Review: 2nd subscription series, HUMMEL, SIBELIUS AND HAYDN. Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Braithwaite. At Llewellyn Hall, May 30, 1996

Canberra Symphony Orchestra

Nicholas Braithwaite, Conductor,

Daniel Mendelow, Trumpet, May 30, 1996

Reviewed by Tony Magee

It was pleasing to hear yet another variation on the overused formula of starting an orchestral concert with an overture, with Haydn's short, although not overly exciting, Symphony No 22 in Eb major at Thursday night's second subscription season Canberra Symphony Orchestra concert. Under the capable hands of principle guest conductor Nicholas Braithwaite, the most was made of a rather dull picnic hamper.

Hummel's Trumpet Concerto in Eb Major was given fine treatment by Daniel Mendelow who plays with a brilliant and clear tone whilst also offering subtlety and smoothness when required. Hummel himself certainly came with outstanding credentials, being a piano student of Mozart, then Haydn and finally Beethoven. No doubt he also studied music theory and composition with the masters - unfortunately not too much rubbed off when it comes to orchestration! However with plenty of virtuosic writing from Hummel for his chosen solo instrument, Mendelow treated his audience to something quite stiring in parts and certainly a pleasing close to the first half of the concert.

The orchestra's performance of the final work in the program, The Symphony No 2 in D major by Sibelius, was electric. This is a hugely demanding work giving all sections of the orchestra a real workout. It is also a work which builds most satisfyingly, a feature which Braithwaite brought out superbly by tempering the orchestra's dynamics in the first movement and certainly in the first half of the Andante, which left plenty of room for the real fireworks of the scherzo and finale - great work from the brass section.

Just a note on the Andante: Scholars debate the relevance and indeed inclusion at all of Sibelius's supposed programmatic theme for this movement - the fight between Don Giovanni and Christ, the forces of death and life. Sibelius is known to have jotted down notes about this subject on the music paper which contains the first sketch of this Andante. On the other hand, music journalist Robert Kajanus, after the premiere performance on 8th March 1902, described the second symphony as a musical projection of the current political situation: "The andante acts as the most overwhelming protest against all the wrongs which threaten in our time to deny the sun its light and our flowers their scent...[The Finale] reaches a triumphant conclusion which wakes in the listener a vision of a bright and confident future."

Originally published in Muse Arts Monthly (Canberra), June 1996