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WA Symphony Orchestra and Brent Grapes play Henri Tomasi Concerto and American in Paris at Perth Concert Hall

Headshot of David Cusworth
David CusworthThe West Australian
Brent Grapes plays Henri Tomasi’s Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra with WA Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor Asher Fisch.
Camera IconBrent Grapes plays Henri Tomasi’s Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra with WA Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor Asher Fisch. Credit: Linda Dunjey

Brent Grapes took the Concert Hall stage to a hometown hero’s welcome on Friday, shredding Henri Tomasi’s Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra with passionate precision.

The WA Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet leapt from back row to front of stage with a florid fanfare, brilliant yet full of pathos, giving way to muted jazz musings as strings and flute sighed in blues mode.

Grapes, a Perth-raised and Juilliard-trained musician, cites Lincoln Centre maestro Wynton Marsalis as an influence, and it showed in his mastery of virtuoso passages; with full tone and clear articulation in the most rapid transitions matched by consumate exposition of intervals.

Written as an exam piece for the Paris Conservatoire, the concerto gives every faculty of the trumpet a workout and Grapes met every test.

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How much so was evident in the cadenza, with deft control, muted and open, in all registers; fluent and fluid over muted snare drum, arpeggios tumbling like waterfalls, crisp and clean.

Brent Grapes with WA Symphony Orchestra.
Camera IconBrent Grapes with WA Symphony Orchestra. Credit: Linda Dunjey

In the Nocturne second movement, mystery in harp and cymbal drew a meditative muted solo. Unhurried by the moment, Grapes showed the assurance of decades of dedication and refinement of technique; while Asher Fisch on the podium played the disappearing director, languidly steering the orchestra to leave all eyes on the solo.

Brisk again in the Finale, trumpet riffed over the top as lower brass and horns echoed the other crowd pleaser on the program, Gershwin’s American in Paris.

Finally, a fanfare gave way to sonorous jazz and back; rising to an electric climax and wild cheers and applause.

To calm the moment, Grapes gave a soaring, ethereal encore of the Gershwin standard Someone to watch over me, first muted then open; soothing the mood amid a hectic night.

The calm echoed the brief opening work, Barber’s Adagio for Strings; drifting in through rustling violins, gradually filling out the lower register, inveigling the auditorium.

Fisch’s reading had all the time in the world; shimmering strings sliding between chords, melody passing seamlessly between sections, tonal unity sustaining an unbroken flow.

The arc rose to a climax under broader gestures from the podium before breaking to reflect; then reprising the serpentine stream of sound, subsiding to a strangely irresolute silence.

Asher Fisch conducts WA Symphony Orchestra.
Camera IconAsher Fisch conducts WA Symphony Orchestra. Credit: Linda Dunjey

Kurt Weill’s Symphony No.2 followed, a dramatic stirring in strings summoning Jenna Smith’s mournfully sweet trumpet, then building energy across the ensemble; the first excitement of the night arriving in Alex Timcke’s percussive timpani, dramatic flourishes of brass agitating the mix.

Weill switches mood repeatedly throughout this piece, testing the cohesion of the orchestra and throwing up highlights in Allan Meyer’s clarinet and Liz Chee’s oboe, with duets in trumpet (Smith and Peter Miller) and flutes (Mary-Anne Blades and Michael Waye).

Sturm und Drang of 1930s Germany darkened horizons in the Largo second movement, giving way to mystery in flute and Rod McGrath’s cello, before Joshua Davis’ florid trombone swooned over pizzicato strings, throwing to violins and on to brass choir.

In the finale, surging strings and brass brought a sense of abandon in dance; yet ever closely controlled as twin piccolos, clarinet, oboe and trumpet took the lead.

Pent-up energy seemed to explode in the coda, with fiery motifs thrown across the stage, racing to a explosive climax.

The many brass players in the audience — some wagging band practice — got their money’s worth even before the Tomasi concerto; and in conclusion Gershwin’s American in Paris iced the cake.

This light-hearted pastiche brought on several augments, including klaxon horns and a plangent bass clarinet (Alex Millier).

Fisch exploited every ounce of humour in the work; and also its pathos in cor anglais (Leanne Glover) and oboe.

Smith was again an able stand-in for Grapes with a muted solo, answered by Davis on trombone.

But this is above all an ensemble piece; a tone poem with complex chords and counter rhythms deftly delivered, surging through ragtime riffs and bluesy interludes to reprise the humour of the opening at the close.

More WASO principals will front the band this year, as COVID-19 curbs on travel restrict international and interstate exchanges.

And the jazz goes on next Friday, March 19, with The Best of Rodgers and Hammerstein, under the baton of Jessica Gethin.

www.waso.com.au

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