Live Review: Beethoven, Beer, Bratwurst... And Bjork!

The Perth Symphony Orchestra, launched in November 2011, spearheaded by Bourby Webster, has turned their noses up to the typical toff of symphony orchestra performances and painted the vast reaches of the orchestral landscape in all manner of pop, rock, and metal. Friday night's offering at the B Shed saw the Perth Symphony Orchestra, under the graceful baton of conductor, Jessica Gethin, turn their masterful hands to the works of Beethoven and - because why the hell not? - Bjork! 

Joined by one of Australia's finest female voices this side of the Bull sisters, Helen Shanahan, the orchestra transformed the otherwise soulless B Shed into a palace of concerto wizardry with two of Bjork's most sophisticated compositions in Lionsong and Pneumonia. Orchestrated by 24-year-old Jared Yapp, the spellbinding performance opened the audience's minds to the possibility that the centuries-old staple of classical music can brave a foray into the unknown. The unlikely sonic marriage of a symphony orchestra with genres of music once thought incompatible has been a cornerstone of the Perth Symphony Orchestra from its inception.

Staying in the low 20s because everybody in that age category is better than you, 24-year-old Sean Tinnion had his world premiere with the astonishing and heart-stirring piece Remembrance overwhelming the audience, some of who visibly needed time to bridge the discord in their minds between the exquisiteness of what they were hearing with exactly where they were hearing it.

The Perth Symphony Orchestra - from its musicians to its production team - deserve all credit and recognition they receive. The risks taken in venturing into such largely untrodden musical territory is nothing if not extremely brave, and the music is exceptional and undeniably world class. Bravo!

NB: Look, a very frank and honest admission needs to be made here: your reviewer was enticed by the promise of bratwurst and black forest cake and figured that for the trade-off of having to masquerade as somebody who was familiar with the various suites and compositions of Beethoven, the risk was well worth it. TheMusic has it on good authority that he made it through the evening without being (completely) exposed as the imposter that he very much was.

The Perth Symphony Orchestra will perform an orchestral rendition of the well-known Christmas story The Snowman on 17 Dec at Scotch College. Refer to perthsymphony.com for more details.