![]() As one would expect of a leading orchestra, there was a strong sense of layered textures rather than homogeneous dynamics across the forces, giving welcome light and shade, and allowing individual instruments to come to the fore. Whether it was the pellucid opening textures, the passionate cello ensemble in the first sketch, the delicatissimo ending of the second, or the rounded tone of the woodwind melody in the third, the orchestra impressed throughout La Mer. Rattle marshalled his enormous forces without a wasted gesture, but could still be very vigorous when it was needed, such as when cueing the multiple tricky entries in the final movement, Meister Eckhardt and Quackie.ĭebussy’s La Mer was paired with the second suite from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé for a second half rich in colour. In the second movement, The Anfortas Wound, the music reached an almost unbearable level of intensity at the climax through the combination of volume, register and dissonance, but the orchestra distinguished itself just as much in the beautifully soft ending. Also admirable was the strong sense of an overall plan Rattle conveyed in a work which in lesser hands can descend into shapelessness one was led through the kaleidoscopic textures with sureness and purpose. From my seat near the front, it was fascinating seeing up close the phase-shifting among the first violins, with each desk offset a fraction from the others. Throughout the first movement, one was left marvelling at Adams’ mesmeric play of motions, so much more audible live than on even the best of recordings. The choir were thereafter spectators until the final piece, as the orchestra unleashed the battery of sound that begins Harmonielehre. These were preceded by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon’s Tarimi Nulay, a sung acknowledgement of country which required the cooperation of Sydney Philharmonia Symphony Chorus, all 170 or so members singing from memory. The increased audibility of individual parts was crucial to the effectiveness of the first programme, focussed on French impressionism and John Adams’ sonically dense Harmonielehre. This is not the first visit to Sydney for either conductor or orchestra, but in the interim the interior of the Concert Hall has been renovated and acoustically much improved, as Rattle acknowledged in his brief post-concert remarks.
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