North Sydney Symphony Orchestra | Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven
28 March, 2026, Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney, NSW
Rossini – Semiramide Overture,
Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto 1 with Phillip Shovk,
Beethoven – 5th Symphony
Conducted by Steven Hillinger
It was a very interesting concert because as the concert progressed, the music compositions increased in quality. Steven Hillinger has done a wonderful job with the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra (NSSO); the strings make a rich and full sound which resonated beautifully and sonorously in the Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The concert was bookended by a fireworks display outside above the Botanic Gardens, which made for a visually impressive background.
The Overture to Semiramide was almost certainly composed as the last piece for the opera by Rossini, and is unusual in his oeuvres for borrowing musical ideas from the opera itself. Apparently it took him only 33 days to compose the entire opus. He was quite a rockstar musician in his day. This particular work, if you had no knowledge of the opera itself, was actually one of Rossini’s serious operas, but uses some of his comedic techniques of composition, which confused me a bit prior to doing my research. It is what I call, a ‘bitsy’ composition, with lots of melodic ideas strung together by note-filling bridge sections that serve no purpose other than to keep the orchestra busy as the composition traverses from one idea to another, and ends with Rossini’s signature slow crescendo. The NSSO negotiated all the difficulties of the score with aplomb; it was a fine performance.
Speaking of bitsy, now we come to the world famous Tchaikovsky first piano concerto. This composition is the definitive example of all of Tchaikovsky’s strengths and weaknesses: long, flowing, gorgeous memorable tunes linked up with musical material that is structurally weak. Rubinstein and company pointed out these weaknesses during its unveiling but Tchaikovsky retaliated by saying “I will not change a note” (or words to that effect).
The NSSO was outstanding in accompanying Phillip Shovk, and Phillip was even more outstanding in supporting the orchestra when required. There was a moment in the 3rd movement when the orchestra went slightly out of sync. You could see Phillip suddenly pay careful attention, and he was fully alert to the outside world rather than immersed in his inner world, and he modified his solo so that he could recover the situation. That was brilliantly done, and shows Phillip as a world class soloist.
As for the rest of the performance, Phillip was dominant as he needed to be, and carried the performance. From the crashing chords, to impressive runs up and down the keyboard, from bringing out melodies among a myriad of accompaniment figurations, to virtuosic passagework while being drowned out by the orchestra (which Rubinstein mentioned), Phillip did it all. He has such an assured aura; he coaxes and caresses the full range of the keyboard, and he makes it look very easy.
The Beethoven fifth, undoubtedly the highlight of this concert, is music composition that is famous worldwide and rightly so. For every bar has been crafted with the highest quality. It is a great piece of music (see my review for Beethoven’s symphony 9!). Steven Hillinger went for a stately rather than dramatic performance, a safe tempo rather than a stormy ‘fate-smashing-down-my-door’ approach. Whether it was because that was the orchestra’s limit or Steven believed in this kind of sound, I was disappointed. But the listening public has been spoiled for choice with this piece of music – so I was always going to be disappointed!
Steven’s conducting is precise, safe, and easy to understand. There are no dramatic gestures, his phrasing was consistent and thoughtful, and he successfully managed to create magic in the transition from the 3rd to the 4th movement. The orchestra covered a full dynamic range and gave this piece the love and attention it deserved. All the parts came together and gave an exquisite performance that was greater than the sum of the parts. Beethoven would have been very happy with the performance, if he could have heard it.
Bravo Steven and the NSSO!
