An intriguing program was on offer last Sunday, a day bathed in gloriously warm sunshine though coupled with crippling trackwork on the Sydney rail system. It was a joy to escape the chaos for a few hours or so. The event commenced with incidental music for Michael Leunig’s The Curly Pyjama Letters composed by Calvin Bowman (born 1972). The seven short pieces were commissioned by Flinders Quartet and premiered in 2012. Established in 2000 the string quartet is Melbourne based with a mission statement to ”share the joy and life enriching impact of chamber music”. Their present line up includes original founders Zoe Knighton (cello) and Helen Ireland (viola), along with violinistNicholas Waters (since 2015). On this occasion guest violinist Thibaud Pavlovic-Hobbacompleted the quartet. Added to the mix was Chris Moore, Principal Viola of the Melbourne Symphony, also performing as narrator for the Bowman piece and the ensuing work by Iain Grandage (born 1970).
Mr Moore is quite the accomplished actor along with being a viola virtuoso, his flourishes with the bow were as poetic as his renderings of both Mr Curly and Vasco Pyjama, complimenting the whimsy in the Bowman work. His “turn” as Puck in Grandage’s 2018 reworking of Mendelssohn’sA Midsummer Night’s Dream overture had all the skip and skim that powerfully dramatic piece encompasses.Felix Mendelssohn(1809-1847) composed it at age 17, leaving little doubt why he was viewed as the successor toMozart andBeethoven,and revered by Robert andClara Schumann. Grandage’s Puck’s Dream (after Midsummer)charts much of the sprite’s journey throughShakespeare’splay interwoven with embellishments on the original orchestration. It is a vastly rich work coupling text and music with great vim and vigour on display by the FQ musicians that thoroughly thrilled this audience.
After the interval, now a quintet, FQ performed Brahms’ 1890String Quintet No 2 in G major, Opus 111. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) reputation makes him one of the three Bs (along with Bach and Beethoven) of German composition. A virtuoso pianist himself his composed works lie within the Romantic Period. He appears to have had a somewhat troubled adolescence and an unfulfilled love life. He was notorious for destroying his unsatisfactory music manuscripts along with his personal correspondence, making the man something of an enigma. Perhaps those critic who found his work overdone sensed his quest for overwrought perfection. This string quintet comes close to the end of his composing life. It is nicknamed “The Prater” (a Viennese promenade and amusement park – frequented by Mozart himself over a century before) and embraces an uncustomary high spirited and positive nature. It premiered in Vienna and was composed whilst on an Austrian holiday. If his previous work was found to be “fat and rich” then this work in contrast is light and breezy, the fourth movement in particular having a vivacity at times that conjured the rhythms found in Hungarian dances. Brahms at age 57 was around this time stepping out with an opera singer half his age. Had the joy of late blooming romance entered his world? However the piece has a thickness in part as well, sporting an orchestral flavour, so much so that in preparation for performance the musicians complained bitterly and although agreeing to modify it, it never eventuated. It seems Brahmswas to be the sole editor of his works.
If in Melbourne on August 12, Flinders Quartet are offering a free concert at Library at the Dock, Docklands. It is part of the 2018 Composer Development Program Performance. The quartet appear to be sharing the love for chamber music, as well as continuing contemporary composer collaboration.
Mark Nagle – Theatre Now
