Tognetti and Vanska play Bach.

 

Tognetti and Vanska  play Bach.

What a delight to experience two very fine violinists entertaining a rapt audience with a selection Bach’s concertos that always move the heart strings. I had not attended a Tognetti concert for many years and it was wonderful that he has not lost any of the youthful enthusiasm and excitement he manages to pack into his performances. His dancing figures exploring the violin strings as he plays. Today all these years later it is hard to understand why the Australian Chamber Orchestra could not, not entice the two hundred subscribers required for them to continue their Tasmanian visits, much to Tasmania shame.

Tonight he is accompanied with another gifted violin play, Finnish Satu Vanska who together explore Bach’s conversations with a select group of string instrument’s musicians from the TSO. What a privilege to hear them play on Richard’s 1743 Guareri violin and Satu’s Stradivarius. Both sets dancing fingers moving with such ease up and down the key board, along with the TSO string players held the audience in raptures. Bach at any time is a memorable musical experience and along with the big surprise of the evening Peteris Vasks’ Vox amoris created a night to remember.

Vasks’ fantasy for violin and strings proved to be a show stopper. Composed  by Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, Vox amoris is a very emotional work. Vasks  not a household name in the West and it is only since the collapse of the Soviet Union that he has made an impact worldwide. His music reaches beyond simple tone-painting and reaches into the relationship between humanity and nature. Vox was written especially Richard Tognetti and his playing did not disappoint. It is about the greatest power on earth – love and there is no better interpretation about a love story than violin and strings orchestra. The wave of emotional music moves softly and slowly as love itself becomes stronger. If you are still to hear this piece it is highly recommended.

 It is always impossible to convert musical language into speech, you need to listen to the string instruments in conversation with each other, especially when controlled by two extraordinary violists. I hope this work will eventually reach the wide audience it deserves, as Peteris Vasks remarks,’ make the world a brighter place, more open to love.

Tan Dun. Contrabass Concerto. 'Wolf Totem'

Tan Dun’s ‘Wolf Totem’.

Tan Dun’s Wolf Totem stands as one of the highlights of this year’s Hobart Ten Days Festival. Commissioned by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra with four other orchestras from around the world, its Hobart performance was greeted with much delight and enthusiasm.

Based on the Chinese novel Wolf Totem the concerto for double bass is packed with musical surprises. The composition entwines the ancient Mongolian culture with the suggestive western intrusion via the Silk Road. The shrinking grasslands and native animal population are integrated into the musical score of  Eastern and Western musical traditions.

In exploring this culture, Tan Dun introduces the current crises of possible destruction of the grassland’s population of wild horses and wolves. He explores the fingering techniques of ancient Mongolian Horse Fiddle playing with modern musical instruments resulting in some extraordinary musical sounds. The Hobart Festival was very fortunate to have the opportunity to hear this work from one of the world’s finest contemporary orchestrators.   

Poxed at the Royal

Both actors & audience entered into a high state of animation at last nights performance of "Poxed" at Hobart's Royal Theatre Backspace .  To discover this little gem of a theatre you will need to find your way down a dark lane and up several flights of stairs.    The venue being very small   (120 to 140seats) brings the performance right into your lap whether you want it there or not.    The Tasmanian Theatre Co. should be congratulated for putting on this difficult play written by Stella Kent.    The play deals with the life of Lady Mary Montagu , a fabled beauty in 18th Century London, who as the British Ambassadors wife, discovers in Constantinople , while attending a "pox" party, a child could be inoculated from the disease by placing a small portion of puss into an open wound.
On returning to London she inoculates her own daughter by this method .  This action is met with hysterical reactions from both those in power and the public at large. 
The first half of the play moves between a farce and serious dialogue, while the second part brings it all together, sexism, racism and straight out bigotry all show their ugly face.    I particularly liked the way Guy Hopper handled the role of Colley Cibber in almost a Shakespearean dialogue, while Mel King as Lady Mary was outstanding.   The repartee between the two moved beautifully between humour , sarcasm and the serious.    Mary unfortunately had to wait until 1979 before being recognised as the person who introduced smallpox vaccination into Britain.