Dodds and Lea steal Zubin show

 

The mesmerising flow of music from the orchestra coming through subtly on the quality of natural acoustics alone made it a different kind of experience. There was none of the in-your-ears kind of loudness associated with all the microphones and loudspeaker audio gadgetry of pop music. The flow and cadences of such pure and joyous music would have held the aficionados in thrall. 

 

This was a musical experience gathered thanks to an invitation from an automobile major as the hall was filled with the creations of Mozart, Rossini and Brahms for just under two hours. And there was a Czechoslovakian dance number as encore at the end as a gift from Zubin to the audience. At a sprightly 89, Zubin was there with a magical wand as it were, his energy levels astounding as he drove his violinists on to greater heights of creativity.

 

The special appearance of Greta Bradman helped complete a tryst with the city’s other great love – cricket. One of the sport’s most famous surnames had never graced the soil of the city although the Don did visit Bombay port and Calcutta airport in transit to and from England, once as a cricketer heading out to the Ashes and on the other as a journalist reporting Ashes cricket.

 

Don’s granddaughter Greta, the soprano highly regarded to have won the 2013-14 Australian International Opera Award, made up for it by singing here, reflecting her vocal range, power and coloratura,, as music critics are wont to say. She sang the ‘der Holle Roche’ aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute with The depth of feeling conveyed made obvious by the English translation which starts – “Hell Revenge cooks in my heart / Death and despair flame about me.” And then the softer theme of Rossini’s ‘Una Voce Poco Fa’ (A voice has just echoed here into my heart) for a nice balance of emotions to a whole gamut of pitch making us wonder how much talent and voice training is needed to render thus.