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Perth talents Ashley Smith, Gladys Chua, Sophie Curtis and Paul Wright bring Musica Viva to Concert Hall

Headshot of David Cusworth
David CusworthThe West Australian
Ashley Smith, Gladys Chua and Sophie Curtis on stage for Musica Viva at Perth Concert Hall.
Camera IconAshley Smith, Gladys Chua and Sophie Curtis on stage for Musica Viva at Perth Concert Hall. Credit: Musica Viva

Artist, academic, athlete and Hard Quiz alumnus Ashley Smith claimed last year on national TV to be a rock-star clarinettist.

In two French classics on Wednesday he showed why.

A combination of technique, delicacy and sheer chutzpah carried him through virtuosic renditions of Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie and Ferranc’s Trio in E-flat major, with the staunch support of pianist Gladys Chua and cellist Sophie Curtis; the program rounded out by violinist Paul Wright chiming in for Smetana’s Piano Trio in G minor.

It was an all-WA line-up to launch Musica Viva’s touring season; modified to reflect current travel restrictions and uncertainty.

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Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie, written as a Paris Conservatoire exam piece, gave the initial workout.

Chua and Smith each tested the air meditatively before combining in a limpid, crystalline duet, ripples of clarinet building to rumbles and back as piano danced attendance; then swapping phrases, jazz-style.

Smith was athletic and sinewy in delivery while Chua was understated and constant, yet deftly co-ordinated; the clarinet inevitably showed off tonal and dynamic range, but never so much as to overawe or overwhelm the piano.

Paul Wright, Gladys Chua and Sophie Curtis onstage for Musica Viva at Perth Concert Hall.
Camera IconPaul Wright, Gladys Chua and Sophie Curtis onstage for Musica Viva at Perth Concert Hall. Credit: Musica Viva

Wright and Curtis then joined Chua for the Smetana, written after the death of a young daughter.

Dark, slavonic tone in the violin drew piano and cello into a dramatic exposition of grief; piano towering in chords, intervals and runs until cello led a second, meditative figure, throwing to violin.

Growing more urgent in ensemble playing, strings bowed frantically, driving then driven as piano reasserted the lead. Florid phrases reset the mood before returning to the violin’s tragic opening gambit.

Each brought to this majestic yet mournful piece rich expression and intensity of interpretation to match its grandiose phrasing. This showed in the second movement, a brief introduction summoning a heartfelt tribute in violin. Variable tempi were a particular feature, as was agility to match mood to music.

In the finale, a vigorous, striving attack echoed the first movement before a mournful figure in cello led in a dancelike phase, almost folkloric, triggering virtuoso piano then returning to mourning in the strings.

Long before Kubler-Ross, Smetana seemed to be running through the stages of grief, giving way finally to a grand and dignified march, brief fade and final flourish.

Ferranc, a French female composer of means, brought a #MeToo moment to the hall and more sublime playing.

Ashley Smith
Camera IconAshley Smith

Deeply resonant cello summoned clarinet from low in the range, pausing for piano to introduce a lighter figure; Smith warbling flute-like in the upper register.

Chua channelled a Beethoven-like vigour in faster passages with a dynamism echoed in clarinet.

Mellow cello opened the second movement, leading velvet-like clarinet, Curtis as rich as Smith was limpid, with a languor and longing echoed in piano; beautifully balanced in the cadence.

Playful attack in the third stanza brought a hint of mystery, with dynamics a telling feature; rising and falling with a pulsing, wave-like quality, racing to a sudden conclusion.

A breezy clarinet entry to the finale unleashed a flurry of notes, mediated by piano as clarinet withdrew into a dream-like sequence.

But excitement was never far away, Smith and Chua seemingly unable to resist a rapid run, or three; the mercurial, febrile quality of this piece fitting them like a gossamer glove.

In encore, Wright rejoined the group for WA composer Lachlan Skipworth’s setting of his 2012 work, Ode; melody drifting from violin to cello and clarinet over shimmering piano, with a hint of past remembrance.

Lilting ensemble playing returned repeatedly to a sweeping refrain in the strings; redolent of regret.

Details of the Musica Viva season can be found at www.musicaviva.com.au.

Smith’s appearance on Hard Quiz can be viewed at https://iview.abc.net.au/video/LE1841V015S00.

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