.
If you get the chance today or tomorrow to see the repeat performances, it is highly recommended. After Sydney, van Woerkum will present “Loss” with the London Symphony next January 2027, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège in March and the Bamberger Symphoniker in April.
We look forward to seeing van Woerkum’s next project and thank the Sydney Symphony for co-commissioning this amazing work.
Program
CHARLES IVES: The Unanswered Question
NIGEL WESTLAKE: When the Clock Strikes Me
GUSTAV HOLST: The Planets with visual Film “Loss”
Related Links
More about Lucas van Woerkum: https://www.symphonic-cinema.com/biography/
What’s next with Sydney Symphony: https://www.sydneysymphony.com/concert-tickets/whats-on/calendar
What’s next at the Sydney Opera House: https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whats-on
