A Rhapsody Of Dynamic Manoeuvres
The Age
Monday August 22, 1994
Twilight Chamber Music at Rippon Lea No. 3: Craig Hill clarinet, Lynore McWhirter soprano, Robert Chamberlain piano. Rippon Lea, Sunday.
AS THIS series of recitals draws to a close, the quality of performance maintains a high level. In the latest event, a neatly contrived program gave us some familiar music, complemented by an effective group of Spohr songs and a set of note-packed variations on themes from Verdi's `La Traviata' for Craig Hill to display his enviably supple technique.
Lynore McWhirter gave Spohr's Six German Songs a rare airing, assisted by Hill's embroidering clarinet line with Robert Chamberlain's piano filling in the bass with discreet restraint, leaving the singer and instrumentalist plenty of dynamic room to manoeuvre. The pianist took a more prominent role in Rossini's tongue-in-cheek mini-cycle `La Regata Veneziana', where the accompaniment requires a great deal by way of scene-setting and wide-ranging dexterity.
Following McWhirter's entertaining interpretation of the vocally virtuosic Venetian gondola race, Craig Hill worked through Lovreglio's fantasy on `La Traviata', for which the composer took Verdi's finest tunes, presented them in simple guise, then worked through them again while adding passage work for the wind player so ornate that it borders on the ludicrous, like some of the gymnastic exhibitions from the Commonwealth Games - technique for its own sake.
Both Hill and Chamberlain expended their talents to more gratifying effect on Debussy's first clarinet rhapsody. This was an excellent performance: direct and crisp, a persuasive meshing of both instruments, authoritatively differentiating between languor and purposeful activity.
McWhirter and Chamberlain made pleasant if stolid work of Ravel's `Five Greek Folksongs', which would have benefited by a lighter approach in the odd-numbered ones. And, rounding off the program, all three musicians reunited for Schubert's `The Shepherd on the Rock' where Chamberlain once again impressed by his firm restraint in the accompanying part, while McWhirter and Hill gave the upper lines both accuracy and an unexpected freshness at the end of a solid evening's music.
The Rippon Lea set of four recitals sponsored by the `Team of Pianists' comes to an end next Sunday with pianist Darryl Coote accompanying oboeist Anne Gilby and violinist Robert Macindoe. The event has been sold out; deservedly so, if this recital is any guide.
© 1994 The Age
