Concertos show cream of the strings
The Age
Saturday February 27, 2010
ORCHESTRA VICTORIA Eight Seasons, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, February 25 WELL established as an active, peripatetic organisation, Orchestra Victoria runs a regular series of concerts in Melbourne and country centres.This latest exercise saw the cream of the OV strings with pianist/harpsichordist Caroline Almonte working through two sets of Four Seasons: the first, that famous set of four violin concertos by Vivaldi; the second, a sequence of four tangos by Astor Piazzolla, Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas, which celebrates a year's dancing in Buenos Aires.In the Vivaldi, honours were divided equally between Yi Wang and Roger Jonsson, showing the depth of talent in the ensemble's ranks. Both kept their nerve in their concertos' various challenges; Wang an aggressive presence in the opening Spring work, expert in the rapid figuration and relishing the flourish of the storm that concludes Summer, while Jonsson gave a suave rendition of the melodic delights in the central movement to Winter.The projection of large and often relevant images supplied by 20 photographers to complement the music was not overdistracting.In the Piazzolla, little distinguished one season from another, the final Invierno Porteno depicting winter in more passive mode than its vibrant companions. The texture here was dominated by Almonte's flashy piano contribution and the easy-speaking violin of OV artistic director Jo Beaumont.Easy listening, these pieces showed the Argentinian composer in unstressed mode: simply constructed melodies, clear harmonic structures, bouncy without being too clever €” and the players gave matching, expert interpretations.
© 2010 The Age