![\"Stefanie-Ir\u00e1nyi_Credit_Christian-Debus\"](\"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Masters-4_Stefanie-Ir\u00e1nyi_Credit_Christian-Debus_V2A2762_2-Mahler5-200x300.jpg\")
I have been attending \u2013 and reviewing \u2013 WASO concerts for more than 35 years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I have been attending \u2013 and reviewing \u2013 WASO concerts for more than 35 years.<\/p>\n
During that time, I have experienced some of the most satisfying listening I could have hoped for.<\/p>\n
And in Mahler\u2019s Fourth Symphony, Asher Fisch and the WASO played up to and even above that standard of excellence.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Fisch did wonders in coaxing often gloriously satisfying moments \u2013 as well as half hours! – from his forces in this massive work.<\/p>\n
And time flew by as measure after immaculate measure worked its aural and emotional magic.<\/p>\n
In one of the most imaginative program compilations I\u2019ve encountered in a long time, we heard, before the symphony, Mahler\u2019s orchestration of the variations movement from Schubert\u2019s Death and the Maiden String Quartet. This was frankly magical music making by players surrendering to the Muse in the most satisfying way. They were at the top of their game with phrasing so refined and meaningful as to take the breath away. Stand up, WASO players, and take a thoroughly deserved bow, not least for blended sonorities that bordered on perfection. Bravo!<\/p>\n
There was magnificent musicmaking, too, in the first performance in Perth of Luciano Berio\u2019s Folk Songs.<\/p>\n
Here, I cannot too highly praise Stefanie Iranyi \u2018s singing. Here was impeccable revelation of mood with the sort of phrase shaping critics dream about but only very rarely encounter in reality. And did this singer know how to enchant her listeners with notes clothed in ravishingly mellow tone! As well as a rare ability to evoke, precisely, the mood of the moment, Iranyi\u2019s total absorption of the composer\u2019s ideas was wholly convincing.. It was a triumph enhanced by the finesse of Asch\u2019s direction. It came across as a compendium of sonic and expressive marvels. A storm of applause greeted its conclusion; it was a thoroughly deserved response.<\/p>\n
If the concert had ended at that point, I\u2019d have left more than satisfied \u2013 but more magic was in store: Mahler\u2019s Fourth Symphony.<\/p>\n
In the symphony, conductor and players responded to the score as if it had been written specially for them. Here were subtleties of phrasing, tempi that sounded entirely appropriate with, as well, a rare expressiveness that allowed the work\u2019s manifold beauties to register at an impressively high level. And, in the closing movement, Iranyi\u2019s singing added yet more lustre to the evening.<\/p>\n
To usher in the evening, we listened to an account of Schubert\u2019s famous lied \u2013 Death and the Maiden \u2013 accompanied at the piano by Fisch. This was less than entirely successful. The piano (because so much of stage space was taken up by players and their instruments) was positioned far too far to the right side of the stage. And because Iranyi\u2019s voice was not as clearly audible as would have been the case had she sung from the front of the stage \u2013 the same could be said of the piano accompaniment \u2013 this was a too insubstantial offering to make its mark in a meaningful sense.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perth Concert Hall reviewed by Neville Cohn I have been attending \u2013 and reviewing \u2013 WASO concerts for more than 35 years. During that time, I have experienced some of the most satisfying listening I could have hoped for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[32,18,17,34,179,8],"class_list":["post-112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-performance","tag-asher-fisch","tag-chon","tag-cohn","tag-perth-concert-hall","tag-w-a-symphony-orchestra","tag-waso"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Yv33-1O","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":158,"url":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/concert-w-a-symphony-orchestra\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":0},"title":"CONCERT W.A.Symphony Orchestra","author":"reviewer","date":"August 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Perth Concert Hall reviewed by Neville Cohn. \u00a0 Cedric Tiberghien is a highly accomplished pianist. I recall with please his stunningly fine accounts of some of Messiaen\u2019s most complex works at a Perth Festival some years ago. His flawless fingers are up to any challenge \u2013 and this was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Live Performance"","block_context":{"text":"Live Performance","link":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/category\/live-performance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":247,"url":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/w-a-symphony-orchestra-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":1},"title":"W.A.Symphony Orchestra","author":"reviewer","date":"March 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Perth Concert Hall reviewed by Neville Cohn It was a delightful program presented to a capacity house. It consisted of one of the most loved and timeless of all ballet scores as well as a work being played by the WASO for the very first time. The latter \u00a0- Rossiniana\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Live Performance"","block_context":{"text":"Live Performance","link":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/category\/live-performance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":199,"url":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/w-a-symphony-orchestra-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":2},"title":"W.A.Symphony Orchestra","author":"reviewer","date":"November 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Perth Concert Hall reviewed by Neville Cohn Did you know that Grieg\u2019s opus was the very first piano concerto ever recorded? It happened more than a century ago - as far back as 1909. The soloist was a very young Wilhelm Backhaus. It\u2019s a compressed version of the work \u2013\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Live Performance"","block_context":{"text":"Live Performance","link":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/category\/live-performance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32,"url":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/w-a-symphony-orchestra-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":3},"title":"W.A Symphony Orchestra","author":"reviewer","date":"March 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Perth Concert Hall reviewed by Neville Cohn \u00a0 Aristotle had a poor opinion of the flute. \u201cIt does not have a good moral effect. It is too exciting\u201d. But if, through some miracle of time travel, that ancient philosopher had come along to the Concert Hall, I\u2019d like to think\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Live Performance"","block_context":{"text":"Live Performance","link":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/category\/live-performance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flute","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newozartsreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Andrew-Nicholson_Principal-Flute_preview-226x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40,"url":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/w-a-symphony-orchestra-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":4},"title":"W.A. Symphony Orchestra","author":"reviewer","date":"March 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Perth Concert Hall review by Neville Cohn \u00a0 I was surprised to read in the printed program that the WASO\u2019s performance at the weekend of Beethoven\u2019s Choral Fantasy was the first time it has been played since 1972. Perhaps one of the reasons for this near-half century absence from its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Live Performance"","block_context":{"text":"Live Performance","link":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/category\/live-performance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"WA Symphony Orchestra","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newozartsreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/west-australian-symphony-orchestra-1-1-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35,"url":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/w-a-symphony\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":5},"title":"W.A. Symphony","author":"reviewer","date":"March 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Perth Concert Hall reviewed by Neville Cohn \u00a0 There was a near-capacity audience\u00a0 to listen to Veronika Eberle making her WASO debut as soloist in Beethoven\u2019s Violin Concerto. Glamorously gowned in yellow, she played on a Stradivarius violin \u2013 \u00a0known as the \u00a0Dragonetti and dating from 1700 \u2013 on loan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Live Performance"","block_context":{"text":"Live Performance","link":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/category\/live-performance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Veronika Eberle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newozartsreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Masters-1_Veronika-Eberle_%C2%A9Felix-Broede_preview-247x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}