BY BEN NIELSEN
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
Bach Magnificat
Sydney City Recital Hall, 19 February 2014
The cathedral-like City Recital Hall was soon brimming with people: devout followers come to worship early music. A solitary cello began tuning beneath the rumble of the audience, musicians and choristers politely ambled on stage, and so began Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s 25th season.
While the program promoted an anniversary season of varied baroque and early classical composers, the opening performance was all but dominated by JS Bach. Fitting, not just because the ensemble’s name is derived from his concerti, but also because the ensemble played his music at their first performance in 1989.
The Brandenburg’s birthday present was unwrapped in a stately fashion with Magnificat in E flat major BWV 243a. While it might have seemed musically polite, Bach is really at his most buoyant, writing for as many instruments as possible and using a string of complex interwoven melodies. The inner movements see a more restrained quality, but appetite comes with eating, and so by the final movement, Bach returns to his extravagant self. Only the mispitching of the trumpets could mar such musical buoyancy.
Jane Sheldon’s first appearance in the aria ‘Et exultavit’ was as angelic as the place that Recital Hall resides. Sheldon sang with ebb and flow, gently gliding through the lyrics. Her ability to make oral occlusives unobtrusive but audible was a particular delight. How utterly proud Australia should be that Jane Sheldon represents our musical community overseas.
Similarly, Maximilian Riebl and Richard Butler also sang beautifully, but the standout male soloist was Nick Gilbert, with a rich baritone shining in his solo aria. A flair for music theatre was also unmistakable; entering and exiting the stage with a dramatic (and amusing) flourish, and his gaze unbreakable as he sang directly to each audience member.
The interval was broken by a celebratory speech delivered by co-founder and artistic director Paul Dyer AO (during which time he claimed, “we have the gift and power of music”), and then Suite No 4 BWV 1069 in D Major by Bach.
The audience would not have thought it possible, but the closing contemporary composition threatened to outshine the genius of Bach. In the special commission, Elena Kats-Chernin’s Prelude and Cube pays homage to both the Brandenburg Orchestra and JS Bach. While orchestration may appear to be similar, there is actually a vast difference between the two pieces. Kats-Chernin merely poses an energetic and idealistic response to the Magnificat – and with such a measured, mathematical approach, Prelude and Cube probably finds stronger affinity with the work of composers such as Glass. Why listen academically, though? The soaring saxophone (Christina Leonard, unacknowledged on the night) and soprano are utterly goose-bump-inducing, and the piece is generally so cinematic that it can, and should, be appreciated without pedantic analysis.
The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra has been popular with both audiences and critics since its inception. With the beginning of its 25th year, it’s obvious that nothing has changed.
Image supplied.
