Virtuosi Tasmania Inc

Virtuosi Tasmania
VIVALDI
Jane Edwards, soprano
Lloyd Hudson, flute
Elinor Levy, Chris Nicholas, violins
Michael Patterson, viola
Dale Brown, cello
Stephen Martin, double bass
Andrew Bainbridge, keyboard
Home Hill Winery

JUST a sample of Antonio Vivaldi's vast output can be presented in an hour. The program proved to be quite diverse, satisfying the large audience with quality performances.
The ensemble gave meticulous attention to Vivaldi's trademarks of rapid scale passages and contrasting rhythms. Three concertos were played. The two for flute were substituted by piccolo. Lloyd Hudson's brilliant fingering made an absorbing display in the outer movements of

No 6 in G from Opus 10 RV 437. The contrasting tempo of the slow central movements in all the concerti produced powerful effects.
Jane Edwards chose two motets, one secular, one sacred, each fine vehicles for her voice. But the finest example of Edward's vocal control and beauty was the aria Vedro con mio diletto from Vivaldi's opera Il Giustino RV 717. The program will be presented twice in Longford on Sunday.

Elizabeth Ruthven, Mercury 30/11/2011

Virtuosi Tasmania
TSO Chorus
Conductor, June Tyzack,
Piano, Karen Smithies
Palais Theatre,
Franklin

VIRTUOSI Tasmania produced a winning combination with its latest offering - the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Chorus on tour - without orchestra.
To open, the choristers placed themselves amidst the audience to sing Hallelujah Chorus as a "flash mob". The stereo effect confirmed the venue's reputation for generous acoustics.
Rich harmony and tight ensemble were abundant in Vivaldi's Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Lift Thine Eyes by Mendelssohn and Preludio from Tres Canciones de Amor, by Oltra.
Calvin Bowman's set of songs displayed six distinct musical forms.
The Choir generally maintained pitch in these and other a capella works.

Nevertheless, piano accompaniment added polish to Waltons demanding Then Sing Aloud and enabled fluidity in Pucini's Gloria.
Spirited deliveries of Weber's Huntsmen Chorus, Lerner and Loewe's Ascot Chorus and an encore from The Gondoliers all conveyed a sense of fun and enthusiasm shared by the responsive audience.
Next time TSO Chorus tours it had better be to one on the towns in Tysack's version of Toch's Geographical Fugue - perhaps Sassafras, Naracoopa or Triabunna.
Meanwhile, Virtuosi Tasmania's chamber music group will visit Koonya, Longford and Ranelagh next month.

Elizabeth Ruthven, Mercury 11/10/2011

Virtuosi Tasmania
Dinah Woods, oboe
Chris Waller, clarinet
Liz Gormley, violin
Will Newbery, viola
Brett Rutherford, cello
Stephen Martin, double bass
Meadowbank Estate,
Richmond

THIS entertaining concert featured two greatly contrasted works by Prokofiev and Mozart.
Stephen Martin introduced Prokofiev's Quintet in G Minor Op 39 for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass by evoking the works origins in the circus ballet Trapeze (1924).
He also made interesting comparisons between the style of the piece and the work of abstract painter Marc Chagall (1887-1985).
The quintet, in six movements, is very rarely heard these days. It is brash and humerous music, very much of its period in 1920s Paris

when composers such as Stravinsky and the group known as Les Six outdid each other in bold experimentation.
This performance was excellently played, Stephen Martin relishing his double bass solos.
The Mozart Oboe Quartet in F major, K 370, composed for the Munich oboe player Friedrich Ramm in 1781, provided an elegant foil to the extravagant Prokofiev.
Dinah Woods and the string players offered a refined, lively and balanced sound, especially fine in the brief but heartfelt slow movement.

Peter Donnelly, Mercury 13/08/2011

Virtuosi Tasmania
Saint Saëns and Mendelssohn
Rohanna Brown (violin) Liz Gormley (violin and viola)
Janet Rutherford (viola)
Brett Rutherford (cello) Stephen Martin (double bass)
Lynette Smith (piano) Yoram Levy (trumpet)
Meadowbank Estate
Richmond

This was another excellent offering from Virtuosi Tasmania and one of the largest audiences I can recall at Meadowbank Estate.
The Saine-Saëns Septet for Trumpet, Piano and Strings, Op 65 - a typically well crafted and melodious piece composed in 1881 - uses the form of the baroque suite as its model.
The unusual inclusion of trumpet adds a special piquancy and it was played with aplumb by TSO principal trumpet Yoram Levy.
The quality of ensemble was first-class throughout and proved most enjoyable.

Mendelssohn's Sextet in D major for Piano and Strings, Op 110, received its first performance at one of the celebrated Mendelsshon family Sunday morning concerts when the composer was only 15.
It was well performed by these musicians, especially in the brief but beautiful adagio and the bustling finale.
Mendelsshon's inclusion of a second viola part brought a richer than usual middle register.
Even so, the first movement lacked a little verve and sounded a bit safe.
After all, the score is marked vivace.

Peter Donnelly, Mercury 16/07/2011

Virtuosi Tasmania
Mozart
Chris Nicholas, Daniel Kossov (violins)
Jessica Bell, Michael Patterson (violas)
Ivan James (cello), Stephen Martin (double bass)
St. Mary's Church, Kempton
Ranelagh

Two contrasted works by Mozart (1756-1791) made for fascinating listening. The first thing to note was the superb acoustic of this underused venue. Everything was crystal clear but there was also a richness and depth to the sound to set it apart even from several other excellent venues frequented by Virtuosi Tasmania.
Of course, such clarity can also expose any technical or musical shortcomings in the performance. On this count there were no causes for complaint.

The players brought vivacity and an appropriate lightness to the 'Divertimento in F major, K 138', one of three such works composed following trips to Italy in 1771 by the 15 year old composer and his father Leopold.
The 'String Quintet No 4 in G minor, K 516' is a mature work from 1787 which shares the dark mood and key signature of the more famous 'Symphony No 40 in G minor K 550' of the following year. These players produced most impressive results throughout, most potently in the sometimes tragic and disturbed third movement adagio.

Peter Donnelly, Mercury 2/5/2011

Virtuosi Tasmania
Haydn, Davison, Schumann
Laura Thomson, Rohana Brown (violins),
William Newbery (viola)
Dale Brown (cello)
Home Hill Winery
Ranelagh

Following up on a successful CD of works by Mendelssohn and Beethoven, these players showed the kind of rapport characteristic of an established string quartet. The performances at this concert demonstrated a precision of ensemble and a controlled range of dynamic that would be lauded in many a more widely known group.
Haydn's 'String Quartet No 25 in C Major, Op 20, No 2 (1772)' is one of 6 works in which the composer established his claim as 'father of the string quartet'.
It is a marvellous piece, innovative and strikingly original even today.

Schumann's 'String Quartet No 2 in F major, Op 41', is one of three quartets written in quick succession in 1842. While he wrote much greater music than this, the quartet has much melodic and rhythmic charm, warmly conveyed here.
The program included a commissioned work by Tasmanian Angus Davison. It was around four minutes in duration and titled for the ancient Greek name for the god of the winds. With fresh open textures and an attractively flowing line, 'Aeolus' indicated great promise for its young composer.

Peter Donnelly, Mercury 22/03/2011

Virtuosi Tasmania
A Tribute to Dave Brubeck
Fred Bradshaw, alto saxophone
Daniel Salzburger, piano
Stephen Martin, Double bass
Home Hill Winery
Ranelagh

FOLLOWING sell-out performances at Cranbrook and Evandale on Saturday, Home Hill was buzzing with a capacity crowd for the final concert yesterday.
Then potential disaster! Steve Martin announced the group was without its drummer, Matthew Ives having been taken ill suddenly.
But, after all, this was jazz, the modern art of improvisation.
Though the jazz quartet was now a trio, The ensuing set of seven Brubeck numbers, plus Paul Desmond's classic Take Five was a delight.

The absence of percussion mellowed things but probably served to draw attention to Martin's excellent bass work.
Fred Bradshaw's experienced and authentic sax, along with superb playing from pianist Daniel Sulzberger, really took wing in numbers such as In your Own Sweet Way.
Bradshaw recounted amusing anecdotes about his association with the late Paul Desmond and 90-year old Brubeck.
The enthusiastic audience was given an encore of Brubeck's Toki's Theme.

Peter Donnelly, Mercury 14/02/2011

Virtuosi Tasmania
Yue Hong Cha, violin
Wendy Page, French horn
Liya Dai, piano
Home Hill Winery
Ranelagh

MANUEL de Falla composed his Siete canciones populares espanolas in 1914-5.
Though not heard often these days, these evocative songs were memerably recorded by the great Spanish soprano Victoria de lao Angeles.
Falla subsequently transcribed six of the seven songs for violin and piano for the violinist Paul Kochanski.
These delightful pieces made a fine start to Virtuosi Tasmania's 2011 season.

Yue Hong Cha and visiting Sydney pianist Liya Dai performed with charm and accuracy.
Horn player Wendy Page joined for a fine performance of the Trio in E Flat Major for Violin, Horn and Piano, Op 40 by Johannes Brahms.
This work was created in 1865 to commerate the death of the composer's mother in that year. Page's playing, in particular, eas superb throughout.
Next month's Virtuosi concerts will feature a tribute to jazz legend Dave Brubeck.

Peter Donnelly, Mercury 24/01/2011

VIVALDI CONCERTOS
Virtuosi Tasmania

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ANTONIO Vivaldi (1678-1741) wrote around 550 concertos, the most famous being The Four Seasons from the set of 12 works entitled The Trial Between Harmony and Invention.
The five concertos on this disc attest to the high quality of some of his other such works. The flute and oboe pieces are both delightful, beautifully performed by Lloyd Hudson and Dinah Woods.
The concertos for two violins and three violins are perhaps more musically inventive, realised here by sisters Suzanna Lazaroff, Alison Lazaroff-Somssich and Rosalin Lazaroff. While period instruments and style are now the norm in recordings of this repertoire, these fresh and intellegent performances take a middle course stylistically, with enjoyable results.

Peter Donnelly, Mercury 29/01/2011

MENDELSSHON BEETHOVEN
Virtuosi Tasmania

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THIS enterprising disc brings together two chamber works not heard all that often but deserving of more frequent airings. The more immediately attractive is the Sextet for Two Horns and String Quartet in E Flat major, Op 81b by the young Beethoven. A tuneful and uncomplicated work, it receives agenial and alert performance here with excellent horn playing from Wendy Page and Greg Stephens. The otherwise perceptive sleeve note writer errs though in describing the conclusion of the work as brillant. Mendelssohn's String Quartet No 2 in A minor, is a more serious, though ultimately more rewarding piece, performed with energy and style by Laura Thomson and Rohana Brown (violins) William Newberry (viola) and Dale Brown (cello). The recording quality is first class.

Peter Donnelly, Mercury 29/01/2011

ANNALISA KERRIGAN
Corelli Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 2
Handel Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 5, "Lascia ch'io pianga", "Rejoice Greatly"
Paisiello "Il mio ben quando verra"
Mozart Divertimento K137
Puccini "O mio babbino caro"
Purcell "When I am laid in earth", "Music for a while"
Annalisa Kerrigan sop
Virtuosi Tasmania
Virtuosi Tasmania Records 001

Corelli's delightful Concert Grosso, one of the earliest such, brings the eight-member Virtuosi Tasmania into tuneful focus for this period music CD. Acoustically, the sound confirms we are in authentic locations, but withour an audience. The violins come off well enough, but the large instruments (one cello, one double bass) sound too far removed to have much in the way of a grounding effect, so the overall impact is a touch deflated. The players could do well with a bit more elbow room. Kerrigan, her voice strong for a soprano, comes from something like middle distance. The balance between her and the other performers may be struck more by virtue of their relative strengths and how their sounds effectively have to carry.

Nevertheless, Kerrigan and the ensemble do make a good sounding team. The selection and mix of tracks works well, with room left on the disk to have added one or two extra pieces. The minimal CD notes are informative enough to still be useful. While the hum of an audience attending a full live performance may have helped complete the ensemble's presentation, the CD does what it sets out to do. It lets us appreciate how Virtuosi Tasmania sounds in typical concert style, and sense a distinct charm that makes future releases worth listening for. KP

ABC Limelight. September 2010 Reviews p59