Friday 23 October 2026

Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday)

Cocktail Hour with David Campbell (Utzon Series)

For the Utzon Series, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra asks one member to curate an hour’s program of chamber music to be performed in the intimate panoramic space of the Utzon Room. This time it was the turn of Principal Bass, David Campbell, who devised a program of rhythmic music from the Americas. And as always the audience is welcomed with a glass of wine by the sponsors, Handpicked Wines.

Campbell wanted chamber music that featured his double bass, but steered away from the obvious choices of Schubert, Dvorak and Beethoven. What he landed on were three inspirational pieces that revolved around rhythm, whether it was the dance rhythm of the tango, or the pure repeated rhythms of minimalism. Our host, Genevieve Lang gave us some interesting background to the music , as well as some insight into Campbell, her long-time orchestral colleague.

The greatest and best-known exponent of the tango, Astor Piazzolla opened the proceedings with his work Kicho from 1970. Named after his regular bass player, Enrique ‘Kicho’ Diaz, it is fundamentally a bass concerto in tango rhythm. The piece begins with an extended bass solo, giving tonight’s hero, Campbell, the opportunity to strut his stuff. We quickly realised we were watching a masterclass in his instrument. Fun fact: the wavelength of the bass’s lowest note, E, is 8.259 metres, which is more or less the width of the Utzon Room from glass window to the floor-to-ceiling tapestry. And when he hit that note, the whole room resonated with a rich, warm aural glow. Then the band (8 strings from the SSO) kicked in with the toe-tapping tango rhythms and licks of familiar melodies. I picked up a few quotes from Piazzolla’s Libertango and a few other tunes I recognised but couldn’t place before they dissolved into the new material.

Osvaldo Goliov was a fan of Piazzolla, and after his death in 1992, Goliov was inspired to compose a tribute to his hero. The result, Last Round, a boxing reference about one more fight for his champion. In this piece, the strings are divided into two standard string quartets facing each other like opponents in the ring, with the bass towering over them and between them like the umpire. I love the subtitle of the opening movement, Movido, urgente – macho cool and dangerous. The battle between the quartets is urgent and dangerous. They would throw short aggressive phrases at each other, back and forth, back and forth. Then one quartet played an insistent aggressive rhythm while the other played violent dissonant glissandi. The tension built to fever pitch until it was halted by the ref (Campbell) with a sharp slap pizzicato that stopped the fighting. Round two was a more subdued Lentissimo, based on a 1930’s song, My Beloved Buenos Aires. At the end, the combatants retired bruised and battered to their respective corners and the audience slowly recovered from the experience to show their heart-felt appreciation.

After the strong rhythms of the tango, the music went down a different path with the subtle but regular minimalist rhythms of John Adams’ Shaker Loops. The entire piece is built on rhythmic snippets of semi-quavers, repeated and modulated endlessly. Scored for string sextet in four movements, the music progresses through shimmering patterns that intrigue, comfort, disturb and ultimately release us in a state of shining ecstasy. The strings of the SSO worked tirelessly for the almost 30 minutes of the work, with barely a rest in the entire score. Only occasionally did they require a conductor, and Campbell obliged with his bow when he could, or his forehead as required. But these musicians know each other so intimately, the conducting was superfluous – they feel the rhythm as one entity, and a quick glance is enough to respond to minute changes in the rendition of the score.

The Utzon Room crowd loved every drop of this concert, and applauded enthusiastically as the light faded over the harbour behind the band. Classical orchestral players of this calibre love the chance to play chamber music, and the level at which they perform is second to none. For me, I can’t wait for the next SSO offering in the Utzon series.