Ode to Joy – a joyous performance
A music review by Shirley Politzer
Pic: Keith Saunders
“I can’t believe it’s not Beethoven” is how Ethel Smyth’s “Mass in D”, is thought of. She had all the musical capabilities of Beethoven who lived a century earlier and she knew how to create great energy with an orchestra and choir. This is seen so clearly in this work.
Performed at the Sydney Opera House by the 400-strong Festival Chorus of the Sydney
Philharmonia Choir, vocal soloists, and the Sydney Youth Orchestra, in conjunction with members of the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra (SPO), this concert provided a variety of genres, political comments and beautiful music that takes you on an emotional roller coaster.
It is important that Smyth’s music has been highlighted. Women have rarely been able to play a prominent role in the music world until recently and here her great music is able to rise up and be heard by new generations of music lovers.
Being a trailblazing composer of uncommon artistic ability, Dame Ethel Smyth’s first major work, “Mass in D major” placed her “among the most eminent composers of her time, and easily at the head of all those of her own sex” (Groves Dictionary 1910). In 1922, Smyth became the first female composer to be granted a damehood.
In the program’s first half, “Mass in D major” comprises sixes sections with soloists and choir in various combinations. The music begins with the Kyrie, almost in a whisper and becomes very emotionally charged until a period of softness introduces the beautiful flute solo with its speedy trills and crystal-clear melody. The Mass moves through expressive and emotional twists and turns in the Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and then Gloria which brings the work to a triumphant conclusion with the choir, soloists and orchestra in full force, together with the organ, just to top it all off with wonderful grandness.
Pic: Keith Saunders
Bronwyn Douglas, as a soloist for the Credo, had her soprano voice ring out effortlessly through the hall.
An audience favourite was the tenor soloist Bradley Daley in Agnus Dei. At the end of his solo, the audience spontaneously clapped to show their appreciation of his lovely tone and wide pitch range.
Mezzo-soprano Helen Sherman and baritone Michael Honeyman blended well with the quartet and choir.
After the interval, we heard the Overture to “The Consecration of the House” by Beethoven. From the beginning to the end of its twelve-minute course, this orchestral overture is delightful, melodic and amazing. The trombones lead the solemn and ceremonious mood to start but gradually the tempo whips up to a furious pace helped along by piccolo, brass and strings to a point where the audience feels exhausted and exhilarated by the end of the piece. The Sydney Youth Orchestra, together with members of the SPO, are to be commended for their excellent musicianship and abilities to bring out the best in such diverse and difficult music, here and throughout the concert.
Smyth composed “The March of the Women” in 1910 for the Suffragette movement, to which she was very devoted. Like Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ theme (heard later in this program), it was deliberately written as a simple, rousing tune that anyone can sing or play- and they did. “Shout, shout, up with your song” she writes as a call to arms for all women. The choir sang this song with perfect diction and strong conviction.
The simple tune for March of the Women was, at the time, in the repertoire of most children learning a musical instrument at the time. This is similar to “Ode to Joy” being in music student’s repertoire today.
Unlike the other lesser-known works in this program, Ode to Joy (An die Freude) would have been what the audience, and I, were waiting for most to simply sit back and enjoy. Here, we have the special familiarity of the melody with the orchestral build-up and then the magnificent choir and quartet singing of positivity, happiness and joy- something so lacking in our world today that this music was a refreshment for the soul.
The music of Beethoven and Smyth have been carefully put together in this program by Artistic and Music Director Brett Weymark as these two composers have much in common. There is their abundant musical capability, their strength and passion and their strong beliefs. In the choral Finale of Symphony No. 9 Ode to Joy, Beethoven gave the world an anthem to ‘universal brotherhood’, an expression of freedom as well as joy. At the other end of the 19th century, Ethel Smyth was a champion of women’s rights and the suffragette movement – “the universal sisterhood”. They both broke new ground with music that speaks powerfully of struggle and triumph
Rehearsing and conducting this concert with great skill was Dr Elizabeth Scott, a woman with vast experience with choirs all over Australia. She has held various roles within the SPC since 2008 and was appointed Associate Music Director in 2022. She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting and is also a lecturer. I think having a female conductor for this concert was particularly appropriate.
I have always loved Beethoven and his music, but I am quite in awe of Ethel Smyth and her determination to be true to herself as a person and musician. Her greatest achievement was the production of 6 operas in a musical world where very few women had composed even one.
It’s time to hear more of Ethel Smyth’s music and the compositions of other women whose music could not be heard.
26/10/24 Sydney Opera House
