Suites and Treats
TODAY the key to success in the arts is collaboration and nowhere was this more apparent than at Sunday’s Barrier Reef Orchestra concert, which saw two of Townsville’s major musical forces combine for a concert that had the audience craving more.
In its fourth (and last concert) of 2022, Townsville’s 60-piece community orchestra worked under the baton of and engaging personal style of leading Australian conductor Warwick Potter, and collaborated in the second half with the Townsville Choral Society choir for an evening which embraced ballet, oratorio and even a pop anthem.
Suitably entitled Suites and Treats, the first half of the programme began with the Beethoven’s powerful and expressive “Egmont Overture”, written in 1810. The clipped phrasing in this piece always presents a challenge for an orchestra’s musical discipline, and they did not falter.
The second part of the first half was devoted to familiar gems and themes from the three Tchaikovsky classical ballet suites: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and five of the best-known pieces from The Nutcracker – Danse Russe, Danse Chinois, Danse Arabe, Danse des Mirlitons and Valse des Fleurs. Warwick Potter kept the audience entertained with snippets of information about the three works, which would have served as a fitting introduction to any classical music novice.
The second half opened with Felix Mendelssohn’s evocative symphonic poem, “The Hebrides Overture”, inspired by an 1829 visit the composer made to the Scottish island of Staffa.
Musical director of the Townsville Choral Society choir, Rachel Cairns is a face - and musical force -that is familiar to Townsville audiences both on and off stage. The major “bravo” of the evening must surely go to her for her debut conducting both the orchestra and the impressive 73-strong choir.
Fittingly, the choral program began with the Handel’s stirring coronation anthem “Zarok the Priest”. Written for George II’s coronation in 1727 and performed at every English monarch’s coronation since, it will no doubt will be a feature of May 2023 coronation of Charles III. The choir was at its best for this inspiring piece based on biblical text.
The choir performed the anthem “The Ground“ from Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass before visiting the a capella gospel-like territory of Shawn Kirschner’s “Unclouded Day”. The final song for this section of the concert was another emotive choral anthem, “Hallelujah” from Beethoven’s only oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives.
Warwick Potter resumed the baton to complete the evening with a full orchestral and choral treatment of the hit 2008 Coldplay song “Viva la Vida”. (One only wished that Chris Martin could have been there to witness this phenomenon.)
A concert which demonstrated the excellence of our own orchestra and hopefully will inspire many more to attend.
Trevor Keeling
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