A wintry Monday night in Melbourne may not seem the best time to draw a large audience to a classical concert, but the brilliant virtuoso harpist Xavier de Maistre certainly attracted a large, dedicated and adoring audience, including possibly every harp player in Victoria.
First, award-winning, youthful and dynamic string quartet Affinity performed as a “support act”, which possibly didn’t provide them the best opportunity for them to show their full colours, as the programming allowed just one work, the popular Haydn String Quartet No 62 in C ‘Emperor’, to be performed. Tonight’s ensemble comprised violinists Seonhye Son and Nicholas Waters with Meagan Turner on viola and Mee Na Lojewski on cello. Affinity always exuded a special energy and spirit of joy and love of ensemble work, expressing much enthusiasm, warmth and an abundance of dynamics throughout the Allegro, although rather active physical movement was overly emphasised and a little distracting at times, leading to forced timbres in climaxes and cadences. The Cantabile was given most honourable melodic beauty and respect, as Haydn’s inspiring hymn-like anthem was played with an almost romantic warmth, with its variations drawing fluent decoration and expression from each solo instrument. A colourful and balanced weaving of lines led to an exquisite pianissimo close. Contrasting dynamics and timbres enhanced the Menuetto. Allegro and the exuberant Finale. Presto brought cheers and much applause.
What a visual delight was the sight of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s fine golden harp – usually seen tucked away behind the orchestra’s strings, rarely seen in it’s full glory until it was in the hands of this remarkable soloist, Xavier de Maistre.
In the post-concert interview with harpist Marshall McGuire the superstar and popular harpist shared his delight in coming to Melbourne for the first time to enjoy “a great acoustic space, a great audience and great repertoire”. His heartfelt commitment to taking the harp to centre stage, expanding its solo and concerto repertoire by commissioning new works from composers, and adding his transcriptions and arrangements of important repertoire is inspiring.
Our eyes were totally impressed with the handsome vision of this personable, tall and elegant artist, and our ears were totally astounded and intrigued by the exceptional levels of softness he produced. Pescetti’s Sonata in C minor was performed to an audience who held their breath, surprised by ever diminishing softnesses, most high strings, mastered with expressive crescendos, warmth and mellowness. With more lute-like delicacy in high notes, and rich depth in bass notes, arrangements of Tárrega’s Memories of the Alambra and Manuel de Falla’s Spanish Dance from La Vida Breve brought familiar guitar pieces to a grander, more broadly timbred scenario. De Maistre’s love for the harp could be felt at all times as he added biting percussive finger work to the strings and produced some rather zappy glissandos and tonal colour from inventive combinations of finger, palm and wrist action.
In an arrangement of Liszt’s Le Rossignol, de Maistre produced impressive flying virtuosic passages with new timbres and gorgeous reverberations on mellow honeyed lower strings and lighter resonant high timbres. The first set closed with the sensuous, charming and appealing “orchestral” flavours of an extensive piece: Vltava (Wild Water) from Smetana’s popular Romantic work Má Vlast. This colourful and visually engaging music held the audience spellbound with its rich imagery and huge technical demands on the performer, leading the audience to break into tumultuous applause at its close.
France is known to be “harp country”, so Gabriel Fauré’s Impromptu for Harp in D-flat, Op. 86 follows its opening lush chords with dreamy, colourful long lines with extended ripples and spaciousness. De Maistre’s arrangements of Debussy’s evergreen piano works – Two Arabesques and Clair de Lune couldn’t have been more calming and true to the heart of French impressionism. But once again, it was the huge range and mastery of multi-layers of timbres and extreme pianissimos that overawed the listeners.
A fine composition for harp closed the formal program. Henriette Renié (1875 – 1956) was known for her excellence in harp performance, for her many original compositions and transcriptions, her excellence as a teacher and being an inspiration for women in music. Her Legende d’Après des Elfes (Legend of the Elves) was a highly virtuosic work with rich chords and an exploration of low resonant earthy bass strings, spicy flavours, complex rhythms and fantasy-like imagery. Intricate finger patterns and demanding hand techniques in this piece created new rhythms and tonalities in a work more akin to an overture or film score. We were impressed with de Maistre’s stamina and inventiveness in demanding cadenzas, and the new sonorities from varied timbres between both hands, in rich and colourful storytelling.
Applause and celebration brought de Maistre back again for his encore, a superbly arranged Venetian treat – his pastiche of Italian popular themes played with much aplomb, and a slightly wicked sense of theatre and warm “people personality”.
A gift to the audience! Don’t miss Xavier de Maistre next time.
Photo supplied.
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Julie McErlain reviewed “Xavier de Maistre + Affinity Quartet”, presented at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on July 9, 2024.
