Llewellyn is a big chamber

Sally asked how large was a chamber orchestra. Fair question. The ACO was playing at Llewellyn and there were about 55 players on stage with three basses (I've seen non-chamber orchestras with two) and percussion and harp and the various brass and woodwinds. They even had a conductor for most of the time, with Richard Tognetti just picking up his Guanieri del Gesù for a few feature snippets in the Mahler. And Llewellyn is a very big chamber. Wikipedia suggests 50 or less for a chamber orchestra, so ACO was just pushing the envelope slightly. But they are an interesting outfit, nicely presented (read sexy, "players dressed by Akira Isogawa"), standing and active so presenting an image of churn on stage and fabulously dynamic and integrated. They started with a group of five players with a Sibelius Serenade for violin with Rebecca Chan showing off another expensive violin, a 1714 Guanieri. These instruments are part of the ACO mystique and it's nice to hear them (and they are good investments). It sounded like many violins on record, of course, and interestingly different from the sound of Tognetti's later in the night, but then these are different players, different bows and techniques and tunes and strings, too. Then Sibelius Symphony no.6 in D minor, Op.104, and a longer Mahler Symphony no.4 in G later. I was concentrating poorly but I did notice dynamics. They worked so well as a unit: swells were magically intense; parts moved and were perfectly defined, so the focus moved with precision between instruments. I also noticed players, when not playing, watching others. At least most strings were standing, so the view was of a churning busyness, but this openness to look around spoke to a communal purpose that you could hear in this playing. Towards the end of Mahler, guest soprano Kiera Duffy walked on as a path opened for her between violins (all the world like the parting of seas). I'd noticed her repertoire spanning Handel to Zorn and that interested me. I heard poorly from my distance, missing low notes and most detail, so little to observe here. But we left feeling we'd heard a major performance outfit. There's a urgency and commitment and togetherness here that's impressive and a musical expression that's authentic and unforced. They say they are Australian and international top-shelf and I certainly can't imagine much better. And they are sexy, too.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra was directed by Richard Tognetti (conductor, violin) playing Sibelius Symphony no.6 in D minor, Op.104, and Mahler Symphony no.4 in G. Kiera Duffy (soprano) sang in the Mahler. Rebecca Chan (violin) led an introductory Sibelius Serenade for violin.

Plumb tuckered out

We were cocky about jet lag. It hit us at the Proms. Too bad, because we mostly missed a decent concert. It must have been a few drinks with dinner, but we were out of it. The Proms are an institution, of course. All very English in a delightful, unassuming way. This wasn’t the last night with its singing of stirring songs of empire: Jerusalem and Land of hope and glory and Rule Britannia. This was an idiosyncratically casual outing with artistic validity. I learnt that Prom is a diminutive of promenade and refers to those standing in the dance floor area of Albert Hall. Albert Hall itself is now modern casual, its velveted tiers softened by green floating mushrooms under the grey cement of the dome above. Megan had dressed a little, but no need for that here. People were eating chips (crisps) in interval; no hoyty-toyty here, even if there’s some embrace of nerdity or even upper class twittery (cf Monty Python). These are people with a genuine enjoyment of cultivated music. Tonight’s works were a world premiere of Param Vir’s Cave of luminous mind which was all shivering or ever ascending strings with overlaid snippets of melody and tonality from all instruments. As I remember, the second movement featured a conversation between violin and viola (?) and the third blossomed with ideas all falling over themselves. Very filmic and presumably very hard to read. I liked this one. Then a much more romantic Sibelius Violin concerto in D minor played by Lisa Batiashvili. This seemed much less folky and Scandinavial that I’d expected from Sibelius. She played an encore of violin accompanied by strings and sounding very Russian. After interval, we heard the Celtic Symphony by Bantock with 6 harps and sounding more of rural vistas and lyricism. Then, to end, Elgar’s Enigma variations, an old standard and an apt composer for the Proms. We were nodding off throughout the concert, but it was a joy and a piece of core-Englishness of the times. There are masses of these Proms concerts and they are hugely popular. It’s summer when the Proms are out and about and there’s not a London Phil concert in sight. Worthy and relaxed.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Sakari Oramo at the Albert Hall in Prom 52. Lisa Batiashvili (violin) soloed in Sibelius Violin concerto in D minor, Other works were Param Vir Cave of luminous mind, Granville Bantock Celtic Symphony for six harps and strings and Elgar Enigma variations.