Davis reinvigorates Mahler with his generous attention to detail. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

This tribute to a seminal cinematic collaboration offers a thrilling homage to two great artists. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

MSO Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey shares why the Hitchcock-Herrmann partnership is cinema's finest.

The highly accomplished Canadian arts leader was formerly the CEO of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

This touching tribute to composer Allan Zavod shares an important message in an easily accessible language.

Creating environmental awareness through the medium of the symphony. The notion that the plight of our global environment could be told through the arts came from a lengthy conversation with my dear friend and prominent scientist, Dr Alan Finkel. We are both very optimistic, enthusiastic and creative beings and as a passionate musician, I knew that we could deliver environmental awareness through a cinematic composition for live orchestra. And so, the journey began. The Environmental Symphony was played in part during in the 2010 Prime Minister’s Banksia Environmental Awards. This in itself was a triumph with the symphony performed to synchronised visuals and narrated by Sir Richard Branson. Now the time has come to experience The Environmental Symphony in full. I look forward immensely to enjoying the performance at Hamer Hall, in my beloved home town of Melbourne. The symphony is descriptive and is expressed in five parts for both the orchestra and at the narrator. My friend, Bert Newton will host the night and introduce an 80-plus strong Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to perform the composition. Jack Thompson will provide narration to the dramatic, synchronised environmental visuals. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by the brilliant Ben Northey. This will be…

This remarkable film was a hit when released in 1995, garnering an armful of awards and making a squillion at the box office; a triumph for Australian filmmaking. George Miller and Chris Noonan used an imaginative mix of animation, live action and animatronics to create a convincing world of talking animals and drama. The enterprise was helped on its merry way by Nigel Westlake’s fine score, in which he primarily drew on Saint-Saëns’ organ symphony. I use the word ‘merry’ purposefully, as the noble theme of the story and the way it plays out is joyful. Dare I say, heartfelt? Quick grab a tissue! There are passing glances at other classical composers such as Grieg, Bizet, Fauré and Delibes; whose Pizzicati from Sylvia is used to great effect. Westlake uses this source material creatively and often with humour (even Jingle Bells gets a look in) leaving the great theme by Saint-Saëns as the musical binding for this life-affirming story. The playful arrangement of this big tune for Farmer Hoggett’s dance in the last track is a sheer delight. Westlake’s skill as a composer is matched by his brilliant… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…

The new four day festival, BBC Proms Australia, brings the world’s biggest classical music festival Down Under. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Far from hinting at the avant garde orchestral works to come, Charles Ives’ symphonic debut could almost have been penned by Dvorˇák with Brahms and Tchaikovsky looking over his shoulder. Ives had heard the New York premiere of the New World Symphony and he paid it more than a passing nod, almost channelling the famous Largo (including cor anglais). This engaging work, written when he was still at Yale, shows the insurance salesman-cum-composer was no mere hobbyist. It includes a highly competent fugue in the Scherzo, engaging melodies and skilful use of orchestral palette. The five-movement Second Symphony, championed by Bernstein, is more characteristic with snatches of Stephen Foster’s Camptown Races and American hymns vying with quotes from Beethoven, Brahms, Bach and Wagner. There’s a hint of what was to come in the final bars where it ends on an abrupt, comical key change – a musical thumbing of the nose? The work was applauded at its premiere although Ives is said to have spat at its reception. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra are clearly relishing their collaboration with Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis judging from the playing in both works. Phrasing and tempi are excellent and technically they are up there with overseas orchestras. Production from Chandos is exemplary….

On choosing between classical and jazz, the old and the new, and the challenge of Rach Three.

Sir Andrew Davis embraces the Bard while a host of starry soloists add to Melbourne’s imaginative line-up. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The illustrious British maestro has been Chief Conductor of the orchestra since 2013.