Music / “Ilya Gringolts plays Bruch”, Australian Chamber Orchestra. At Llewellyn Hall, February 15. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.

DIRECTING the Australian Chamber Orchestra while Richard Tognetti is overseas, the violinist Ilya Gringolts led an exciting program of music that thrilled a capacity audience in Llewellyn Hall.

Opening with Felix Mendelssohn’s “String Symphony No.13 in C minor”, “Symphoniesatz”, with a nod to the baroque, this ravishing music has playful and serious sections. The strings follow each other around in a theme that builds and maintains its profound statement. This is a perfect piece of music.

Commissioned by the ACO, the Sydney-based composer Harry Sdraulig, says about his work titled, “Slanted”, a world premiere, that it’s “a set of 18 variations on an opening theme which, as the title suggests, is ‘slanted’ in its pitch architecture”.

While this sounds technical, it is a crafty composition technique and also one that contains sensitive writing while holding fast to a bright contemporary sound. It’s certainly well-written and makes good use of the expressive strings, though at times it reminded of the techniques Bernard Herrmann used in the movie “Psycho”.

While holding some lush textures, especially in softer moments, it was not totally coherent as one piece, but still a valuable new work.

Swiss composer Frank Martin was commissioned by violinist Yehudi Menuhin in 1973 to compose, “Polyptyque”. Influenced by religious content, this six-movement work has sections titled “Palm Sunday”, “The Last Supper”, and such. It is a collection of musical images from various episodes of the Passion.

This serious, contemporary-sounding work was full of angst and despair. It made great use of the expressive qualities of each section of the string orchestra against one another, and some unbelievably sensitive music and playing from Gringolts on lead violin. This is an extraordinary composition of the highest calibre, and so was the playing. I can’t wait to hear it again.

After the interval, the “Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor”, Op.26, by Max Bruch, (arr. Bernard Rofe). Performed by Gringolts, with the ACO string players and timpani, this is a dynamic work with a strong rhythmical nature.

The German romantic composer Bruch was also a violinist, and does it show. The idiomatic writing for violin in this concerto demonstrates the violin at its best. With timpani included, it took on a much more orchestral feel. The scope of this concerto is equalled by its content. Everything is expressed with the highest degree of skill, wrapped in a perfectly formed construction with the deepest emotional content. One could never tire of listening to this perfect piece of writing, or the world-class playing of Gringolts and the ACO.

Finishing with the “Concerto for String Orchestra”, by Polish composer, Grażyna Bacewicz, which is said to be her magnum opus, is an amazing short work.

This was a night of driving, powerful music, and this concerto was as good as anything performed tonight. The music immediately hit the heights. The strong use of crescendo and diminuendo flavoured this work. The voice of the music sweeping across almost every single instrument in an echoing style gave it a mysterious feel.

The lost and off-in-the-distance feel of the slow second movement perfectly balanced out against the focused first part. But the third movement, was an attack of dynamic motion. It rushes at a listener with intensity and vibrancy. It completed an exciting concert of powerful music, and a performance to match.