A Trip to Bendigo to Hear Good Music

Today was a day I'd been looking forward to for some time: I drove to Bendigo to hear the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra play Kerry, Berlioz, Mozart and Liszt, conducted by Rohan Phillips; and was fortunate to have the company of my friend Satu to share the experience with.

I must admit that the day did not get off to a great start when I drove to the wrong suburb to pick up Satu. To get to her place, I then had to make my way through Melbourne's CBD and beyond ... by myself ... without a navigator ... electronic or human ... *argh* Still, because of my fetish for punctuality characteristically allowing plenty of time for us to get to Bendigo, the extra hour (yes- hour!) I spent driving crazy spirals along nonsensical, poorly signed streets didn't matter. Really. Not in the grand scheme of things.

Bendigo was beautiful in the sunshine. We ate at The Rifle Brigade, my haunt from Bendigo days of old. I told Satu the raspberry beer story, the wedding story and the live band stage story. As the place is no longer a microbrewery, no wedding receptions were in session, and the live stage band seems to have been subsumed by dining space, these stories were truly relics of a time past.

Forest St Uniting Church was its usual beautiful but chilly performance venue; we were both glad to have brought coats. Thankfully, the music was enthralling, distracting from the cool air, and well worth the trip.

It was the second time the orchestra had performed Gordon Kerry's In iubilo (2010). Having not heard Kerry's music before, I feel ill qualified to comment, beyond saying that for me the final third of the piece was the most arresting.

Brenda Kinsella, the soprano for Hector Belioz's Les nuits d'ete, was outstanding. The warm texture of her voice, her perfect intonation, the way she channelled the emotion of these songs of love and lament - all brilliant. The trip to Bendigo would have been worth it simply to hear her sing. The orchestra did her proud, providing a fitting accompaniment, and relaxing further and further into the mood of each movement. For me, the highlights were 'Absence' (you could hear the 'vast space' in their performance) and the hopeful notes of 'The Unknown Island'. Great stuff.

After interval, Rohan demonstrated his prowess as a conductor, as the orchestra changed tone completely for the first movement of Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Allegro). This Mozart was, as Rohan put it, the classical 'sorbet' in the concert, providing a stark contrast to the heavy romanticism of the surrounding pieces. Their crisp, disciplined performance was testament to his leadership.

Liszt's Prometheus (Symphonic Poem No. 5) provided a fitting dramatic finale to this excellent concert. It was clear that the orchestra had devoted a great deal of time to this challenging piece, and Rohan's excellent programme notes likewise dwelt largely on the myth of Prometheus and also on the philosophy of composition and performance. The Prometheus myth, speaking (as Liszt puts it) of "a desolating grief, triumphing at last by energy and perseverance" holds personal resonance for me. I thought the BSO did a great job conveying what I perceived were Liszt's intended emotional landscapes. All were clearly depleted after this performance - as was their valiant conductor!

Final verdict? I'm so glad we made the trip. Yes, I spent seven hours in the car today, and am one very tired woman for it. But to hear a regional city's orchestra play such a varied programme, and faithfully convey each composer's themes, was a real treat.

Afterwards, I reflected on how many hours' preparation must have gone into this concert, all for a 'mere' ninety minutes of performance. They were hours well spent. Congratulations to all involved.