Maria Lindsay performs Tommy Tycho’s Concerto For Violin and String Orchestra. Images by Geoff Sirmai.
The new venue for this orchestra is the performing space at the Actors Centre in Leichhardt’s Italian forum. The space and its full, true acoustic nicely accommodated this orchestra and the diversity of style within the event’s programme.
It also preserved the interactive, intimate sharing of music and enthusiasm for the orchestral repertoire which have always been key features of Balmain Sinfonia concerts.
The 5pm afternoon concert began with Beethoven’s Leonora Overture No 3 (1806). A direct, genuine reading of this piece from the opera Fidelio was imbued with considerable atmosphere, colour and drama. It was a very decent introduction to the contrasts of the concert to follow.
Next came the collaboration between the Balmain Sinfonia strings and violinist Maria Lindsay.
Tommy Tycho’s Concerto For Violin and String Orchestra, was written for Lindsay and first performed in 2010. In this programme it was introduced to a very receptive audience.
It was a timely celebration of Tycho’s contribution to the Australian musical environment from his migration here in 1951 to his death in 2013. This accessible, exciting work displays incredible craftsmanship from the hard-working and legendary Tycho. It existed in various drafts from the years 1985 to 2002.
This performance delivered both fireworks and exquisitely wrought moments of more tender lyricism. Lindsay, a compelling and charismatic performer, delivered successive astonishing moments with masterful control of phrasing and nuance.
A highlight of this work was the beautiful filigree and melodic twists and turns for the soloist during the spellbinding second movement. Tycho spent time as an employee of the Shah of Iran. This work is full of harmonies, ornamentation, motifs and other musical vocabulary the composer experienced there.
Lindsay met the demands of Tycho’s eclectic genius, bringing motifs to life with sensitivity. This is a violinist with an incredible bounty of colour, shape and powerhouse technique with which to create expressive effect.
Maria Lindsay was ably supported in this work by well-balanced and well-directed interaction from the Balmain Sinfonia Strings.
The performance with excellent blend between Lindsay and the Balmain Sinfonia strings was infectiously beautiful. I was left wanting to hear Tycho’s concerto and this performer again as soon as possible.
Balmain Sinfonia enabled us to experience the popular Brahms Symphony No 1 in C minor Op 68 live. This was a thrill and surely a rare opportunity for many.
This sprawling work, written by the composer over fourteen years, is a challenge for any orchestra aiming to provide a seamless and strong realisation of Brahms’ classical-romantic intensities.
Powerhouse divided lines overlap and split orchestral sections in repeated tests of stamina as Brahms’ expression demands declamations as strong as steel. At times not all of these challenges were met totally cleanly during this performance. Also, some tempo choices were slower than we are familiar with and hindered the complex and precise Brahmsian momentum.
However, this symphony was still very nicely nuanced. The interpretation always showed an intelligent sense of the work’s architectural key points. Balmain Sinfonia worked well and enthusiastically as a performing team to convey these gripping sections, especially tutti outbursts or moments of climax.
The pleasingly shaped second movement was a fine example of extended and rich Brahmsian contemplation. It clearly pleased the crowd of both new and loyal followers.
Balmain Sinfonia’s goal is to make gems of the orchestral repertoire accessible to the public and this was achieved and appreciated as always by an engaged crowd.
An all-Tchaikovsky concert is on offer in November when the orchestra next performs at the Italian Forum, Norton Street Leichhardt.