BY ANGUS MCPHERSON
Time for Three (Tf3)
Sydney Opera House, 27 August
String trio Time for Three, the self-described ‘bad boys of classical music’, joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for a concert that traversed the diverse land and soundscapes of the USA. Tf3’s music fused elements of classical music, pop, rock, jazz and bluegrass, combining high-energy, rock-star stage presence with masterful technical virtuosity.
The SSO opened the concert with Aaron Copland’s concert suite from the ballet ‘Billy the Kid’, under the precise baton of Jessica Cottis. After a slightly hesitant start, the orchestra warmed to the broad ‘open prairie’ sound of Copland’s music.
The Australian premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s ‘Concerto 4–3′ took the audience from the prairies to the mountains as Tf3 joined the orchestra for a bluegrass-inspired concerto for bass and two violins. The concerto was written for Tf3, and Higdon combined a distinctive post-Copland American sound with elements of bluegrass, beginning in ‘The Shallows’ and journeying through the rushing rivers of the Smokey Mountains where she grew up. ‘Concerto 4–3′ opened with the ensemble using extended techniques (techniques beyond the traditional ways of playing the instruments), and throughout the concert Tf3’s approach to their instruments involved plucking, strumming, tapping and hitting. The ‘optional’ cadenza between the first and second movements began quietly, Ranaan Meyer hunched over his bass, using his hands to elicit delicate percussive sounds that gradually intensified, the music evolving into a wild jam session.
Zachary DePue (who will soon be leaving the group to concentrate on his job as concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra) and Nicolas Kendall, both on violin, showed off their amazing virtuosity, a tight cleanness to their technique adding clarity to the freedom of their performance. While the ensemble’s style coloured Higdon’s movements, the cadenza was pure Tf3 to the point where it could have easily existed independent of the concerto.
‘White Lies for Lomax’ by Mason Bates, continued the exploration of American music-making with a tribute to Alan Lomax, whose recordings documented blues and folk music across the American South. Bates’s music was dense with allusions and abstracted blues fragments, culminating with one of Lomax’s field recordings playing over the orchestra.
Tf3 took the stage again for the concert’s final act; a series of short original works and covers, the ensemble accompanied by orchestra. The creative and improvisatory approach to their pop-music saved them from being simply a classically trained covers band, and the folky style of Mumford and Sons’ ‘Little Lion Man’ provided ample opportunity for virtuosic, bluesy jamming. Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ was a peaceful interlude before a bass solo segued neatly into the exuberant bluegrass classic, Ervin Thomas Rouse’s ‘Orange Blossom Special’. Tf3 took centre stage in these works, and the orchestra seemed superfluous at times.
They capped off the evening with arrangements of Johannes Brahms’ ‘Hungarian Dance No.5’ and Vittorio Monti’s ‘Csárdás’; the ensemble taking rubato to comical lengths, keeping Cottis and the orchestra on their toes and drawing laughs and cheers from the audience.
Image supplied. Credit: LeAnn Mueller.
