Review: 1st Subscription Series, TCHAIKOVSKY. Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Verbitsky. At Llewellyn Hall, March 28, 1996

Canberra Symphony Orchestra

1st Subscription Series 1996

Thursday 28th March

Vladimir Verbitsky, Conductor

Mincho Minchev, Violin

Reviewed by Tony Magee

Photo courtesy Jonathan Wentworth Associates Ltd., Hyattsville

An all Tchaikovsky program with a Russian conductor at the helm. It sounds promising and it generally was, at the second night of the first subscription series for 1996 by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

Vladimir Verbitsky brings with him a vast international experience and it is a credit both to the orchestra's management and to the reputation of the players that they are able to secure conductors of such international standing.

The concert opened with the Polonaise from the opera Eugene Onegin. With it's trumpet opening (reminiscent of the Symphony no 4) confidently bursting forth, this piece was brightly and charmingly played, flowing along with minimalist conducting - a Boeing 747 on autopilot, but still under the watchful eye of its captain.

Bulgarian violinist, Mincho Minchev, was the featured soloist in the Concerto for Violin in D, Op.35. Minchev's soft passages were certainly well played, but I found his forte to be rather shrill. The loud passages in this concerto certainly do need plenty of attack but this shouldn't be at the expense of beauty of tone. Minchev executed the first movement cadenza well and the finale was definitely exciting, but still retaining that harsh, shrill sound. In the slow movement however, the audience was treated to a violin tone of much greater beauty.

The orchestra was very tight, following their conductor well who once again just kept the pulse flowing - if I may make another transport analogy - this time like an old fashioned traffic policeman; feet planted firmly together, hardly moving his body at all.

Balance between soloist and orchestra was excellent throughout the concerto and the third movement revealed some superb solo woodwind interludes, eventually taken over by the violin.

The Symphony No 6 in B minor, subtitled Pathetique, closed the concert. This was a fantastic performance. The orchestra sounded magnificent, with Mr Verbitsky doing a complete Jeckl and Hyde and really going for it, maintaining great control over the orchestra. The end of the first movement featured a wonderfully executed diminuendo featuring superbly played falling scale passages from the double basses and cellos.

The third movement of this symphony features a remarkable false ending which came off brilliantly and the last dwindling moments of the finale were breathtakingly held by the ingenious body language of the conductor.

Overall, a most enjoyable evening.

Originally published in Muse Magazine (Canberra) April 1996

Review: IOLANTHE IN A NUTSHELL, By Gilbert and Sullivan. Canberra City Opera, at Old Parliament House, March 16 1996. Reviewed by TONY MAGEE

Iolanthe in a Nutshell

by Gilbert and Sullivan

Devised and directed by Brian Phillips

Music Director, Gunter Brandstetter

for Canberra City Opera

Senate Chamber, Old Parliament House

Sunday 17th March.

Reviewed by Tony Magee

What a great idea for the Canberra Festival - the ever popular Iolanthe in 45 minutes. One lot out, the next lot in - three shows a day!

Iolanthe in a Nutshell was a very innovative production (and idea) and considering that the original story uses the unlikely combination of peers and fairies to satirise the House Of Lords, the choice of venue was superb.

I found the opening sequences with the chorus a little stilted - really just a cast going through the motions and singing the songs - but as time ticked on, the enthusiasm of the principles was more than apparent and in fact we were treated to some very fine performances from Amanda Stevenson as Phyllis (a mortal), Craig Glenroy Paterson as her lover, Strephon (a fairy from the waist up) and Mary O'Brien as Queen of the Fairies.

The actual role of Iolanthe was very well sung by Teresa Rayner, although I felt she needed to work on conversational flow in her dialogue.

Conductor and Musical Director, Gunter Brandstetter held everything together with smoothness and precision and Susan Butler provided fine accompaniment from a small electric piano. 

Trevor Kaine

At the 4.15pm session that I attended, the audience was treated to a small cameo appearance by former ACT Chief Minister Trevor Kaine, who took over the role of Captain Shaw, chief of the Fire Brigade - "Oh Trevor Cain, type of true love kept under. Could thy brigade with cold cascade quench my great love, I wonder!", sang the Queen of the Fairies, looking longingly into Mr Cain's eyes.

He played up to the humour of the piece and the whole production very well and in the end was donned with fairy wings and whisked away forever as the Fairy Queen's prize, as indeed were all the other mortals, that being the happy ending to a most enjoyable afternoon.

Originally published in Muse Magazine (Canberra), April 1996

Review: "LOVE OFF THE SHELF", Directed by Sue Belsham. Musical Director, Paul Belsham for Supa Productions. At the Street Theatre, March 13 1996. Reviewed by TONY MAGEE

Love Off The Shelf is very funny! It is a send-up of Mills and Boon romances and unfolds with two writers, one male and one female, who, frustrated with continual rejections of their work from publishers, decide to have a crack at formula writing, via a "kit" which they have both been sent. 

From here the audience meets all the clichéd characters that typify this kind of story, with their entrances being set-up mostly by the enthusiasm with which the writers verbalise their exciting plots - there are of course two stories being written at once, the clever twist being that the plots (if one can call them that) are basically the same, with definitely the same ending - no need to explain that!

This production is very well directed and well cast with strong performances from all performers, although I would like to mention Rodney Beaver, who was outstanding in his two dual principle roles, as well as countless smaller cameo appearances.

Also excellent was Sheridan McDonald's choreography, which was perfectly set for a small stage.

I must say that the musical score is fairly ordinary, in fact I think the whole show would be better off as a straight play. Still, the whole thing is supposed to be a laugh and a giggle and it certainly is that, so let me finish by saying that Love Of The Shelf was a really enjoyable night out.

Originally published in Muse Magazine (Canberra), April 1996