Music / “Renewal”, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Australian Series, at the National Portrait Gallery, October 31. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.

CANBERRA Symphony Orchestra’s Australian Series is the only concert cycle in this country that focuses on all Australian music. The quality of the music and the performers in this series proves the need for more of them.

From offstage, the concert began with Kiri Sollis playing the bass flute as oboist Megan Pampling, clarinet player Eloise Fisher, bassoonist Kristen Sutcliffe and French horn player Dianna Gaetjens, all from the Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO), walked through the audience ringing small handbells.

The music was by Ross Edwards, his “Water Spirit Song”, which is part of a suite from his “Koto Dreaming”. The luscious echo from within the Gordon Darling Hall in the National Portrait Gallery added so much depth and resonance to this enchanting sound.

“Incantations” also by Edwards, is a sparse piece that opens with the music travelling from one instrument to another. It soon jumped into that lively, upbeat rhythmical style that Edwards is known for. The music bounced with bird calls between each player.

Another work by Edwards titled “Ulpirra” came next. The French horn beckoned the other performers to join in, and when they did, the music could have come from a long time ago. It echoed through a baroque sensibility with modern overtones. Scenes of an Australian pastoral landscape could be heard. While it changed in style several times, it remained a sad, plaintive and beautifully performed tale.

From behind the audience, the sound of the oboe was heard. Legendary Australian oboist Diana Doherty played an introductory piece that announced her presence. Doherty moved through the audience as slow as the music she played. Then, up on stage, right on the final note, she scared the hell out of everyone by stamping her foot down on the stage, which garnered much applause and laughter.

“Monuments for oboe and drones” by Cyrus Meurant is a truly amazing work. In three movements, this complex and stunning piece for solo oboe was accompanied by the five players from the CSO. With mobile phones in hand, they initiated the electronic droning sounds from behind the stage.

Filled with an endless rapid succession of notes that required circular breathing from Doherty, and some of the quietest, slowest notes this reviewer has heard from an oboe, this piece mesmerised. The final movement contrasted with subtlety and speed stunned most in the audience.

A newly commissioned work by singer, actor, composer and playwright Deborah Cheetham came next. It was titled “Gulaga” (Mother Mountain), which was inspired by a journey Cheetham took to her grandfather’s country to climb Gulaga, formerly known as Mt Dromedary.

The tonal beauty in this piece, which was also full of mystery and lively rhythmic variation, sounded at once modern and ancient. For flute, oboe and clarinet, the sounds of each instrument blended into one another to create waves of music. Through some exceptional writing for these instruments, it ended softly reflecting the sounds of renewal.

Echoing the beginning of the concert, the final piece, “Yanada” by Ross Edwards, began with Doherty on the oboe as the other performers re-entered with handbells, a triangle and a small cymbal chiming slowly to this almost crying piece of music, which closed this concert of fascinating Australian sounds.