Sons may have been taken away for eunuchs, but audience had a ball.

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
October 9, 2014

There’s nothing quite as much fun in the choral repertoire as William Walton’s masterly 1931 evocation of Babylonian licentiousness and comeuppance. Belshazzar’s Feast has deservedly held its place in the repertoire, and last night’s performance by the massed ranks of Sydney Youth Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra and the 350-or-so singers of the Sydney Philharmonia Choir and Festival Chorus showed why. Their sons may have been taken away and been eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon, but these musicians (and their audience) were clearly having a ball (pun possibly intended).

Before the main feast, the appetisers were equally entertaining. Borodin’s Polotsvian Dances were given a brisk, cheerful reading by conductor Brett Weymark, allowing the orchestra maximum chances to glitter and be gay. Articulation is clearly a strength here and most solos were impressively secure with clarinet outstanding. The 100-strong chorus were perfectly balanced by Weymark whose attention to dynamic contrasts was exemplary throughout. The antiphonally placed ladies were warm-toned in the big “Stranger in Paradise” tune though tenors were a little stretched in their adulation of Khan...