Above: Double Bass soloist Steven Adler with Madeleine Easton and WPO, performing Johann Baptist Wanhal’s Double Bass Concerto in E flat major. Featured image : Conductor Madeleine Easton congratulates Steven Adler after his performance on the Wanhal Double Bass concerto.
When you visit St Columba Uniting Church for a Woollahra Philharmonic Orchestra concert you will be struck by several qualities that are constants at all of their events.
Loyal audience members return for every concert. Depending on the event and artists appearing, different faces augment the regular crowd. All audience members are warmly welcomed, can win a fundraising raffle and enjoy engaging commentary aimed just at them.
Passionate guest conductors with Australian and international experience lead the enthusiastic orchestra and each concert’s collaboration with emerging and established local soloists. And the programmes change up the typical orchestral concert format with symphonies, concertos and small works to expand our music literature as well as give exposure composers and works seldomly including in live concert programmes.
This final point was included in the conductor’s prélude to this concert, WPO’s final event for 2025. In addressing the crowd, violinist and conductor Madeleine Easton (Bach Akademie Australia) praised the clever programming by flautist and WPO President Martin Cohen.
Following our year of listening firsts with the orchestra and combinations including lesser known or less frequently heard works, Yearnings was a treat in that regard.
A double bass concerto by Czech composer Wanhal was at the centre of this work. Preceding its impact was theatre music by Gabriel Faure (from the ‘Shylock’ suite, written to enhance a live performance of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice), surely a new orchestral repertoire gem to discover for many.
Above: Members of the Woollahra Philharmonic wind section. Photo: supplied.
This three-work programme did not offer a well-known classical or Romantic symphony to conclude. Rather we were introduced to Jean Sibelius’ lesser celebrated work, the finely crafted, intelligently mapped Symphony No 3. I am sure I was not alone in being thrilled in having the chance to meet this work, it is always a special thrill to have any member of an orchestral section breakout and become a concerto soloist. Bassist Steven Adler did this in style, giving us a thorough lesson in the dexterity, agility and especially the upper register possible on his instrument.
Wanhal’s Classical Period showcasing of the double bass was in good hands here, and the balance plus interplay between WPO and their principal-turned soloist was very tasteful and fine here. Particularly notable was the direction and pacing of the cadenzas by this soloist, and the way this orchestra picked up after the cadenza storytelling to wrap up end movement.
The introduction to the audience of Sibelius’ deceptively simple sounding but intricate texture was capable harnessed by conductor Madeleine Easton. Micro motifs meshed together and brief solos or shifts in colour were eloquent and bold where needed.
Wind and brass are to be commended on their contributions here, and the shifting, non-conventional gesturing on strings was precise and balanced throughout.
This symphony’s central movement was a beautiful moment of controlled lyricism and stillness. Discovering this work via WPO, it was a movement to immediately pop on the slow movement favourites list, alongside the Beethoven 7, ‘Emperor’ Piano Concerto, Mozart Clarinet Concerto slow movements and the like. There were gasps of appreciation in the audience around me when it came to a close.
Above: Members of the Woollahra Philharmonic Orchestra string section Photo: supplied.
This programme’s reprised WPO’s typical second half symphony to close format in impressive style. The clean drama and organic build to this symphony’s final climax was always eloquent, a forthright conclusion to a year of interesting concerts.
This was also the end to an illuminating swoop for the Yearnings concert programme. The afternoon began with excerpts from Faure’s Shylock Suite, in which the composer’s signature shapely, evocative music was turned towards the theatre. Conductor and orchestra worked well together to present four contrasting, soundscapes to titillate our imagination.
Especially successful in communicating the characters, physical and emotional landscapes from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice were the ‘Madrigal’ and ‘Nocturne’ movements. Successful right throughout this concert was the conductor’s skill at sharing momentum, a lilt and emotional tessitura able to address the passions and undulations within the score. This was very evident in the Sibelius Symphony, and in Faure’s soundtrack-suite to open the concert, Easton and orchestra spoke lucidly.
Controlled courtly elegance and precision in the ‘Madrigal’ movement was an environment to sink into. Strings and winds painted pointed atmospheres in the ‘Nocturne’ movement, carried long with detailed forward energy in this intoxicating rendering of the rarely heard theatre music gem.
2026 marks the 30th anniversary of the Woollahra Philharmonic Orchestra making music and giving its community accessible, entertaining and enlightening live music events to attend. A year of total blockbuster works programmed alongside seldom heard ones will delight once more Loved ones should flash their pearly whites on receipt of tickets as a gift to one or more of the four concerts in store. Event details can now be viewed on the orchestra’s website: wpo.org.au
