Greatness at work as top violinist James Ehnes takes on the grand master
Over the past 14 years elegant Canadian violinist James Ehnes has become a firm favourite here and his latest concerts show why.
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Over the past 14 years elegant Canadian violinist James Ehnes has become a firm favourite with local audiences, and his latest outing with Sydney Symphony Orchestra shows that we still can’t get enough of the virtuoso who has been hailed by one critic as the type of performer who comes along only once in a 100 years.
He was a favourite of Vladimir Ashkenazy when he was the SSO’s chief conductor, making his debut here in 2008 with a stunning reading of Elgar’s concerto and returning two years later to perform Tchaikovsky’s heart-on-the-sleeve, notoriously difficult violin concerto, which left the Russian conductor visibly moved.
Since then the tall, debonair violinist with his Marsick Stradivarius has become a familiar sight at the Opera House, so it was with added relish that the audience were able to enjoy his performance of Beethoven’s concerto with chief conductor Simone Young in the newly enhanced acoustic of the Concert Hall.
Before the packed house got to see their hero they were treated to a lovely eight minutes by local composer Ella Macens drawing on popular and classical styles mixed in with the choral music of her Latvian heritage.
Release, which she says “shines light on the notion of letting go as we move into a space of deeper alignment and expansion, ultimately finding inner freedom, love and joy”, is part of the SSO’s 50 Fanfares Project which commissions new works from Australian composers.
Beautiful duets for horns and trumpets ring out over quietly shimmering strings and harp, building to a richly warm climax with woodwinds reminiscent of Sibelius, until concertmaster Andrew Haveron’s solo fiddle brings the work to its spacious end.
Ehnes’s handling of Beethoven’s work, set in motion by its famous five drum taps, was majestic and from the top drawer – here you had the feeling that greatness was in the room. Full of polish and poise, his silky smooth runs, faultless intonation and bowing all make his playing seem effortless, which of course it is not, and belies the thousands of hours of practice and honing.
Fritz Kreisler’s spectacular cadenzas were carried off with a remarkable combination of power and subtlety, and the whole 42 minutes was shaped to perfection, with Young and her forces in complete accord with Ehnes’s soloing.
There was no chance of him getting an early mark from the audience and he responded with a gloriously nuanced performance of the yearning adagio first movement from JS Bach’s Violin Sonata No 3, a work he had performed in the Opera House’s intimate Utzon Room in 2018.
With Beethoven headlining the first half it was fitting that Young chose Brahms for the second, particularly his first symphony, which he completed after much trepidation, fearing he could not follow such giant footsteps left by his hero’s nine symphonies.
He needn’t have worried, of course, for this is a wonderful work, even if he did channel Beethoven’s Ode To Joy for his final movement, earning it the nickname of “Beethoven’s 10th”.
Young frequently discarded her baton to urge her colleagues along, not that they needed much urging as this was top-notch music making in all departments. The winds in the andante and the horns in the finale all deserved their ovations and the whole 45 minutes put a spectacular seal on a concert that had justly been dubbed “Greatness collides”.
The concert is repeated at the Opera House at 8pm on Friday, November 11, and Saturday, November 12. Ehnes returns to the SOH on Sunday, November 20, at 2pm for a one-off recital of three Beethoven sonatas with US pianist Andrew Armstrong.
DETAILS
• CONCERT Sydney Symphony Orchestra with James Ehnes
• WHERE Sydney Opera House Concert Hall
• WHEN Wednesday, November 9
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