A journey in E flat, from the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra.
The concert began with the soft but persistent stride of the Adagio of Farrenc’s Nonet in E flat major. A nonet is an uncommon musical arrangement, and the composer here, Louise Farrenc, is equally obscure to modern audiences. But this was not so in her time. There is a genial freshness in the style of the Adagio, and this is counterpoised by Allegro, which follows in quick succession. The Allegro features fiendishly-difficult cascading arpeggios for Nicole van Bruggen on clarinet and Lisa Goldberg on bassoon. Given the sprightly tempo, they are dispatched with the quickness of a short breath. A motif on the violin, performed by Jenna Sherry, yearns upwards and there is a certain felicity of expression in Sherry’s meandering cadenza.
In the Andante con moto, Tatjana Zimre stood out on the oboe. Her expression on that instrument was effortless, and never forced. This is especially important for lyrical music like this, which tends to sing, if not speak, to its audience.
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“The second movement was made for clarinet, and Sherry and van Bruggen shine here in what is a protracted dialogue between the two in long legato phrases...”
Aryan Mohseni, State of the Art (5 June 2023)
Image: Robert Catto