The Advertiser
Edition 1 - STATEMON 19 MAR 2001, Page 083 
Something for everyone 
By Elizabeth Silsbury 

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Festival Theatre
Friday
WELCOME to James Judd, newly appointed as ASO's principal guest conductor. What this actually means in terms of his continuing influence on its players and policies remains to be seen. Judging by the apparently unanimous enthusiasm of the band's response to his forceful direction in the opening concert of the major Series 2001, he has conquered the conductor's first hurdle - get them to trust you.

From the opening bars of Advance Australia Fair, conducted with more than usual ebullience (I think) by concert master Nicholas Milton, to the final extravagances (I think) of the Rachmaninov Symphony No 2, the theatre's acoustical enhancement system seemed to be determined to give the patrons (especially the double bass lovers) a big noisy night out at the expense of most of the music's detail. 

However, in addition to the general demeanour of the orchestra, there was much to admire in the something-for-everyone program.

In Sonic Boom, the first of a series of fanfares by young Australian composers, Natalie Williams whipped up a celebratory storm, symbolically breaking the sound barrier between silence and music. 

David Wenham was admirably cast as reader for the texts of Emblems by Richard Mills, adopting the merest modification in accent and inflexion to suit the vastly different flavours of Ian Mudie, Jack Davis, Paul Keating, Mary Gilmore et al, with never a trace of elocution or other artifice.

Edward Elgar composed Sea Pictures in 1899 for the renowned English contralto Clara Butt. Mezzo soprano Elizabeth Campbell, singing entirely from memory, found and revealed the inner core of each song, delivering the heavily Victorian poems with total conviction and irresistible sincerity. From the low G to the high A she fulfilled Elgar's most stringent demands, colouring her tone by turns for lullaby, religiosity, wistful love song and, finally, the tight focus of Adam Lindsay Gordon's The Swimmer.

The Rachmaninov was very loud. Gregory Blackman's lovely clarinet solos in the Adagio provided some of the few moments when clarity broke through the general sound mass. 

Library Heading:  Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Column:  music 
arts monday
Section:  FEATURES
Type:  Music Review