Six years after their last appearance, Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields returned to the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on Saturday, and once again a large enthusiastic audience greeted the superstar director and his fellow musicians. The three programmes presented on this tour by the ASMF consist, with one exception, of bankable 18th- and 19th-century European masterpieces, which is in keeping with the focus of the orchestra’s vast discography.
Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony, which opened the first concert, marks their only foray beyond 1900 on this tour, and a notably conservative one at that. The opening movement was played crisply and with a notable sense of fun, and the second showcased a warm sound and elegant staccato lines. There was a nice sense of swagger to the Gavotte, and the fleet and joyous finale burbled along, with dramatic crescendos adding to the excitement.
The rest of the programme was given over to the works of one man: Felix Mendelssohn. The beloved Violin Concerto in E minor was given a polished rendition by Bell, who was mostly content to rely on his well-trained band to follow him via his body language when playing, only turning around to conduct them in the longer tuttis. There was a supremely good fit between orchestra and soloist throughout, the former moulded to perfect compliance with the latter. This was especially evident in the second theme of the first movement, a beautiful study in how an orchestra can blend and subordinate themselves without their sound losing body. Bell opted not to play Mendelssohn’s own cadenza, substituting one richer in tricky double stops which he knocked off with aplomb.
The second movement was taken at a flowing pace which captured the two-in-a-bar feel of the notation. The downside was that in comparison to slightly slower renditions, some details sounded a bit perfunctory at times (put differently: I like things milked just a little more). Bell probed the passion in the tremolo passages in the darker middle section, and found more pellucid beauties in the return of the opening material afterwards. The finale was exuberantly performed, again with great coordination between soloist and orchestra (always a challenge in such a busy movement).
The present tour features both of Mendelssohn’s ‘travel’ symphonies, with the Scottish occupying the second half here. The slow introduction was expressively phrased, with the quicker-tempo main theme having excellent impetus. One could hear the kinship to the Hebrides Overture in the third theme, given lovely sway and swell in this rendition. This was not the only echo called up in this performance: the slew of diminished sevenths in the coda recalled The Flying Dutchman (originally set in Scotland). Here in the coda, crisp double-tonguing from woodwind and brass was exemplary.
A sparkling clarinet solo set the tone for the second movement, one of Mendelssohn’s fairy-like Scherzos. Strings and woodwind showed great dynamic control in the pianissimo second theme. The melodiousness and melancholy of the slow movement was captured from the first despairing sighs, with later swells to passionate climaxes providing the most heartfelt playing of the concert. In the finale, there were pointed contrasts between the A minor oboe melody, and the thrilling full-throttle C major response from the tutti forces. A heroic coda led by the violas tilted the music to the major for a satisfying finish. A concert of undoubted excellence that may never have reached the heights of Bell’s 2017 Tchaikovsky performance, but was as polished as one could wish for.
