The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s second Symphony Series concert, In The Quiet, centred on the world premiere performance of Joe Chindamo’s Concerto del Motore – literally a concerto of ‘the engine’. This new work was commissioned by the ASO and performed by principal clarinettist Dean Newcomb, who collaborated closely with the composer to bring the concerto to life.
Chindamo, who is also an accomplished pianist, has a long-standing relationship with the ASO. Back in 2022 the orchestra commissioned another new work, the Ligeia Concerto, a work for trombone and orchestra, that was written for ASO Principal Trombone Colin Prichard.
Chindamo’s new work, Concerto del Motore, is a 20-minute composition in three movements – titled The First Revolution, Quiet in the Noise and Asphalt Cathedral – and the work is an homage to motoring and to the engines that drive modern life. It’s an energetic concerto that explores the clarinet’s lyrical fluency and dramatic power.
In the Quiet review – quick links
The premiere of Joe Chindamo’s Concerto del Motore
The concerto was given vibrancy by the expressive playing of Dean Newcomb, using two different clarinets. Concerto del Motore demonstrates that the clarinet can have an impressive contemporary presence as well as its more traditional role in classical and jazz music.
Though it is a contemporary work, Concerto del Motore feels familiar and accessible. The third movement, Asphalt Cathedral, is especially affecting, creating a vivid music-scape of the city and ending in a dramatic wall of sound. The timpani and percussion make a major contribution to the dramatic effect too, and embed a cinematic ethos here.
This is Newcomb’s 16th year with the ASO and that depth of understanding with the other players really shines through; he is also clearly much admired by both the orchestra and the audience. Composer Joe Chindamo was at the Adelaide Town Hall for this premiere performance and joined Newcomb on stage for the well-deserved applause.
Finding quiet in the city
This world premiere was prefaced with the opening work, Quiet City, by American composer Aaron Copland. Written in 1939, with this arrangement from 1941, this is a sound picture of a man wandering the streets at night, searching for meaning.
The solo passages for trumpet and cor anglais, played with great sensitivity by principals David Khafagi and Peter Duggan, are quite haunting, evoking aloneness and solitary reflection. Duggan is another familiar face for ASO audiences, having played with the orchestra for 30 years.
After interval, the whole second half was devoted to Rachmaninov’s stirring Second Symphony, a work that premiered in 1908 with the composer as conductor. The premiere of his First Symphony, some years earlier, had been a disaster as the orchestra was under-rehearsed and the conductor was drunk on stage. A leading music critic of the time, César Cui, damned it as a piece that would ‘delight the inhabitants of Hell’. Thankfully, Rachmaninov regained his musical confidence and the Second Symphony was a success.
Sometimes described as ‘a musical monument to love and loss’, this is a huge work, lush, expansive, and fulsome. From its quiet beginnings with floating orchestral lines, to the animated allegro vivace final movement, this is a tempestuous paean to love and desire with the strings telling us everything we need to know about human emotions.
There are moments when this sounds like the theme to a classic love story or sweeping period piece, a musical embodiment of Downton Abbey or Bridgerton, even though it predates those by a hundred years or more.
The Australian debut of conductor Stephanie Childress
The In the Quiet concert was brought to life under the baton of Franco-British conductor Stephanie Childress in her Australian debut. Childress has a wonderfully expressive style, shaping the music with fluid gestures and a fine touch. She conducted the Rachmaninoff at the Juilliard School in New York last season and more recently at L’Auditori in Barcelona and that intimacy with the score really shone through.
Astonishingly, for someone with so much experience and such confidence on the stage, Childress is just 26 years old. It really is very special to see someone who is passionate about their craft and who has the opportunity to create exciting cross-disciplinary musical experiences.
Showcasing three of the ASO’s leading musicians and three vibrant works alongside such an engaging young conductor, In The Quiet really was a superb evening with the orchestra.
