MSO: Rhapsody in Blue

As you’d expect from the title of this concert, the music of George Gershwin dominated the program, and other items were chosen to complement the great American composer. British-born conductor Bramwell Tovey has for some years been associated with Canadian and North American orchestras and was evidently at home with the exuberant, tuneful music. This concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra showed Tovey to be equally comfortable with the roles of raconteur and conductor, so it was little surprise to find that he had been founding host as well as director of the New York Philharmonic’s Summertime Classics series. Indeed, this concert (which was repeated twice at the Melbourne Recital Centre) could very easily have been staged at the Myer Music Bowl – such was the relaxed atmosphere and enthusiasm of the audience. The Overture from Gershwin’s Strike up the Band transported listeners to the Jazz Age, with Don Rose’s 1976 concert orchestration allowing for lovely contrasts amidst the “rah-rah” Yankee brashness of the marching tune. It also shone the spotlight on the brass section of the orchestra, with performers such as trombonist Brett Kelly moving from band music to blues with consummate ease throughout the evening. Staying with Gershwin for its second item, the MSO performed Sol Berkowitz’s sophisticated orchestration of Promenade (better known as Walking the Dog) in a suitably jaunty style that respected the work’s much simpler origins for chamber ensemble and two pianos. Music by the first ‘guest’ composer of the night, Leonard Bernstein, served to introduce the guest soprano, Canadian Tracy Dahl, as she performed ‘Glitter and Be Gay’ from Bernstein’s Candide. Dahl has a brilliant coloratura voice that was, at times, overpowered by the orchestra’s augmented brass and percussion. But there was more to this versatile performer, as the second half was to reveal. After a brief selection from William Walton’s idiosyncratic Façade it was time for the main attraction, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Tovey revealed another string to his bow: not only is he a witty host and fine conductor, he plays a mean piano. He moved easily between these roles and, despite his jokes about saxophonists, the instruments were as intrinsic to this performance as was the thrilling clarinet glissando that opens the work. After interval, Dahl returned to the stage, microphone in hand, to sing Gershwin classics ranging from the introspective ‘The Man I Love’ to the up-tempo ‘Fascinatin’ Rhythm’. The singer was transformed from an operatic soprano to a sultry chanteuse, Tovey became a cool jazz pianist and David Jones’ snare drum kit completed a trio worthy of the Blue Note – or, locally, Bennetts Lane. Shostakovich’s Tahiti Trot, an arrangement of Vincent Youmans’ foxtrot Tea for Two was a brief, amusing interlude before Gershwin’s music was given the honour of closing the concert. Catfish Row, the symphonic suite from Porgy and Bess, was the obvious choice, drawing as it did on the composer’s wealth of influences and styles. There were a few more surprises. The first movement was a bustle of percussive activity, with Kelly’s trombone picking up the piano’s jazz rhythm, in a manner reminiscent of Bernstein’s West Side Story. Dahl’s voice soared in ‘Porgy Sings’, before a banjo introduced the Fugue, and an old-fashioned wind machine joined strings, brass and percussion to create the Hurricane. Violins ‘sang’ the final ‘Good Morning, Sistuh’ before the orchestral sound swelled to a symphonic-style climax, rounding off what had been an enjoyable performance – and an insight into the music of the great George Gershwin and the Jazz Age. Rating: five stars Rhapsody in Blue: The MSO Plays Gershwin & Friends Robert Blackwood Hall 4 November