My second time watching the young homegrown virtuoso perform at the Hamer Hall, plus the gorgeous Melbourne Symphony Orchestra rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite.
I enjoyed Christian’s performance with the MSO last year, and I was happy to see him again, especially in combination with the music from Swan Lake. I would love to see Tchaikovsky’s immortal ballet in full, but until then Swan Lake: The Greatest Hits was a wonderful reminder of how many beautiful and memorable melodies it has.
Opening the night was a stirring piece rarely performed in Australia, Andante Quasi Recitativo by the Swedish composer Elfrida Andrée, who among other achievements became the first female cathedral organist in Europe. Then Christian made his way onstage for Brahms’ Violin Concerto. I confess that Brahms is not a composer I have a great familiarity with, which usually wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, right now in Melbourne it is the season of hideous hay fever, and on worse days it leaves me with a head that feels stuffed with cotton wool. I felt that my capacity to absorb unfamiliar music was drastically reduced on the night, even if there’s nothing inaccessible about Brahms and the concerto’s first movement had plenty of fiery, dramatic moments.
Surprisingly, it was the slow second movement that finally clicked with me. Adagio is rarely my favourite part of a symphony or concerto, but here it started off with a peaceful oboe solo, so sweet and wistful it nearly made me tear up. Christian’s violin picked up the melody in an equally enchanting way and I was fully present and into it from then on. Oboe is not even close to my favourite classical instrument and I’d never have expected it to come to the rescue.
The rest of the concerto was delightful, though I do wish there was some kind of rule against bringing very small children to a classical concert. A few toddlers in the audience kept on making babbling toddler noises, until they got so noisy they had to be carried outside by their parents. It seems like a total waste of money to absolutely no one’s enjoyment.
(Scrolling on the phone through a classical performance is also a crime, but it is at least more easily ignored.)
The second half of the concert was pure ear bliss, because Tchaikovsky’s swoonworthy ballet score requires no introduction or effort to enjoy. It was one iconic piece after another: the haunting Swan Theme (with oboe the hero once again), the lush and romantic ballroom waltz, Dance of the Little Swans instantly evoking the famous dance choreography. It’s simply some of the most beautiful music ever written; I forgot all about my hay fever and just basked in its glory and the impassioned performance of the orchestra.
Perhaps perversely, my mind kept going back to Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky’s visceral and melodramatic horror film about a ballet dancer losing her mind throughout the production of Swan Lake, though it mostly reinterprets the original music. It definitely layered even more drama and tragedy over the ballet’s emotionally charged climax that’s already intense on its own.
