Music / “Play of Light”, Canberra Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble. At National Museum of Australia, September 21. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.

BLENDING sound and colour have yielded many fascinating results, but combining storytelling into the mix created intricate and enchanting works as heard in this concert.

With an equal balance of female and male composers represented in this last Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Chamber Ensemble concert for the year, the music crossed stories of light and shadow, explorative sonorities, the ephemeral, the forest floor and language.

The players were Kirsten Williams, Doreen Cumming, violin; Lucy Carrigy-Ryan, viola; Samuel Payne, cello; Kiri Sollis, flute; Alan Vivian, clarinet; Veronica Bailey, John Dewhurst, percussion and Craig Greening, electronics.

Beginning with “Lightsense III”, by UK-based composer Lisa Illean, this work is for electronics and string ensemble. Ambient electronic sounds echoed through the Gandel auditorium, then three string players mirrored the feeling of that ambience with long, slow, low notes across the instruments, setting up a calming and ethereal floating sound hushing human thought.

It was a surreal musical experience, like a shimmering light on gently flowing water.

For solo violin, played by Williams, Connor D’Netto’s “Susurrus”, began under the breath. Through harmonics and a mellow fluttering almost lost in the ether, the music explored ephemera through the softest sonorities. Sounding like several instruments at once, an underlying story spoke through a sonic tale, well thought out and well-constructed. Almost virtuosic at times, the great open space helped the music express itself.

Then Andrew Ford’s “Soave sia il vento”, (May the winds be gentle) for marimba and vibraphone. The pairing of these instruments will always make for dreamy music. But including a nod to Mozart for the 250th anniversary of his birth, the music took on a complex concentration of notes. Between the two instruments and this space, the sounds melted into one another.

Kate Moore’s “Fern” was performed on a bank of percussion instruments, flute, clarinet, and electronics. Through the softest beginning, all instruments set up a deep sonority that was underlined by the gentle pounding of a bass drum. Like the delicate details of a fern, this enchanting soundscape weaved an aural story of the visual and secret nature that is structured in the plant. 

The organic sound was like a forest breathing. It enveloped a listener, creating a surreal atmosphere. 

“All Air and Shadows”, by Paul Stanhope, for flute, clarinet in A, and viola over two movements began on a dissonant note that seemed to reflect rushing air. It was part melodic but quite mysterious. Not a musical experience a listener could easily put their finger on but a more sensory encounter.

The second part danced; it flourished with a light-hearted ephemeral quality that again remained elusive, but highly enjoyable.

Nardi Simpson’s world premiere and new CSO commission titled, “Winangaylaylaya” for strings percussion and woodwind, was about language. The sounds of the instruments bounced off one another to create a delightful tonal acoustic. The concept behind this piece is about the deep place that language has in Aboriginal culture. It moved like language does; it represented understanding through love and acceptance. 

New music like these works offers new experiences and new feelings. The CSO continues to do a wonderful job of exploring the richness of new Australian music.