A quirky, but ultimately uplifting evening of unexpected festive delights.

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre
December 6, 2014

For the uninitiated, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Noël! Noël! concert series is a strange journey encompassing both the sublime and the ridiculous. Immediately noticeable on stage was a laptop beside a music stand, and a synthesizer alongside a harpsichord. Such a visual dichotomy set the tone for the evening, which could almost be described as performance art rather than simply a conventional concert.

Director Paul Dyer brims with enthusiasm and energy, and seemed to enjoy conducting his musicians almost as much as he enjoyed anticipating the surprise of the audience at every unexpected turn of the evening. The program opened with delicious choral music by 17th-century Andalusian composer Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, faultlessly and beautifully performed. The following Come Down, O love Divine by Vaughan Williams and arranged by saxophonist Christian Forshaw was a highlight, featuring a gorgeous solo from soprano Anna Sandström (who, unfortunately, was not given credit in the program aside from being listed as a chorister), and saxophonist Christina Leonard. Thus far, just beautiful music, and nothing too out of the ordinary for a traditional Christmas concert at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

Cornettist Matthew Manchester delighted with the Divisions on Ancient Carols, and Bach’s Concerto in C minor BWV 1060 was mildly unusual for its substitution of saxophone instead of the expected oboe. Soprano and bandura virtuoso Larissa Kovalchuk captivated the audience with hypnotically beautiful traditional Ukrainian music, before dazzling us with her unexpectedly penetrative and soulful voice in Vladimir Vavilov’s Ave Maria. Then the surprises began. As Kovalchuk left the stage, a bizarre techno beat started pulsating from speakers dotted around the auditorium, and Dyer switched from conductor mode to DJ. I almost expected rave lights and a disco ball to descend from the ceiling. Mais non, this was simply all part of Alice Chance’s unusual choral arrangement of the Vavilov. I worked hard to suppress the urge to giggle at such an off-piste moment of music making, but normality was soon restored with the choir’s breathtaking rendition of Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei.

For all the idiosyncrasies of the concert, Paul Dyer certainly does know how to elicit an amazing sound from his instrumentalists and singers, no better demonstrated than in the pseudo-folk arrangement of Catalani’s famous aria Ebben! Ne andrò lontana from La Wally. Led by Sandström, a group of sopranos made their way to the front of the stage in order to perform this quirky version of an unquestionably gorgeous piece of music, which neither needs nor deserves to be rearranged (read: ‘dumbed-down’) for any concert, classical or otherwise. Nonetheless, the women sounded superb, demonstrating a warm vocal blend and fine dynamic variation.

Dyer’s arrangement of Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas deserves a special mention for its pure eccentricity. I never could’ve imagined this schmaltzy American Christmas song being performed in concert at the Melbourne Recital Centre with harpsichord accompaniment, and it was hard not to be seduced by its charm. The concluding O Come All Ye Faithful, much like the earlier Silent Night (performed in no less than three languages) was spirited and beautiful enough to warm the heart of even this particular scrooge, who entered the MRC feeling skeptical but left craving eggnog and mince pies. 

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