Review – QSO’s Night Music: a light and fresh take

By Nahima Abraham

Night Music

Presented by the QSO

Directed by Natsuko Yoshimoto QSO Studio

South Bank

Run time: 75 mins.

The Queensland Symphony Orchestra Up Close performance, Night Music, was an intimate affair. Tucked away under the iconic offering to the world of Ferris Wheels, this QSO space was buzzing. Performing to an almost full house, with plenty of eager ears willing to hear the carefully curated program, the stripped-to-its-strings QSO did not disappoint. This was simple concert, with three pieces to round out a pleasant evening reliving the traditions of yore. Amadeus Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik as director and concert master Natsuko Yoshimoto put it is a “gig” type piece that brings as much misery to the performers as checked out boredom to its listeners.

However, overplayed this was not. The brilliant QSO strings brought to the table a light and fresh take on something that seems to be at everyone’s wedding. This piece is as striking as it is iconic and funny as it is cheeky. It really did prove to be a timeless classic and with a light and airy romance, truly introduced the audience into a night where they could while away any troubles for 75 minutes and just listen. Following Mozart, was an echo to next week’s performance of Don Quixote. This was no Strauss. Georg Telemann was of a similar era, and yet created an ode to the great Cervantes tale that is deserving of a grander stage. His Don Quixote suite brought a 17-minute, 7-movement suite that revealed a peek into the mad cap life of the lopsided Don.

Accompanying the QSO strings was the dulcet and woody tones of the harpsichord and whose gentle strings echoed with purpose through the studio. Finally, the real star of the show and personal favourite performance began. Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht or “Transfigured Night” was full of pensive moments of mournful longing, beautiful scene painting, and relentless motifs that had you guessing when the end would be. This piece, full of anguish and loaded story was certainly a talking point. While all these pieces didn’t seem to stem from a common theme, the QSO’s interpretation of each piece brought together a unity and strength that goes to show it's certainly not stopping the great music. It’s going to be great rest of the year where QSO is concerned.