Beethoven’s Emperor crowns WA Symphony Orchestra season with Lukas Vondracek and Asher Fisch at Winthrop Hall

Beethoven’s “Emperor” Piano Concerto No.5 crowned WA Symphony Orchestra’s year at UWA Winthrop Hall on Sunday, completing all five Beethoven piano concertos in as many days with principal conductor Asher Fisch and pianist Lukas Vondracek. Bold and majestic opening orchestral chords gave way to dynamic lyricism then cascades and trills in piano; crisp yet fluid in the opening flourish. Towering trumpets (Jenna Smith and Darcy O’Malley) heralded a quickening of pace, cooling for a sublime horn duet (David Evans and Julia Brooke) then firing again with timpani (Francois Combemorel). WASO’s core woodwind chorale summoned another exquisite piano entry, by turns rhapsodic and robust. Vondracek found balance between Beethoven’s extremes of expression and technique, rolling through changes in tone and tempo over tightly timed orchestral interventions. The “military” character of the first movement never strayed from its musical mission to put piano front and centre, where Vondracek found reserves of pathos amid the passion. Feather-light trills, answered in strings, built again to the grandeur of the opening. Softly intoned horn (Brooke) inspired another ethereal piano refrain, with orchestral interjections refreshing the attack, answered by piano with effortless elan. As Fisch stoked the philharmonic furnace, Vondracek launched a cadenza of quicksilver charm, firing a frenzy of runs, trills and chords to close. Elegiac strings opened the Adagio middle movement, echoed in woodwind to draw in angelic musing from piano. Time stood still as soloist and orchestra leaned gently into the much-imitated melodic lead, languid and limpid as a mountain stream. Settling into a low chord and mournful key change, Vondracek gradually teased out the snow-melt transition to the avalanche of the Finale, its broken rhythm and visceral drive erupting from piano to orchestra in brusque peals of bravura. The soloist gave free rein to an ebullient romp with fiery stress on the pivotal beat of a mechanistic-yet-musical measure; channeling Napoleon’s 1809 bombardment of Vienna, where Beethoven composed the concerto, into solace and defiance. Vondracek’s fingers danced across the keys as though they glowed with the heat of gunfire, yet reflective moments gave that the lie; menace morphing to magic and back in equal measure. At the last, an eccentric pulse in delivery over whispering timpani erupted in a glorious afterglow that brought Winthrop Hall to its feet. Loud applause hailed the Beethovian bromance between conductor and pianist before a whimsical encore of Dvorak’s Humoresque summoned the lazy haze of summer in a tantalising fadeout. As a foretaste, Beethoven’s Namensfeier overture was stately and sure in its opening fanfare then sweetly melodic to follow; a good-time composition matching the matinee mood. A more nuanced approach emerged in Beethoven’s Symphony No.1, the Adagio prelude syrupy smooth to usher in a furtive stirring of strings and full orchestral effects; another ideal afternoon offering. Second violins led out the Adagio second stanza for an apt moment in the sun. As woodwind and brass chimed in deftly, light through stained glass windows bathed the hall in a Goldilocks glow. The more urgent ambience of the Menuetto third movement hinted at the Scherzo style in symphonies to come, and subtle changes in scoring spoke to the wealth of expression in store. Stark drama then broached the Finale, giving way to lyricism in strings and lavish interplay across the ensemble. Fanfares raised the temperature for a dash to the finish, with flute (Andrew Nicholson) riding a bow wave to the shore. On Friday, the second of three episodes in the series, brass drew in staunch strings then lyrical woodwind for the Egmont overture, weaving Goethe’s narrative of nobility in the face of oppression. A stirring in strings heightened the drama as Fisch traced a rhythmic build up to the earworm chordal refrain, with melodic lines spilling across the stage in contrasting waves of tone and dynamics. Horns then trumpets beat out the jagged hand-of-fate motif, igniting fanfares and fragmentary themes as tragedy loomed in the face of triumph. An orchestral interlude opened the Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat, historically the first Beethoven wrote and second published. A lighter palette — absent trumpets with just two horns and five woodwind — leaned heavily on strings for a delicate tone picked up in the solo; balladic in ambience, blossoming to brilliance. Close connection between podium and piano held dynamics and tempo in lock step as quicksilver flourishes alternated with warmer reflection, and Fisch’s baton quivered in time to the trills. All fell quiet for a cadenza clustered with gems, before chiming in for a decisive conclusion. Bassoon set the scene for the Adagio middle movement, echoed in strings and horn to ease Vondracek’s entry; a pensive, pondering passage over softly bowed accompaniment. Languid phrases flowed from the keyboard, answered in sonorous woodwind, with the lightest of pizzicato breaking to full-voiced call and response. Crystalline timbre in the solo cooled the mood; pausing for an ensemble interlude then resuming in solemn musing to close. Barely a moment’s silence led in the Rondo finale; soloist and orchestra swapping phrases, by turns bucolic and virtuosic. Offbeat measure lent a spark of whimsy to the mix before a race to the exits. After the interval, Vondracek settled into calm chords of the Concerto No.4 in G, echoed in strings to stir woodwind then horns; rousing Beethoven’s Romantic spirit in exposition of the theme. Vondracek responded in kind, with assured left hand and lyrical right. Grandiloquent sweeps up and down the range caught the heroic tone, and its mirror in quiet reflection, albeit briefly. Rumbustious energy bubbled beneath as Vondracek explored expression and technique in this experimental work, down to a scintillating cadenza full of quirks and charm, with grandeur to finish. The Andante middle movement opened in orchestral histrionics and an elegiac reply from piano. Gradually, quiet contemplation at the keyboard quenched the fire in the ensemble. Just as smooth, the Rondo finale slowly insinuated its distinct beat; breaking out in brass to summon full symphonic effects. Energy flowed back and forth from boisterous piano to barely there strings, punctuated time and again by trumpet and timpani. The woodwind chorale brought fresh input to the conversation, with explosive brass and percussion putting a breeze under Vondracek’s wings. Plangent figures in the bass register led in another dazzling cadenza, exciting an ensemble frenzy with piano highlights to conclude. WASO returns for its sophomore season at UWA Winthrop Hall in 2026.