The Russian Masters

Violinist Ji Won Kim
WSO guest artist Violinist Ji Won Kim

The Willoughby Symphony Orchestra has come up with another thrilling, spectacular concert. This time it’s a combination of favourite Russian composers, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky, with special guest artist Ji Won Kim on violin for the Tchaikovsky.

Under the dynamic, energetic conducting of maestro Dr Nicholas Milton the Orchestra was in impressive form with a lush, rich tone when required.

The opening work was Shostakovich’s ‘Festive Overture’, (1954) with a gigantic supplemented orchestra. Shostakovich wrote it at great speed to celebrate the 37th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution and uses conventional classical devices of forms and harmony. The piece begins with a strident brass fanfare and was at times blisteringly fast. There was a very energetic feel. The bulk of the work is written in sonata form which is enclosed within the two fanfare sections and the finale coda. The strings (sometimes using pizzicato) and brass sometimes tumbled together, tuba and cymbals puffing and crashing combining with the violins and cellos towards the breathless coda conclusion.

The main part of the first half was the Tchaikovsky ‘Violin Concerto in D’, first performed in 1881, featuring guest artist Ji Won Kim. The audience was in raptures with delighted comments at interval and after the performance. Ji Won Kim wore a long sleeveless purple gown with a gold belt. Her playing was shimmering, fiery, passionate  and lush. Being Tchaikovsky, the work was reminiscent of his ballets, in particular the ‘Black Swan’ pas de deux from ‘Swan Lake’. The first movement was the most lyrical and exquisitely haunting, the third movement with the flute and woodwinds accented had a distinctly Russian feel and suddenly there is an ominous change of mood and direction.

After interval we were treated to a very exciting version of Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition‘ as orchestrated by Ravel. Under Dr Milton’s direction we heard a vibrant, impassioned score that was electrifying. For this particular work it is  helpful to have read the program notes beforehand about the pictures chosen, works by architect and artist Victor Hartman, many of which no longer exist. The work begins with the viewer’s stately Promenade, a theme that returns four times throughout the music and serves to unify the whole work. It bridges the ten larger sections, moving between paintings, our imaginary observer stopping at some works, moving onto others:-

The first work is ‘Gnomus’- The Gnome:-Based on Hartmann’s design for a nutcracker, ‘Gnomus’ imagines a grotesque little imp, madly capering, dancing in and out of nearby shadows.

‘Il Vecchio Castello ‘- ‘The Old Castle’:-Another Promenade leads us to the second painting. A watercolour of a medieval tower, with a troubadour. The music here is languid and introspective with an old-fashioned mood as we hear the troubadours song.

‘Tuileries: Dispute d’enfants après jeux ‘- Children Quarreling at Play’:-This time, the music is set to Mussorgsky’s representation of children playing and quarreling,darting and shrieking in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.

‘Bydlo ‘-‘ Ox Cart’:-This section evokes the heavy ponderous walk of the cattle pulling the cart slowly through mud.

‘Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks’ was inspired by Hartmann’s sketch for the costume design for an opera called ‘Trilbi’ by Julius Gerber. The music describes a frenetic, chaotic dance of cheeping children dressed as unhatched chicks.

‘Samuel Goldenberg & Schmuyle’-Samuel Goldberg is richly dressed, and Schmuyle is in rags . Mussorgsky combines the two Hartmann  paintings of Polish Jews into one piece of music where he imagines a conversation between the two. The rich Jew is represented by a heavy pompous theme, the poor man by a high-pitched rather bleating theme. As the work continues , the rich man’s voice drowns out the others,blending the themes.

‘LImoges marche’ ‘–The Market at Limoges’:-Next we see a marketplace at Limoges, the music depicting the hustle and bustle of gossiping women and shopkeepers.

‘Catacombae Sepulcrum romanum’ -‘ Roman Burial Catacombs’:-This spooky picture is a self-portrait of Hartmann’s tour of the ancient Roman burial catacombs under Paris, based on Victor Hugo’s description in ‘ Les Miserables’ of Jean Val Jean in the sewers .

‘Con mortuis in lingua mortua’ – ‘With the Dead in the Language of Death ‘- is Mussorgsky’s melancholy reflections on the death of his friend.

‘The Hut On Fowl’s Legs (Baba-Yaga)’:-Hartmann’s design was for an ornate clock inspired by the ancient folktale of the Baba Yaga, the witch who lives in a house on chicken legs.Mussorgsky’s music imagines the witch darting through the air in her mortar in which she grinds human bones. She flies into a forest, her hut following her on the ground. The music is subdued and threatening . Then suddenly she re-appears, scaring us again hurtling through the sky, straight into the finale.

‘The Great Gate of Kiev:-The Great Gate of Kiev was a patriotic project that was never completed. It was Hartmann’s entry for a competition to design a commemorative building to celebrate Tsar Alexander II’s miraculous escape from an assassination attempt.

A Russian Orthodox hymn is worked into the music. Overall, this section echoes the Promenade theme.The work describes the grandness of the proposed gate, with its Slavonic helmet-inspired arch and a grand bell tower by its side, from which sounds a victorious tolling of bells  (at this performance tubular bells) the orchestra going full pelt to an exultant grand finish.

This was a majestic, exciting concert. Running time just under 2 hours including interval.The Willoughby Symphony performed their marvelous Russian Masters concert on the 9th and 10th August at the Concourse Chatswood