Brisbane Reviews

Christian-Pierre La Marca’s cello sings in a thousand voices and each has its own beautiful tone. The eloquent performances by this remarkable Rudolf Nureyev of the cello cut straight to the heart in his thought-provoking ode to the planet – Wonderful World: An Orchestral Experience on day six of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music Festival’s richly diverse music program.

Visual and literary as well as musical elements were harnessed in raising awareness about the adverse impact of global warming, deforestation and environmentally destructive fossil fuel industries.

The polished and coherent program presented easily assimilated miniatures across a range of styles including Mancini’s Moon River, Einaudi’s I Giorni and Arlen’s Over The Rainbow. The performances were enhanced by footage of panoramic views of roaming elephants, hippos and buffalos and herds of wild horses.

Wisely, the emphasis was on the earth’s beauty because the murmuration of birds, lush canopies of trees, golden sculptured deserts and the barrier reef’s colourful shoals of darting fish made the judicious footage of polluting deep-sea mining, the terrible blight of landfills, slums and choked smoky skies all the more harrowing.

The brilliance of the cinematography by filmmaker Yann Arthus-Bertrand was matched by La Marca’s instrumental genius always in a meaningful synergy with the magical underpinning of pianist Itamar Golan.

The duo shaded the music with stunning detail, the shaping of a final cello note into a disappearing ghostly whisper for instance lingers in the memory. Last but by no means least, the AYO Momentum Ensemble gave admirable support and added significant tonal depth.

Standouts were Philip Glass’ The Hours: The Poet Acts, Ernest Bloch’s From Jewish Life: Prayer and the beautiful Alfonsina y el Mar which memorialises the Argentinian poet who took her own life. La Marca’s portrayal of the Turkish saz a long-necked lute which yowled in melancholy in Fazil Say’s Sonata for Cello and Piano was eerily authentic and sent shivers up the spine.

On the day before, festival punters went on a whale-watching expedition and were lucky enough to witness a humpback whale swim beside the boat while a companion breached in the distance. The cruise disembarked at Magnetic Island (Yunbenun) for brunch at Peppers Resort.

The breakfast was serenaded by Jack Liebeck, the Festival’s artistic director, the oboist Shefali Pryor and the fascinating classically trained viola player and improvising enthusiast Katie Yap.

It was a tough assignment for the performers who played to a divided audience. Half were seated around tables outside and the rest inside the resort’s restaurant. But al fresco music making has a magical power all of its own despite the challenges.

Liebeck’s Chaconne from J.S. Bach’s Partita in D Minor was athletic and skilfully voiced and had gravitas and Yap delivered a bold improvisation on the Renaissance form of an Air while singing.

Highlights on day seven include Brothers in Love a concert at 5pm at the Townsville Civic Centre featuring the music of Robert and Clara Schumann. And, In C2 of the same venue at 6pm, there’s a literary event in which author Mirandi Riwoe from Brisbane will be interviewed by Dr Emma Maguire from James Cook University about her novel Sunbirds and writing historical fiction.

Gillian Wills writes for Australian Stage Online, Limelight, Inreview and the Australian Book Review. Her debut novel Big Music will be launched at Avid Reader, Brisbane on the 18 September. She travelled to Townsville as a guest of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.