WA Symphony Orchestra & Asher Fisch play Beethoven Pastoral & Britten with Iain Grandage at Perth Concert Hall

Echoes of childhood and youth hung in the air at Perth Concert Hall as Asher Fisch led WA Symphony Orchestra through Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Britten variations on Friday.

Opening strains of the symphony in strings were like the caress of a warm spring breeze, spiced with a mountain zephyr in Liz Chee’s oboe and birdsong in Andrew Nicholson’s flute.

Fisch’s delicate reading opened vistas to Beethoven’s dilemma; ever-more hard of hearing yet finding the soundscape of his youth in this instrumental chorus.

The topology of the pastoral theme rose and fell, achingly beautiful; channelled faithfully, almost gleefully, in every part.

Graceful, fluttering phrases drifted like soft clouds over pasture as mellow clarinet and horn, playful flute and oboe, danced across the scene; the final chords of the first movement frugally fruitful.

Movement II, Scene by the Brook, brought warmth in a string chorale; a lilting melody in woodwind and horn, driven on by Jane Kircher-Lindner’s bassoon to the full ensemble.

Music becomes fluid as a brook in such moments, a timeless ambience to which flute and oboe brought birdsong, echoed in Allan Meyer’s clarinet; the ensemble fading to infinite calm.

Some say Beethoven didn’t mean to mimic the birds, that he followed earlier conventions — brook in German is Bach, after all — but if it sounds and moves like the proverbial duck, it probably is an avian imitation.

A sudden stirring in strings, throwing to dextrous horns in perfect step, then summoned a bucolic dance passed between horn and woodwind, reinforced by WASO’s German trumpets played robustly by Brent Grapes and Peter Miller.

Rustic celebration turned to storm without a break, as the last three movements were played attacca in line with the narrative arc; no weather alerts for peasants in Beethoven’s day.

Storm came and went with the same ease in delivery, transiting just as smoothly to grandiose and triumphant thanksgiving in the finale.

The program, carried over from last year’s disrupted season to honour Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, opened with Britten’s homage to his boyhood mentor in Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge.

In the Theme, a wholly string ensemble spoke with one voice, both pizzicato and bowed, in wistful, meditative mode as if dwelling on a distant moment; sound evolving smoothly, billowing dynamics underpinning skittish melody.

Variations came swiftly, many shorter than two minutes, each an exploration of character.

Variation 6, Wiener Waltzer (“enthusiasm”), brought a sinewy solo from guest concertmaster Graeme Jennings, who led this and the Beethoven hand-in-glove with Fisch.

The Fugue and Finale was a frantic dance with bustling gait, angular and urgent, fading and reviving in tone and dynamics; drawing on a full range of pitch and tone from high harmonics to deep bass in the final chord.

To round out the first half, Perth Festival director Iain Grandage met a hero’s welcome as narrator of Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, a paean to the ensemble and to the early days of the English canon.

The theme by Purcell opened in glorious brass, quickly pulled back to expose the elements in turn.

Grandage, complete with top hat and microphone, pranced Puck-like to each section, his commentary spiced with local and topical references.

While each instrument gave a good account, the storyline is ultimately self-defeating because the sum of the whole is greater than its parts.

The Fugue finale brought all back into conversation, the theme hornpipe-like in its constant motion, scurrying across the orchestra before finding full voice in the brass of the introduction; an eclectic celebration with ovations all around.

WASO next plays Brahms’ German Requiem on June 25 and 26.

waso.com.au.