Given that 2025 marks the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth, an important inclusion in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s “Joined with Gold” program was La Valse. Composed in 1919-20, Ravel hoped that he might tempt Sergei Diaghilev to renew the collaboration – and success – the pair had enjoyed with Daphnis and Chloe some ten years earlier. That was not to be, however, and La Valse came into the repertoire as a concert piece.
Ravel’s performance notes set the scene quite precisely: eddying clouds encircling an imperial court, circa 1855. The clouds – a mysterious rumble emanating from the double basses – ultimately disperse to reveal an immense hall, filled with dancers whose whirling figures are gloriously illuminated by a blaze of chandeliers.
Ravel’s “valse”, however, is far more than a traditional Viennese waltz. The dance is constantly interrupted, with moments of extreme grace and warmth punctuated by dramatic climaxes. There are, we were told in the pre-concert talk, diverging opinions as to whether La Valse takes a positive or dystopian view. In this performance, Maestro Martìn and the orchestra captured both the manic energy of the dance macabre and the carefree joie de vivre of the dance.
It might be thought that a performance of La Valse, being such a well-known work, would hold no surprises, but Maestro Martìn and the MSO infused this concert staple with such charm, energy and grace that it felt like the music was newly minted. Ravel’s orchestration uses each section of the orchestra to maximum effect, and in this performance showcased the MSO’s depth of talent. Here, the warm and delicate string tone; there, flounces and bursts of colour in the winds and percussion.
Liza Lim is the MSO’s 2025 Composer in Residence, and “Joined with Gold” presented the Australian premiere of her new cello concerto, A Sutured World, featuring the stellar international cellist, Nicolas Altstaedt. It was Altstaedt who approached Lim to write this concerto.
A Sutured World (2024) continues Lim’s long fascination with string in all its manifestations. In this work Lim “unpicks” the concept and practice of suture (the stitching used to surgically repair a wound or tear).
The concerto is organised into four movements: “Take This Broken Wing”, “Chrysalis”, “Sutra” and “Simon Says”. The solo cello seems to drive the musical narrative, with the orchestra variously punctuating, amplifying and adding colour to the solo part. The cello part is remarkable for the range it spans and the resonance and range of colours Altstaedt produced throughout. The music feels episodic: sustained, soaring phrases, violent explosions of sound, subtle, shimmering pianissimo passages and atmospheric moments follow in quick succession.
Lim’s music is informed by an eclectic, philosophical and highly personal approach to composition. Appreciation is therefore greatly enhanced by Lim’s program notes, which disclose the many and varied sources of inspiration.
The first movement, “Take this broken wing”, is described in the score as a “grinding, wheezing hurdy gurdy” – an oblique reference to “The Organ Grinder” (Der Leiermann) in Schubert’s Die Winterreise. But whereas Schubert’s organ grinder suffers from a bleak, hopeless despair, reflected in a bare musical line, here the pain seems more visceral. The cello howls, there are shrieks from the orchestra and moments of relative stillness. And whereas Schubert’s organ grinder seems committed to never-ending despair, in Lim’s concerto, this grief provides the potential for repair and reinvention.
In “Chrysalis” Lim explores the creativity / creation that comes from the act of suturing: “brokenness that is stitched into new life”. In surgery, Lim explains in her introductory notes, sutures result in scars. But, inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi, in which broken pottery pieces are re-joined with gold lacquer, Lim takes a positive view of scar tissue: “instead of the damage being hidden, the imperfect lines of the join are illuminated”.
In “Sutra”, Lim weaves a musical image around the traditional Buddhist sutras: texts originally engraved on palm leaves bound with thread. There are loud declamatory passages in the cello’s lowest register, and soaring chant-like sequences that climax in long, flowing phrases.
The final movement, “Simon Says”, plays on the German iteration of the universal children’s game, “Alle Vögel fliegen hoch” (All birds fly up). It is playful music, beginning with a catchy rhythmic “command and response” sequence led by the percussion. Then follows, quite unexpectedly, another exhortation to fly – from Lennon-McCartney’s Blackbird, which occupies a special place in Altstaedt’s repertoire. And even more unexpectedly, the concerto concludes with solo passages where the cellist uses two bows – one baroque and one contemporary – simultaneously.
Compositionally, the work reflects Altstaedt’s distinctive musicianship. In performance, too, the concerto draws on Altstaedt’s extreme musical imagination to breathe life into the black dots on the page. Altstaedt’s performance was exceptional. There was a depth and resonance to his playing, and an exquisite intensity in the sustained high notes, that was emotionally compelling and seemed to trigger similarly evocative playing from the orchestra.
This premiere could not have had a warmer reception. When Alstaedt’s bows finally came to rest, Hamer Hall positively erupted in a long and heartfelt round of applause for Altstaedt, Maestro Martìn, the MSO and Lim, who came onstage from her seat in the audience.
The second half of the program was devoted to Tchaikovsky’s popular fourth symphony. Here, maestro Martìn and the MSO demonstrated yet again extreme finesse and musicality. This symphony, like La Valse, is a concert staple but this performance was exceptional. What made it so was the extreme care, energy and commitment Maestro Martìn and the MSO brought to every large and small detail. It is impossible to single out particular sections because the whole orchestra played with such finesse throughout. This was a truly memorable performance and the audience gave the MSO the resounding ovation it deserved.
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Sue Kaufmann reviewed the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s “Joined with Gold”, presented at Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall on Saturday, March 8, 2025. This performance was recorded live by the ABC for Classic FM.
