FRANKENSTEIN!! & THE GOOSE’S MUM
Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Sunday November 3 at 3 pm
Not surprisingly, the second element in this concert’s title is Ravel’s five-part suite Ma mere l’Oye which exists in a piano duet version, a reduction for solo piano and a full orchestra transcription. What are we going to get this afternoon? Probably the piano solo version because Daniel de Borah is the only pianist noted in the personnel list and the remaining musicians number only twelve; too small for the Ravel orchestration. The group also attempts Saint-Saens’ Danse macabre, arranged by American Cicely Parnas for violin and cello; no worries about this ensemble’s cello – Trish Dean – but the violin role could be taken by Adam Chalabi or Anne Horton. Then there’s Poltergeist by William ‘Bolcome’, who I assume is William Bolcom. This is hard to pin down, as there’s a Poltergeist Rag written by Bolcom for solo piano but the advertising bumf claims that this work will be performed by a string quartet: Chalabi, Horton, Dean and viola Tobias Breider. I can’t find any such arrangement in the list of this famous American song-composer’s catalogue. So far, not so much work for the other eight listed participants. Things change for the other title work: Heinz Karl Gruber‘s 1971 ‘pan-demonium’ Frankenstein!! for chansonnier (probably Jason Barry-Smith who is listed in this cast list as ‘narrator’) and an ensemble that takes in everyone except de Borah: the string quartet plus double bass Phoebe Russell, flute Alison Mitchell, oboe Huw Jones, clarinet Paul Dean, bassoon David Mitchell, horn Peter Luff, percussion Jacob Enoka. But who’s playing trumpet? And where does harpist Emily Granger fit into this program, unless the Ravel work is being played in an unidentified arrangement? Anyway, tickets cost $75 or concession $55 with the usual QPAC add-on of $7.20 as a compulsory sting.
A SYMPHONY FOR WINDS
Queensland Symphony Orchestra Studio
Thursday November 7
This evening opens with one of Richard Strauss’s later works, the so-called Symphony for Winds No. 2 in E flat of 1944/5, sub-titled (by the composer) ‘Happy workshop’. The more constipated among us call it the Sonatina No. 2, but it’s of a substantial length and sits in happy comparison alongside Stravinsky’s 1920 briefer essay with similar participants but also involving a slew of brass. Strauss involves 16 instruments: pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, then four horns, a contra-bassoon, and five clarinets – an E flat, two B flats, a basset horn and a bass clarinet. In terms of time, it’s the longest work on the program. Then a complete change of personnel for Penderecki’s 1961 Polymorphia for 48 strings (24 violins and 8 of everybody else) which could probably be the most advanced music that the QSO has played all year: a splendid sample of graphic notation and a test of Umberto Clerici‘s directional powers. This is followed by British rock guitarist Jonny Greenwood‘s 2011 tribute 48 Responses to Polymorphia which can last either 15 or 19 minutes, depending on the number of movements attempted which will in turn determine whether all 48 players need their own pacay bean shakers. Well, to be fair, it’s not a tribute but a spring-board for an uninspired and unadventurous essay in harmonic conservatism. But that’s just my opinion; listen for yourself and have that finding reinforced. Tickets range from $79 for an adult to $35 for a student or child, with the QSO’s own outrageous $7.95 surcharge on every order.
This program will be half-repeated on Saturday November 9 at 3 pm as the Penderecki and Greenwood spin-off disappear to be replaced by Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings to ensure an afternoon of harmonic emulsion. You’ll be happy to learn that the ticket prices don’t vary; nor does that over-ripe excessive booking fee.
SCOTLAND UNBOUND
Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Monday November 11 at 7 pm
Just as the Queensland Symphony Orchestra is finishing up this month, so too is Sydney’s own ACO ending its year with this tour fronted by Scotch-Japanese guitarist Sean Shibe who is going to treat us to a long belt of Hibernian musical craft. With ACO artistic director Richard Tognetti leading the string ensemble, Shibe starts off on a normal classical (acoustic?) guitar, working through some traditional Scottish lute solos collected by the 17th century aristocrat Lady Margaret Wemyss, about whom nobody seems to know anything except her parentage and that she died aged 18. We rush forward to From Galloway by contemporary Scot James MacMillan; this was originally a two-minute clarinet solo from 2000, here transcribed by Shibe. Who continues with a suite of folk songs – could be anything – before we enjoy a new commission from Canadian-born writer Cassandra Miller for guitar and strings. Then Shibe switches to his electric instrument for Lad by American academic and co-founder of the Bang on a Can organization, Julia Wolfe; this is another transcription from the 2007 original that asked for nine bagpipes. Following which it’s over to Irish composer David Fennessy for his Hirta Rounds of 2015 involving nine violins, three violas, three cellos and a double bass; this memorialises a group of now-abandoned islands in Scotland’s St. Kilda archipelago. Like the Miller and Wolfe compositions, Hirta Rounds is receiving its Australian premiere across Shibe’s tour. To end, the electric instrument returns for some selections from another Canadian-Scot: Martyn Bennett’s 1997 nine-track album Bothy Culture which is about all I’ve heard from this musician who died aged 33 in 2005. It’s another arrangement for guitar and strings, but there’s no indication who put this set together. Tickets can be as cheap as $25 for the lucky young and move up to $129 for the affluent old, always remembering that QPAC $7.20 surcharge for exercising your attendance prerogative.
VIRGILIO MARINO
Opera Queensland Studio, 149 Grey St., South Bank
Friday November 15 at 7 pm
Here, you take things on trust – not my favourite position. Virgilio Marino is a well-known Queensland tenor; probably less famous than Rosario La Spina but working in the tradition of local legend Donald Smith. I heard Smith in his prime, and La Spina (probably) in his; Marino I’ve yet to come across. Anyway, this occasional recital for the state opera company pairs him with Alex Raineri, so you know the accompaniments will be informed and supportive. But what’s he going to sing? According to the few lines of OQ site information, we’ll hear his ‘favourite arias and songs’ These could include La donna e mobile, Questa o quella and Parmi veder le lagrime because the most important role he has sung for our national company is the Duke of Mantua. Still, he’s performed a host of major roles for Opera Queensland – Don Ottavio, Rodolfo, Nemorino, Pinkerton, Almaviva and Alfredo. Those characters are entrusted with a wealth of arias; as for his ;songs;, I’ve no idea. The event lasts for an hour and you can attend it for $65 full price, $59 if you’re a student or concession-holder (whoopee-do) and a child gets in for $33. As far as I can tell, there’s no charge for using a credit card.
This recital will be repeated on Saturday November 16 at 2 pm but don’t bother: this hearing is sold out. Mind you, there aren’t many seats in the Studio to start off with – a couple of hundred at most.
UMBERTO & NATSUKO
Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Friday November 15 at 7:30 pm
This program is being advertised as the season closing gala and all stops are out, as they say in rugby. The QSO chief conductor Umberto Clerici is conducting two overtures and Strauss’ Four Last Songs, but he’s also returning to his instrument-wielding days and partnering the orchestra’s concertmaster, Natsuko Yoshimoto, in the radiant Double Concerto by Brahms. I, for one, can’t get enough of this masterpiece, which is something of a rarity; the last time I think it was played in Brisbane was when the ACO’s Richard Tognetti and Timo Veikko-Valve gave a dazzling performance about 4 or 5 years ago. So, here we are again with expert soloists and a chance to enjoy the score’s rolling grandeur. But wait: there’s more. Clerici conducts Schubert’s Rosamunde Overture which is no such thing but is as joyfully exuberant (when it gets over its initial solemnity) as the Symphony No. 5. This makes for an amiable if irrelevant preface to the Brahms concerto. For the night’s second half, we begin with Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchman which also sits at odds with the Strauss songs, here sung by soprano Eleanor Amy Lyons. What’s the link between the opera’s youthful wildness or heaped-up tension and the intensely sad final fruits of a resigned and near-disgraced old age? Well, it’s an end-of-term celebration and the aim is clearly to drench listeners in the soporific. Top adult price is $135; children’s tickets are $35 each and there’s plenty of options in between, if no escaping the $7.20 add-on for using your credit card.
This concert will be repeated on Saturday November 16 at 1:30 pm.
MUSICA ALCHEMICA
Musica Viva Australia
Queensland Conservatorium Theatre, South Brisbane
Wednesday November 20 at 7 pm
Last Brisbane cab off the rank for this organization in 2024 is an ensemble put together by Spanish-born violinist Lina Tur Bonet. In fact, there are only three other persons associated on this tour with the metal-transforming ensemble: baroque cello Marco Testori, archlute Giangiacomo Pinardi, and harpsichord Kenneth Weiss. The group has been a mobile one over the years and Bonet has collaborated with Testori and Weiss on some tracks from her records. Most of the 10-part program being presented tonight has featured on these CDs, like the two Biber Mystery Sonatas (Nos. 1 and 10), Westhoff’s Imitatione del liuto, Schmelzer’s Sonata No. 4, the Corelli G minor Sonata and the concluding D minor Sonata from his Op. 5 set, and (I suspect) the Sonata No. 2 from Cima’s Concerti Ecclesistici. The remaining three elements will be Muffat’s G minor Passacaglia for solo harpsichord, a Telemann cello sonata in D Major, and Piccinini’s Toccata (which one?). Entry for adult best seats costs $115; student rush tickets are $15 anywhere in the hall. Once again, Musica Viva stands tall among this city’s entrepreneurs by not adding on booking charges.
CINEMATIC
Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Friday November 22 at 7:30 pm
Nicholas Buc is back to direct this 13-part sequence of soundtrack extracts from films known and unknown – to me. As usual, a lot of composers appear in the lists – two of them get a double serving – but I wonder how enjoyable the experience is if you’re left to summon up the visual recollections in your mind’s eye; it makes for a considerable and lengthy series of mental gymnastics. Proceedings begin with Danny Elfman‘s music for Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, from which I recall only Jack Nicholson’s outrageously prominent Joker. A bit of Australiana follows with something from Caitlin Yeo‘s Ballarat-celebrating New Gold Mountain TV series score of 2021 (not actually cinematic but what’s in a name?). We can relish Carl Davis’ theme for the 1995 Pride and Prejudice TV adaptation, notable for Colin Firth’s totally unnecessary swimming exploits. Joe Hisaishi‘s 2001 score for Spirited Away is represented by One Summer’s Day; Hans Zimmer is honoured by a suite from his 1994 The Lion King score and later his music for Interstellar of 2014; John Williams also manages a double with his Superman march of 1978 and the theme from the original 1993 Jurassic Park. Continuing the TV encroachment, we hear another suite, this one by John Lunn for the Downton Abbey series that kicked off in 2010. Then a true blast from the past in Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, presumably included because of its use in the 1940 Disney Fantasia film starring Mickey Mouse and Leopold Stokowski shaking hands in a prodigious feat of cinematic legerdemain. John Powell is represented by part of what I assume is his music for the original 2010 How to Train Your Dragon which I’ve not encountered (probably because of my age-group, that being over 10). A confusing extract comes next from Alan Silvestri with both a promised suite from his Forrest Gump score of 1994 and a focus on the composer’s Feather Theme; means nothing to me because I gave up on Tom Hanks after his prissiness when faced with Ricky Gervais’ humour at the Oscars. To end, some Howard Shore in the form of The Lighting of the Beacons (the horns of Rohan loudly blowing) extracted from the last film in 2003 of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Pianist Daniel Le is soloist but I don’t know a lot of this music so can’t tell in which parts he takes on prominence. Tickets range from top adult of $135 to a child costing $35 and you can eschew your Coke and popcorn bucket as you have to find $7.20 each order for the sake of QPAC’s accounting woes.
This program will be repeated on Saturday November 23 at 1:30 pm and at 7:30 pm. Prices for entry appear to be the same whenever you go.
BEETHOVEN’S ODE TO JOY
Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Thursday November 28 at 7:30 pm
What’s puzzling about this reading of the mighty Symphony No. 9 is its projected length: 1 hour 25 minutes – and an interval is scheduled. Your average performance time is about 65-6 minutes. If you insert a 20-minute interval, you’d have to assume that the work is going to be cut in half, so that we go out for a drink between scherzo and adagio. Can’t see it myself: chief conductor Umberto Clerici plays his Mahler symphonies here straight through, so he wouldn’t be splitting up the more digestible Beethoven, would he? It could detract significantly from the vital experience of hearing the sequence of four movements, rather than just the over-used finale. Clerici’s four soloists are soprano Eleanor Amy Lyons (fresh from negotiating the Four Last Songs by Strauss a fortnight ago), mezzo Ashlyn Tymms, tenor Andrew Goodwin (that’s a brave sound to hear in the Froh variant when we go all Turkish), and bass Samuel Dundas. The Brisbane Chamber Choir will be prepared by director Graeme Morton. Tickets range from a good adult seat for $135 to a child being lucky enough to enjoy the experience for $35. And you won’t forget the joyful privilege of shelling out $7.20 an order to keep the QPAC financial team chuckling in an abundance of fiscal Freude.
This program will be repeated on Friday November 29 at 7:30 pm and on Saturday November 30 at 1:30 pm. No price reduction for the matinee.
O'Connell the Music 