Review: Theodore Kuchar and Friends

Classic concert event was simply music to our ears

THE WONDERFUL aspect of Sunday’s concert “Theodore Kuchar and Friends” is that it was reminiscent very much of the beginnings of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.

Presented by the Great Barrier Reef Orchestra (GBRO), and handsomely filling the void created with the departure of the festival, this was an outstanding blended presentation of chamber music, which saw the collaboration of Townsville and international acclaimed musicians.

Three local musicians – Jo Batterham (piano), Richard Shaw (clarinet) and Olivia Jung (violin) – were featured in this concert created by founder of the AFCM and now artistic director of the GBRO, Theodore Kuchar. With Kuchar on viola, the group was completed by Ukrainian violinist Oksana Hretchyn, and Brisbane-based cellist Patrick Murphy.

Kuchar created a concert outstanding in its delicacy and simplicity. Instead of being overcome with the big sound of large orchestra, we were treated to the sensitive, delicate and expert playing of six musicians whose collaboration showed just how expertly they listened to each other to create a sound that absorbed the entire audience.

Of considerably personal meaning to Kuchar, the first item was Beethoven’s 1803 “Sonata No 8 for Violin and Piano in G Major”. Oksana Hretchyn (violin) and pianist Jo Batterham blended perfectly through the three movements of the piece which set the tone for the rest of the evening’s program.

Written in 1789, and referred to sometimes as the Stadler Quintet, Mozart’s “Clarinet Quintet in A Major” saw five of the musicians perform this work which remains one of the composer’s most admired works. With all five musicians tuned so perfectly into each other, it highlighted each musician’s individual mastery of their respective instrument.

The final piece was Schumann’s 1842 “Piano Quintet in E Flat Major”, known for its exuberance and considered one of the composer’s finest works and a major work of 19th century chamber music. Renowned for the difficult piano part, Jo Batterham excelled in her performance of this piece, with every single musician contributing equally for this entire performance.

The performance was a perfect curtain-raiser for the orchestra’s main concert on Saturday at the Townsville Civic Theatre, and hopefully similar concerts will be featured on the annual GBRO calendar.