Eight Seasons – at the Great Synagogue: a music review by Shirley Politzer
Vladimir Fanshil, conductor, pianist and founder of Live at Yours, promised us “an immersive musical experience in the architectural marvel that is the Great Synagogue” and that’s exactly what we got on Tuesday night for the “Eight Seasons” concert.
Kristian Winther performs Photo: Shirley Politzer
Audiences obviously believed him as Tuesday was a sellout, and a 2ndconcert was organised for Wednesday.
I chatted to a mother and adult son sitting excitedly behind me, and asked what brought them to the concert. They had come from Bowral for the night specifically for this show as they love Vivaldi, were curious about the Piazzolla piece, and with Naidoc week coming up, felt they would like to experience something aboriginal. The son is a violinist and wanted to see Kristian Winther in action. They were not disappointed.
“In action” describes Winther very well. We could have watched him perform all night. He is charismatic and expressive both in his music and his body which spoke volumes towards the character of the music. His face would screw up or relax, smile or frown and make eye contact as needed with his amazing ensemble. He was incredibly virtuosic on his violin, able to whizz up and down the strings at incredible speed and volume. He played warm and lovingly as well as lusciously and softly, making the violin an extension of his own body.
Winther was backed by an exceptional octet of young string players, as well as harpsichordist Anthony Hamad. Winther’s ensemble allowed him to be at the forefront of the music and they threw the to and fro of the melodies around the ensemble with great balance and care.
The Great Synagogue setting was magical, with the beautiful lights and the lovely shadows through the Synagogue creating a warm and intimate ambience, despite the huge space and high ceilings. The acoustics were perfect.
The evening opened with Welcome to Country performed dramatically by an Elder, with a short rhythm on the tapping sticks (a traditional percussive instrument to maintain the rhythm in vocal chants) repeated to each side of the room with some spoken words. This set the scene for an amazing evening.
The Four Seasons is the best-known of Vivaldi’s works. This was the first piece we heard. It was used in the 1981 movie of the same name as well as commercials and Hollywood movies. It consists of 4 separate violin concerti (orchestra with soloist), each with three movements, written between 1718 and 1720 and is based on sonnets(poems) presumed to be written by Vivaldi. These sonnets, which were read to the audience, tell stories of the seasons with visually descriptive words like “flowing creeks, birds singing, crying shepherds, buzzing flies, thunderstorms and soft breezes” which are so clearly and cleverly translated into music. My favourite musical description is near the beginning of Spring, the first season performed, where you can hear at least 5 distinct types of birds on the violin. Winter, the last season in the work, depicts chattering teeth, biting winds and freezing snow!
Antonio Vivaldi, born in Venice, was an 18th-century Baroque period composer and violinist who was ordained into the priesthood at 25. Apart from other positions, he taught music in a home for abandoned children and wrote a great deal of music for the all-female music ensemble there. To finance his move to Vienna, Vivaldi sold his music to survive. Sadly, life was not what he expected in Vienna, and he died a pauper. In the early 20th century, Vivaldi’s music was found in attics and cellars in Italy.
The First Nations exploration of the seasons, spoken by Elder Leslie McLeod, was accompanied by didgeridoo performed by Robert Weatherall, wearing traditional cultural clothing and body decorations. McCloud introduced the seasons by explaining how there are two seasons up north-the wet and the dry season, but many more seasons in Australia depending on which end of the continent you are located. It also depends on the animals and the plants. The yidaki (didgeridoo), played so brilliantly alongside the Dreamtime storytelling, created authenticity to the mood as well as Australian musical content to the evening.
“In competition” with Vivaldi, Astor Piazzola’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, a lesser-known piece, was written over 200 years later in 1965-70 by the Argentinian composer. It is very refreshing with its mixture of rich chords, dissonance, lively rhythms, slow passages and a mix of classical, jazz and Latin styles. This performance started a little faster than I had heard before, adding to the excitement in the music. If one listened carefully, you could hear a nod to Vivaldi courtesy of Leonid Desyatnikov who reimagined the piece and included, for example, excerpts from Vivaldi’s Winter in Piazzola’s Summer.
Throughout his lifetime, Piazzola created the nuevo tango style of music culminating in the 1950s when new elements were added to the tango, like jazz and classical styles. This work was originally four separate pieces for violin, piano, electric guitar, double bass and bandoneon (a Spanish accordion instrument popular in tango music that Piazzola was very proficient at playing). It was an afterthought to put those four pieces together as one set of four seasons.
It was mesmerising to watch Winther and the octet performing the wonderfully syncopated rhythms and musical twists and turns. One of Piazzola’s better-known works is Libertango. Piazzola would have celebrated his hundredth birthday in March 2021.
The whole evening was a treat and we truly “immersed ourselves” in the wonders of such a passionate and talented group of performers.
Thanks for a wonderful review Shirley – Sadly, on Thursday the Sydney Morning Herald published a letter which was also laudatious of the event and “thunderous applause” but also lamented that prior to the musicians departure from the stage, many of the audience were rushing for the exit – a not uncommon scene though not a good look.
Not at all a reflection of the concert Stuart. Happens in shows of all kinds.