When an audience member is heard saying (on a wintry Spring night in Melbourne), “Gosh it’s hot in here”, they could have been describing the electric “vibe” in the colourfully lit Hanson Dyer Hall in anticipation of Ensemble Liaison’s original, exciting and most satisfying instrumental performances. This team of highly regarded performers are also leaders in education and innovative concert programming, renowned and revered for musically “hot” performances.
Clarinettist David Griffiths led trio core members cellist Svetlana Bogosavljevic and pianist Timothy Young to the stage as the warmest of cheers and applause was given by an audience of musical colleagues, students, friends and forever fans. With new works being high priority, most highly welcomed and special was tonight’s opening work: a detailed, glorious and architecturally magnificent composition by Timothy Young, Distant Waters (2024). A “simple” three-note theme, inspired by a child’s song, grew out of dark and thoughtful sustained tones, becoming warmer and full-bodied as the clarinet led a pathway of gently echoing and overlapping entries, all developing in tempo and frequency into a gorgeous texture of blended and pleasing harmonies. From brief pauses and gentle silences, solo clarinet cadenzas spread with virtuosic and energetic buoyancy, nicely lifting us into an almost balletic waltz. As passion grew there was a hint of Beethoven’s familiar harmonic drive and harmonic depth, as instruments amalgamated in expressiveness and intuitive propulsion from full chords, certainly “hotting up” towards a fortissimo close.
Tonight, Ensemble Liaison and Friends had programmed just three works, all substantial grand works giving us a fulfilling two-hour concert. Soloist Timothy Young next gave us an inspiring work known for its extreme technical difficulty, absorbing us in the evocative and dark fantasy world of Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit. Young has an astonishing ability to create a wide range of rarely heard keyboard timbres, creating mysterious tones and colours of myths and legends, shadows and illusions. The stage was half-lit in a kind of blue, twilight zone, perfect for the fluid, rippling, shimmering patterns of the opening Ondine. The audience was spellbound, enjoying the variety of “orchestral” timbres, each melody expressing a distinct tonal personality, with left hand bass work emulating blended and resonating lower orchestral strings. Creative pedalling techniques brought lengthy and sustained overtones and floating harmonics into a misty, watery atmosphere.
Young had introduced the second movement Le Gibet to us, preparing us for the sorrowful and slow rhythms, describing the depressing and haunting images of a man swinging on the gallows powerfully conjured up in the music. Descending patterns reinforce the approaching finality that would come after a long sequence of a repeated veiled bell-like tones – distant, sombre and soul-touching. In the third Part, Ravel describes Scarbo, a menacing gremlin who leaps and frolics about before ultimately vanishing, allowing Young to produce further new keyboard colours with a range of percussive and pedalled string timbres, impressing us greatly with animated virtuosic jumps, dazzling runs up and down the keyboard, and intense repeated patterns mimicking the gremlin’s impatient scratching and scampering. Young truly explored an endless treasure trove of tone colours and timbres in this captivating performance.
Following a short interval, David Griffiths and Svetlana Bogosavljevic were joined by five “Friends” for Beethoven’s popular six-movement Septet in E-flat major. And weren’t these the kind of Friends we all wish we had in our musical teams: Dale Barltrop (violin), Carla Blackwood (horn), Lyndon Watts (bassoon), Hanna Wallace (viola), and Rowan Swarbrick (double bass). Again, this exciting Ensemble heartily warmed us up with Beethoven’s attention seeking opening chords, uplifting instrumental colours, refined and balanced structure, and a beautiful control of Beethoven’s sudden changes in dynamics, especially when pianissimos faded almost to nothing. With the clarinet having an equally prominent role as the violin, Barltrop and Griffiths paired expertly in a shared and animated leadership, making this a visibly exciting ensemble to watch. The second movement Adagio Cantabile showed most lyrical pairing for clarinet and bassoon, a highly expressive and impressive French horn solo, and music that was quite lovely, warm and lyrical. In a robust third movement, Minuet, an earthy and robust double bass brought a gruff humour to the music, which, with exciting triplet patterns on the horn, brought smiles to the performers’ faces. A glowing fanfare from solo horn led the fifth movement, Scherzo molto e vivace, into a pleasant canter in Springtime giving us the familiar feeling of Beethoven in the countryside and at his happiest. It was the final movement that allowed the Septet to broaden into more dramatic orchestral timbres with a solemn funeral march-like introduction, before an ensuing Presto highlighted each musician’s technical excellence. Bartrop gave us a pristine solo violin cadenza, leading the ensemble to an exhilarating close.
And the nearby audience response? “That – was – GOOD!!” Quite hot in fact.
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Julie McErlain reviewed “Beethoven’s Septet”, presented by Ensemble Liaison at the Hanson Dyer Hall, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music on September 22, 2025.
