Melbourne Symphony Orchestra | Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
7 August, 2025, Hamer Hall, Melbourne, VIC
A spiritual journey, the inner conflict of a romantic and a bucolic romp. Now that’s what I call an evening’s entertainment, which is exactly what was delivered by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with conductor Shiyeon Sung and guest virtuoso violinist Simone Lamsma.
Speaking in the pre-concert talk, Greek-Australian composer Klearhos Murphy outlined the spiritual journey reflected in the three movements of his new work, The Ascent, about to be premiered. The Eastern Orthodox themes of Purification, Illumination and Deification were depicted in various ways in the music and you really got a sense of the conflict between chaos and order, light and darkness, good and evil. Klearhos is obviously a talent to watch out for and really drew out the mystical and mysterious in music in this work.
Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma also connected with the whirling turmoil of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D. It is such a feat of gymnastics for the performer, and exhilarating to watch, but for me, it is those golden melodies and persistent modulations that really stir me up and touch my heart. An elegant performance, Simone’s mastery of the instrument was awesome to behold. And there was a great synergy between the soloist, conductor Shiyeon Sung and the orchestra.
Making her debut appearance with the MSO, South Korean conductor Shiyeon Sung took centre stage with the much loved Symphony No. 2 by Brahms, with its pastorale like flavour. It’s a great work and much loved in the orchestra repertoire. Sung has a more restrained conducting style than we have gotten used to from Jamie Martin, and was still very effective in drawing out the important lyrical moments of the symphony, including those wonderful echoes of ‘Brahms lullaby’ and darker use of the horns at the beginning and end of the work.
Concerts are journeys that we take together as an audience, and I’m fascinated by some of the research around collective behaviour in concert halls. And what a lovely journey to have been on and one which moved the soul, the heart and body, with the Hungarian-inspired dances embodied by Brahms.
