Soulful Journeys

A cold and rainy night didn’t deter concertgoers from attending QSO’s Soulful Journeys and the chance to hear acclaimed 28-year-old Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrandez performing Dvorak’s supreme Concerto in B minor for Cello and Orchestra, Op.104. It was the second time the esteemed Ferrandez has appeared with the QSO. He played his Australian debut with them in 2017.

A child prodigy and named Pablo after Pablo Casals, he has continued to honour the great Spanish cellist by winning award after award. He committed his performance of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto to disc in 2014, but what a thrill it was to experience it up close and personal live.

Playing his 1696 ‘Lord Aylesford’ Stradivarius, the anticipation before he began his solo cello improvisation in the first movement was palpable. His adagio was sensitive, beautifully controlled, and introspective, whilst his Allegro was spectacularly florid, showcasing his virtuosity. The audience went wild and were rewarded with two encores one of which was Casals’ own arrangement of the Catalan folksong El Cant dels Ocells. It was impassioned, poetic, and a worthy tribute to his hero and musical influence.

The concert opened with West Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth’s wind-themed tone poem Spiritus, a work that premiered in 2018 when Skipworth was composer-in-residence at the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Evoking images of rural Australia and desolate landscapes during the bombast of storms and the eerie rippling of soft, mild breezes, the piece was stunningly melodic as it unfolded its themes of the psychological and primal influences of the wind.

The third piece on the program was Debussy’s Nocturnes a work that is burnished with the sombre tones of grey. The use of a wordless female chorus to represent the sirens of the sea was realised with great vocal dexterity by the Canticum Chamber Choir.

Guest conductor, Scandanavian Daniel Blendulf was back at the podium doing sterling baton work and creating magic with the orchestra whose energy and commitment was unsurpassed.

Peter Pinne