AUSTRALIAN ROMANTIC AND CLASSICAL ORCHESTRA: ‘UNFINISHED ROMANCE’ @ CITY RECITAL HALL

A joyous celebration of Rossini and Schubert by the formidable Australian Romantic and Classical orchestra performed on dynamic period instruments.

The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO) which specialises in Historically Informed Performance or ‘HIP’ – performed its second concert in the 2017 concert season. A superb Romantic and Classical program of Gioachino Rossini and Franz Schubert first time performed on beautiful period instruments in the perfectly intimate City Recital Hall.    

Sadly Richard Gill AO was unable to conduct this night’s performance due to his sudden indisposition. He was replaced on very short notice by the talented guest concertmaster Jakob Lehmann. We sensed from the start that we were in very capable hands. His passion and leadership shone through navigating the orchestra to its splendid finale.

Lehmann is currently concertmaster of the wonderful Anima Eterna Brugge and one of his chief interests is period performance, mostly of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, aptly stepping into Richard Gill’s significant musical shoes. Kudos to Lehmann for having lead ARCO to such a fine performance.  

The evening opened with Rossini, a giant of the Italian opera world and his all too familiar Opera buffa ‘The Barber of Seville Overture.’ In the usual Rossini style this had been recycled from two earlier Rossini Operas. It was beautifully played along with the Italian Girl in Algiers Overturelater. This Overture began with a slow introduction that featured an ornamental almost solo for oboe followed by an allegro with a main theme in the winds. A lively catchy tune played by the oboe, then flute with final pulse-quickening episodes that took off which got faster and louder (crescendo) as it goes.

Rossini was known as ‘Signor Crescendo’ i.e. highly skilled with his ever growing use of crescendos, thickening texture and layered melodies. This was handled well by this Orchestra clearly coping with Rossini’s mastery of instrumentation demands.

Next followed 3 Rossini Arias superbly sung by mezzo soprano Fiona CampbellUna Voce poco fa: Io sono docile’ from ‘Barber of Seville’, ‘Cruda Sorte! Amor tiranno! from ‘The Italian Girl in Algiers’ and ‘Nacqui all’affanno; Non Piu mesta’ from ‘Cinderella’. She charmed and captured the audience with her joyful transitions from Rosina to Isabella and Cinderella and looked lovely in her sequins.

Rossini wrote beautiful and catchy melodies, often with fiendishly difficult embellishments for his singers to perform.  Campbell handled these well, producing a smoothly modulated and thoroughly pleasing sound from the deep chest register up to the highest bell-like tones. She’s an actor of charm and comic skills as well.

The audience was delighted when she propelled a paper aeroplane (which she had masterly made up) to the audience. Her perfectly timed placement of her tiara transforming her into ‘Cinderella’ was a delight along with the composer’s demanding vocal ornamentation

Second half followed with the Schubert Program. Unlike Rossini who achieved great popularity, fame and wealth in his lifetime Schubert struggled to achieve recognition (other than a small circle of admirers), he died at a young age. Interest in his work grew significantly in the decades following his death and he is now ranked amongst the greatest composers of the late Classical and early Romantic period.

First played was Schubert’s Overture in C minor D.8 for Strings finishing with Symphony No. 8 in B Minor D.759 otherwise known as the ‘Unfinished’ Symphony. Schubert composed his Overture in C minor at a very young age for a string quartet probably for members of his family or inner circle. It’s beautifully written with some lovely melodies and rich tonal quality well suited to period instruments.

Finally the “Unfinished” Symphony is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the evening. The raw, dark colors of ARCO immediately created a gripping, intense mood (especially the low strings, the oboe and the trombones sound tremendous here) that pervaded the whole work. Lehmann alternated with a convincing, firm pace and a good deal of expressive flair, the conflicting emotional outbursts in the two movements were rendered to magnificent effect.

Overall a splendid musical evening performed by a wonderful Orchestra celebrating Rossini and Schubert, two composers whose treatment of the voice was diametrically opposed but who brought melodic writing to new heights.

The concert took place at the City Recital Hall on the 20th May.

Be sure to catch ARCO’s next concert” REVOLUTIONARY ROMANCE -SPOHR & MOZART” on Sunday 17th September at City Recital Hall.