On a winter Saturday, what could be more pleasant than a feast of music and of fine food? Visitors to Pialligo Estate next month can enjoy the luxury of both in a collaboration with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.
Music in the Fields: Winter shows the diversity of string quartet music, “from real classics to more popular music, and how evocative and descriptive that music can be of the winter season – and how nicely it pairs with the sensory experience of being in a beautiful setting and eating amazing seasonal food,” explains CSO violinist Pip Thompson, the program’s curator.
“Every piece [on the program] is a fantastic piece, and they’re pieces that will work really well for both seasoned chamber music audiences and people who may be newbies to the genre.”
The concert features two movements of Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1 (1871): the slow, beautiful andante cantabile, “a famous movement which a lot of people will recognise”, and the scherzo. Tchaikovsky wrote the piece in the middle of a Russian winter, and Ms Thompson says it has the sound of that icy, snowy Eastern European weather. So does Fratres (1977), by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. Also from northern Europe is an arrangement of Danish folk tunes by the Danish String Quartet.
“If there’s anybody who understands the depths of winter, it’s people from Scandinavia!” Ms Thompson said. “Those folk melodies, particularly the dance melodies, are designed to liven up the dreary winter months.”
Ms Thompson is particularly looking forward to playing Howard Blake’s suite from The Snowman (1982). “It is meaningful to me,” she explains. In the 1980s, a song from the film, ‘Walking on Air’, sung by boy soprano Aled Jones, reached number five in the UK Singles Chart.
“As a young person, I had all his recordings. Some years ago, Aled Jones, all grown up, and now a baritone, toured Australia, and I got to perform his show with him. It’s an amazing thing when you get to meet someone you revered as a kid and perform with them later in life!”
There are some surprises from the popular canon – such as an arrangement of Maroon 5’s ‘Girls Like You’ (2017), featured in the current hit Netflix show, Bridgerton. Reworking these popular works for string quartet makes them familiar yet unfamiliar, Ms Thompson said. “It places them in a different light, but there’s something attractive and appealing about it.”
The CSO Chamber Ensemble also includes violinist Kirsten Williams, concertmaster of the CSO; violist Lucy Carrigy-Ryan; and cellist Patrick Suthers. Ms Thompson described her colleagues as terrific chamber musicians; they have played in the CSO for a long time, and have national and international experience.
“For us, it’s such a joy to play chamber music,” she said. “We love playing in orchestra, but the orchestra is the conductor’s instrument – the orchestra is there to perform the conductor’s musical vision. Whereas when we’re playing chamber music, it’s a collaborative musical experience. All of our musical ideas go into the overall interpretation. It’s a very egalitarian experience, at its best, and really pleasurable. I think audiences will see the musical communication between musicians in chamber music, and in string quartets in particular.”
A composer, a former wind player, recently told her how much composers love writing for string quartets because of the homogeneity of the timbre.
“We’ve got four instruments that have the same timbre, but have a different range of pitch, from very low in the cello to very high in the violins. … The string quartet is like one huge stringed instrument.”
In keeping with the winter theme, Pialligo Estate will treat guests to mulled wine, canapés, and choice charcuterie from its award-winning Pialligo Smokehouse, followed by a traditional Spanish paella.
“We feel the elegance and tranquillity of the Estate are quite synonymous with the concert hall experience,” said Bianca Board, Pialligo’s marketing manager.
“CSO and Pialligo are both homegrown success stories,” Ms Thompson said. “In some ways, it’s a natural collaboration to have these two join forces. This is going to be totally local, but of national and international calibre from all regards – it’s a match made in heaven!”
Music in the Fields: Winter, Pialligo Estate, Saturday 6 August 2pm and 6.30pm. Tickets $129. Book online at cso.org.au/fields-winter or call 02 6262 6772 (weekdays 10am-3pm).
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