There can be few artists with the accomplishments of Kathryn Selby who works so hard at sharing her passion for great music. An accomplished musician in her own right, Selby continues to perform at virtuoso level in each concert of the annual series she organises and tours nationally each year.
For these concerts she selects demanding repertoire that showcase the particular talents of her associate musicians, often introducing them, and the repertoire, to the loyal and knowledgeable audiences she has built up in each city over the years.
And if that were not enough, you’ll find her greeting each member of those audiences as they arrive for each concert, then host, stage manage, even arrange the artist’s chairs and music stands between items.
For Jewels In The Crown those Associate Artists were violinist, Natalie Chee, and Clarinettist, Lloyd Van’t Hoff.
Currently Head of Woodwind at the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium, clarinettist Lloyd Van’t Hoff came to prominence when he won the Grand Prize, the Sir Charles Moses Trophy and the Triffitt Prize in the 2015 Symphony Australia ABC Young Performers Awards.
A founding member of the award-winning Australian Wind Quintet, Acadia Winds, which in that same year, 2015, was announced as Musica Viva Australia’s inaugural Future Makers, Van’t Hoff has since then become a sought after performer at music festivals around Australia and overseas, conducting masterclasses and teaching residences in the USA, Canada and throughout Australia.
Which no doubt accounts for his charming and informative introduction to the Brahms second Clarinet Sonata, which he explained was among the last works composed by Brahms who had become so captivated by the performance of German clarinettist, Richard Muhlfield, that his four final works all featured the clarinet, of which Sonata No.2 in E-flat major was a masterpiece.
He and Selby then offered a sparkling rendition of this Sonata as proof, during which Van’t Hoff captivated this reviewer with the physicality of his performance during which he expressed the emotions of the music as much through his body as with his instrument.
Violinist, Natalie Chee then joined Selby and Van’t Hoff to play a delightful arrangement by young Australian composer, Andrew Howes, of Bartok’s much admired, 6 Romanian Dances.
Usually a staple for young pianists, Howes’ arrangement for clarinet, violin and piano, could hardly have received a more stimulating performance than that offered by these three virtuosi.
Currently concert master of the Gurzenich Orchestra in Cologne, Chee began her musical career at the age of 4 on piano. By age 10 she was studying violin at the Sydney Conservatorium and after winning numerous competitions and prizes while still a teenager, began appearing as a soloist with all the Australian Symphony Orchestras.
After achieving her Soloist Diploma with High Distinction in 1998, she was invited to become a member of Camerata Bern. During this time she also co-founded the chamber music ensembles “Tiramisu” and the Mozart Piano Quartet, and with these groups toured North and South America, Europe and Australia.
In 2000 she became 1st Concertmaster of Camerata Salzburg, then in 2009, 1st Concertmaster of the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart. She is a regular guest Concertmaster of the Australian World Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra.
As is the practice with Selby and Friends concerts, each soloist is given the opportunity to introduce a work, so Chee’s task was to introduce another fascinating work by Bartok entitled Contrasts for Clarinet, Violin and Piano.
As Chee explained in her delightful introduction, Contrasts was commissioned by jazz musician, Benny Goodman and violinist, Joseph Szigeti as an exploration of the timbre and colour variations between the instruments.
Bartok certainly took advantage of that commission to come up with a highly virtuosic and exciting work, which apparently Goodman hated and struggled with. Pity he couldn’t have heard this thrilling performance which kept the attentive audience enthralled, especially as Van’t Hoff and Chee both required two instruments for their performance.
Beethoven described his mighty Kreutzer Sonata, as a concerto for both instruments. In her introduction for the final work of the evening, Selby shared fascinating details as to how the work received its title.
Noted for its technical difficulty, unusual length and emotional depth the Kreutzer Sonata was apparently written for another virtuoso violinist, George Bridgetower. However when Bridgetower unwittingly offended the composer, Beethoven, in a fit of pique, dedicated the work to another violinist, Rodolphe Kreutzer, who hated the work and never played it.
Unbowed by the technical challenges of the work, Selby and Chee thrilled their audience with an astonishing tour de force performance of this work, capping an evening, not only of superb music making, but also of exciting musical discoveries, so typical of a Selby and Friends recital.
Selby and Friends: Jewels In The Crown
James Fairfax Theatre – National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Performance: Friday 12 July 2024
Information: www.selbyandfriends.com.au
Image: Kathryn Selby and Lloyd Van’t Hoff – photo by Peter Hislop
Review: Bill Stephens OAM