Southern Cross Soloists closed the year with a vibrant concert that promised audiences a journey to The New World – the name that European colonists applied to the Americas when they arrived there in the 16th century. All three of the mainstage concerts from Southern Cross Soloists (SXS) in 2023 were structured around themes of travel, from Paris, the City of Lights, to the heartland of Central Europe and, finally, the Americas.
As a collaborative chamber music ensemble, Southern Cross Soloists perform without a conductor, and this makes for an interesting onstage dynamic to witness in addition to the excellent musicianship on display. Although the energy of the musicians didn’t falter, the two-hour concert may have benefited from an interval – with the wide variety of pieces and styles, I would have liked an opportunity to refocus and allow some of the music to soak in a bit more.
The New World included works from a range of significant composers, both historical and contemporary, who made a mark on what we now understand to be American music. The concert also featured American guest composer and soloist, John Jorgensen, and SXS Didgeridoo Soloist in Residence, Chris Williams, who premiered a new work as part of the SXS Didgeridoo Commissioning Project. Speaking to the audience, SXS Artistic Director, Tania Frazer, described the concert as a perfect balance between beautiful harmonies, juxtaposed against contemporary sounds.
The first piece was the refreshing and unusual Entr’acte by leading contemporary American composer Caroline Shaw. Written in 2011 after Shaw experienced a performance of Haydn’s String Quartet Op.77 No.2, Entr’acte takes its name from the music that separates two acts in theatre and is structured like a minuet and trio. Beginning very softly, the piece evolved into the gentle plucking of strings in pizzicato, and the development of the theme could be clearly heard, eventually returning to soft pizzicato and concluding with a solo cello.
Artie Shaw’s toe-tapping Clarinet Concerto turned the spotlight on clarinettist Ashley Smith, melding classical and jazz and composed in the big band tradition that Shaw was immersed in. The piece featured in the 1940 Fred Astaire film Second Chorus, in which Shaw also appeared, playing himself and performing the clarinet concerto. Smith was an engaging and impressive soloist, moving and dancing even as he played with control and intensity. There seem to be few pieces in the classical canon that highlight the clarinet, which made it particularly interesting to watch as a solo instrument.
Guest composer and soloist, stringed multi-instrumentalist John Jorgensen, and Southern Cross Soloists’ Didgeridoo Artist in Residence, Chris Williams, then premiered their new work, Global Rivers Rising, an exciting and uplifting piece that cohesively blended sounds and styles. Drawing influence from a range of countries and cultures and inspired by the interconnectedness of people and music everywhere, Global Rivers Rising is part of the ongoing SXS Didgeridoo Commissioning Project. Launched in 2022, the project sees a 50/50 collaboration between a national or international composer and Williams, who has been Artist Residence at SXS since 2018. The project intends to produce three new works for didgeridoo and classical ensemble every year for ten years, leading up to the 2032 Olympic Games to be hosted in Brisbane and building a repertoire of new classical music with a quintessentially Australian flavour.
Both soloists played multiple instruments throughout Global Rivers Rising: Williams two different didgeridoos, and Jorgensen the guitar and the mandolin, with additional percussion as Williams tapped on his instrument. The piece segued smoothly between styles, and the growl and rumble of the didgeridoo under the guitar created a novel and distinctive sound.
The next piece was Dvořák’s yearning, unfurling Going Home, adapted from the second movement (Largo) of his ninth symphony. The symphony is popularly called the New World Symphony and was composed in 1893, commissioned by theNew York Philharmonic Orchestra.Well known for integrating folk melodies with symphonic tradition, Dvořák was brought to New York as the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America, which had been tasked with cultivating American music and a national sound. Drawing on African American spirituals and Native American music, as well as his own Czech origins, Dvořák paved the way for other iconic American composers, like Copland and Gershwin, to develop their own style by drawing inspiration from beyond the classical canon. Perhaps appropriately, then, Going Home was followed in the SXS concert by selections from Copland’s quintessentially American Appalachian Spring, and Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue. The latter featured SXS Artist in Residence 2023, pianist Konstantin Shamray, who explained the rhapsody as a free form, similar to a fantasia. The piano was centred onstage for this piece, allowing the audience to observe Shamray’s intense and skillful performance.
The concert concluded with Piazzolla’s upbeat Fuga I misterioso, with the tango played on mandolin and guitar instead of a bandoneon. An Argentine composer, Piazzolla revolutionised tango by incorporating classical and jazz elements, and the Fuga I misterioso was punctuated with bursts of passion.
The New World was a vibrant concert to close Southern Cross Soloists’ 2023 season of journeys, including the world premiere of a new work, Global Rivers Rising, that focused on the interconnectedness of all people and places.
The New World was performed at the QPAC Concert Hall on 22 October 2023
Click here for more information about Southern Cross Soloists, including their upcoming concerts
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