Critic’s Notebook: David Robertson and the Australian Youth Orchestra in Vienna

P.Sculthorpe Earth Cry, Piano Cto. W.Barton, T.A.Cislowska NZSO, James Judd Naxos (2004) US | UK | DE

Rimsky-Korsakov* (*of sorts) Sheherazade LSO, Stokowski Decca Japan US | UK | DE

Youthful Goodness from Down Under

The Australian Youth Orchestra under David Robertson stops by the Musikverein

If you are a young serious musician, there are two concert halls at the top of your list that you would want to get to play in, once in your life. If one of them is Carnegie Hall, the musicians of the Australian Youth Orchestra got to tick the other one off their bucket list, last Sunday morning at the Musikverein.

Sure, their concert took place a bit outside the season, but with lots of help from the Australian Embassy, handing tickets to anyone on their cultural rolodex, the place was very nicely filled with enthusiastic supporters. Who knows, with nothing else going on in Vienna (except touristy nonsense, as all the music festivals have started their season, maybe the AYO even got a small discount on the rental of the Golden Hall.

Be that as it may, the concert looked enticing enough. Good youth orchestras are well worth hearing in general, and especially so on tour, because they play the heck out of their music in ways that cannot be expected from professional orchestras with more experience but also more routine. Moreover, the AYO came with another asset in tow: Conductor David Robertson. Much underrated, even in the U.S. – where he has been a known quantity for decades – and even more so in Europe – despite having given his (unplanned) debut with the Berlin Philharmonic earlier this year – it’s always been a bit of a surprise to me, that he hadn’t been named to lead one of the big US orchestras. (Instead, he had a long and fruitful 13 seasons with the St. Louis Symphony and eight with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.)

Incidentally, he didn’t conduct the opening piece of the matinee. Instead, he gave the podium to the young Australian assistant conductor of the AYO, who had helped Robertson prepare the orchestra, letting Carlo Antonioli make his debut at the Musikverein, conducting the Peter Sculthorpe “classic” (almost) Earth Cry, the composer’s de-facto didgeridoo concerto, with soloist William Barton. A little feather in Antonioli’s cap and a nice gesture from Robertson. Gurgling a drone, as one does on said instrument, Barton wandered onto stage as if preparing the ground for the other musicians to do their bit. It’s a bit on the nose, as an “Australia” signifier, but so is taking a picture with a koala when visiting, yet both are still a lot of fun and effective to get the message across.

Just as a recently purchased vehicle invariably will have “new car smell”, so young conductors have “new conductor look”: A certain way of moving. Deliberate, sincere… a bit as if teacher was watching. Some never seem to shake the habit but usually it just goes away on its own. It certainly didn’t inhibit a very clean performance of Earth Cry, in any case.

More youngsters at work: For the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, the AYO brought the very young (17, for another two months) Australian violinist Christian Li with them, touted to be the youngest (junior category) winner of the Menuhin Competition for Young Violinists. (An honor he shares with Julia Fischer, 1995, and Daishin Kashimoto, 1993, which isn’t bad company.) And bloody hell, the lad can play! Clean as a whistle, for starters, a bit proper, certainly ticking all the boxes: tone, sound, gradations, a varied vibrato... After a worryingly sweet beginning that briefly threatened treacle, that was shed, too, and what was left was tenacity and determined beauty. His young music-making compatriots did they their share too, with spirited support, lovely pianissimos, and lively spurts.

The second half was given over to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade, a perfect vehicle for showboating an orchestra. And that’s exactly what happened. The sonorous opening, with depth and grip, was impressive right out of the gate. The strings: terrific throughout. But guided with patience and exactitude by Robertson, every section and plenty first chairs got to exhibit their considerable talents, with the bassoon, oboe, and cello being particularly impressive. The woodwinds, as a group, had moments in all-too-dense fortissimos, that were shrill with excitement, adding a briefly painful sharp edge.

Even so, the performance could not quite mask the episodic nature of the piece – perhaps a consequence of a touch too much diligent highlighting of individual performances. Not that it dampened the enthusiasm of the supporters, friends, and regular listeners in the hall. “I know lunch is waiting”, Robertson addressed the crowd in German, “but…” he served them an appetizer of his own making, all the same: “Joyful Noise”, an encore he wrote for the orchestra of minimally Stravinskyan, broad, charming, sometime chorale-like work with a mildly repetitive string part that sounds as if the orchestra could not get out of one of its shoes, despite its best attempts, followed by fleeting spherical moments and dabs of… maybe Reger? Fair enough cap to an impressive concert.
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