Cellist Steven Isserlis makes a mesmerising visit

A mesmerising performance marks the return of a familiar face on the music scene.

Steve Moffatt

less than 2 min read

July 3, 2023 - 12:08AM

Wentworth Courier

British cellist Steven Isserlis appeared in a concert with Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

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British cellist Steven Isserlis must have lost count of the number of times he has toured Australia. When I saw him perform in 2009 that was his 14th visit. A few years before that, however, when he came here to play Martinu and Britten for Musica Viva, there was a memorable moment when we all queued to get our CDs autographed and Barry Humphreys cracked us up by wondering aloud whether Isserlis would sign his Yo Yo Ma album.

Now aged 64, his famous mop of labradoodle-style hair has turned white but the power and beauty of his playing is, if anything, stronger than ever, as witness his latest appearance with Simone Young and Sydney Symphony Orchestra for a magnetic and entrancing reading of William Walton’s Cello Concerto. Isserlis rates this as a truly great romantic work that takes its place alongside the more popular Dvorak, Schumann and Elgar concertos.

After attending this concert it is difficult to disagree with him. Over three movements and lasting 30 minutes, the music is both seductive and dramatic, so lyrical in fact that when it was premiered in the late 1950s some critics thought it too old fashioned and not dissonant enough.

This was a mesmerising performance, with Young keeping the orchestra tightly in sync with the soloist and his exciting and expressive playing style. The woodwinds and brass were exceptional in the slow opening movement where the cello’s sinuous lines are complemented by harp and celesta adding to the ticking, gently rocking rhythm. Two cadenza-like solo sections in the final movement showed Isserlis at the top – literally – of his powers with some scarifying finger-busting runs exploiting the entire range of his 1726 Stradivarius instrument.

After a rousing ovation, and with his Strad taking a bow as well, Isserlis treated the packed Concert Hall to an encore – a pizzicato firecracker in Georgian composer Sulkhan Tsintsadze’s short song Chonguri.

After the perfect warm-up to the evening, Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus Overture, chief conductor Young and the orchestra showed their mettle with a full blooded performance of Robert Schumann’s Symphony No 4. An unusual work for its time, its four movements are played straight through, it has the feel of one single entity, bursting with memorable tunes and full romantic passion.

Young returns on July 7-9 to conduct selections from Tchaikovsky’s ballets The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake.