This month, with an adventurous concert program, the Australian Chamber Orchestra showcases its individual talents with acclaimed guest oboist Diana Doherty. Simon Moore from 2MBS FM chats with the principal artists about playing their favourite pieces.
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The Australian Chamber Orchestra has often been called ‘an orchestra of soloists’. This description is put to the test as each of the ACO’s principal artists steps out in front of the orchestra with principal second violinist Helena Rathbone taking the helm to direct.
‘We’ve had good feedback from subscribers in the past when members of the orchestra have played solos’, says Helena, who will be directing the orchestra in a subscription tour for the first time. ‘I’ll be playing the JS Bach Concerto for Violin and Oboe with Diana (Doherty). It is such a marvellous piece – it’s always been one of my favourites. I’ve never played a solo with Diana so I’m looking to that. It’s not only a great piece but it will be good to play it with her.’
Guest oboist Diana Doherty, a Sydney Symphony veteran, is also excited by the opportunity.
‘It’s a fantastic work,’ she says. ‘It’s just one of those pieces that is so divine to play.’ Indeed, Diana performed the work with the ACO as part of a CD release of all the JS Bach violin concertos.
I’m curious as to how the items in this concert were selected. Did each soloist get the chance to pick their favourite?
‘It was a group of us that decided what we should do’, Helena explains. ‘Each person was asked what they would like, but it doesn’t always mean that that can be possible, since it might not make a good program all together. The danger in programming something like this is that it can be a bit of a concerto-fest!’
However, Helena is pleased with the final selection. ‘We’ve got a good mixture of works.’
I steer the conversation to the degree of influence Helena has over the soloists as to how their piece is realised.
‘My view is, say, when Tipi’s playing the CPE Bach Cello Concerto in A Minor, he’ll have a very strong idea of where he wants to go, and we’ll work at it together. I’ll be there to lead the orchestra. If one of his suggestions isn’t necessarily working, we might suggest something else – it will be very much a team effort. That’s our normal style of working anyway.’
The ACO’s principal cellist, Timo-Veikko Valve, known as Tipi, relishes the research he can do before performing a piece.
‘CPE Bach often would just write concertos, then later on specify the actual instrument’, says Tipi. ‘But in three cases it’s very clear that he was thinking about the cello – so people call them the three cello concertos. I’ve played the A major one with the ACO before, which is probably the best known CPE Bach Concerto – Steven Isserlis played it with us. I really wanted to get to know the other two, and to try to bring forward the other two that don’t get played so much, and really fell in love with the A minor one. It has a fireworks character, lots of turmoil. I just thought that would be great with the ACO and the energy the orchestra has on stage.’
Tipi is also interested in some of the other historical aspects of this concerto, and speaks about the music with genuine passion.
‘He was the first one to develop what you might call more of a theme line, playing with harmonies and melodies. He was a pioneer of putting more blood and tears into the music. His music is always very powerful.’
The Australian Chamber Orchestra’s principal double bass, Maxime Bibeau, also speaks with passion about the solo he will be playing – a new work by Australian composer Matthew Hindson.
‘I’m thrilled with how the piece is going. Definitely a challenge for me and the orchestra, but a most worthwhile one’, he says. ‘I’m well aware that Matthew had a few challenges in writing a piece for double bass and strings, but he has crafted a work that uses the rich expressive tone of the instrument for lyrical passages, and he’s amalgamated a whole range of techniques for sound production and jazz-like short motifs to make the piece extremely rhythmic.’
One of the joys of working on a new composition has been, Maxime finds, that he was able to make some creative input.
‘Thank God for Skype!’ he says. ‘Matthew has been sending me ideas and sketches, and I’ve been reacting to these, giving him some feedback as to how I could render his concepts as best as possible on my instrument. I do believe that it has been an extremely fruitful relationship.’
The new Hindson work is not the only piece in this concert that the ACO has not played before, as Helena explains, speaking about the Intermezzo and Scherzo by Austrian composer Franz Schreker.
‘It’s always very exciting for us to find a new piece, because the chamber orchestra repertoire is not enormous’, Helena tells me. ‘It’s written around 1900, so it’s got a lot of very romantic lush string playing which we all love. And that will show off the whole orchestra!’
Something that Helena regards as a centrepiece of the concert is the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto, which will once again feature Diana Doherty. The work holds a special place for Diana.
‘I remember living and breathing the piece when I was in year 12!’ she says. ‘I was 16, and trying the ABC Concerto Competition for the first time.’
Diana points out that the Vaughan Williams will be challenging in the conductor-less environment of the ACO.
‘It’s not easy with a conductor. It’s not so complex, but it’s rhapsodic, and I think that makes it tricky. It has moments that are very dreamy, and then the orchestra has to accompany me, then suspend a chord while I go off on a kind of reverie. So it will require the orchestra to be incredibly familiar with the piece. Also, being a soloist without a conductor gives you a whole other layer of responsibility. For example, if you are a violinist, you can actually lift your head from the instrument, and show some kind of facial expression, whereas with the oboe, your face is so much involved in what you’re doing. It’s going to be very interesting to see how we cope with that challenge!’
‘But I’m really looking forward to the nitty-gritty of it all – having such a hands-on involvement with it. I think it feels a lot more like chamber music, where everyone is taking responsibility for the whole.’
Violist Christopher Moore will be performing what Helena describes as a particularly beautiful piece, Benjamin Britten’s Lachrymae.
‘I’d like to see it as the core members showing that we can put on a good show,’ Helena says. ‘And we don’t necessarily require famous international soloists and a guest director to make a really good concert. My feeling is that this gives members of the orchestra the chance not only to shine as a soloist but the chance to speak as a musician.’