Music / Rhythm and Rites, CSO Chamber Classics. At Albert Hall, October 26. Reviewed by GRAHAM MCDONALD.

A brief look at the program on the Canberra Symphony Orchestra website suggested an eclectic and somewhat unlikely mix of composers – GF Handel, Claude Debussy, Philip Glass, Peggy Polias, Astor Piazzolla and Nigel Westlake – in a one-hour concert.

There was mention that there was an emphasis on percussion, but no detail as to the performers other than it was the CSO Chamber Ensemble. This consists of Veronica Bailey (the CSO’s principal percussionist), Timothy Brigden, Wyana O’Keeffe and Louis Sharpe.

The ensemble on this outing was, in fact, the four percussionists of the CSO, allowed a rare excursion from the back of the stage, and having to “iron the back of their shirts”. The program was based around marimbas and vibraphones with the occasional addition of timpani, cymbals, other drums and a table of tuned cowbells.

The concert opened with Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, with three players on two marimbas with a sound reminiscent of a slightly cheesy Farfisa organ. This sounded rather odd at first, but by the end of the work it sounded quite natural.

This was followed by a world premiere by Sydney based composer Peggy Polias, the CSO’s Composer in Connection, written for percussion quartet. This started with quick, repeated two-note patterns punctuated by sharp single notes on the marimba. This gradually dissolved into sparser percussion, bowed cymbals, gently malleted drums and rubbed tympani that gradually faded away. A most interesting piece of music.

A Piazzolla tango for two guitars was reimagined on two marimbas, and Debussy’s Prelude and Claire de Lune from the Suite Bergamasque was performed on a vibraphone and marimba. The Piazzolla kept the necessary tango feel although the Debussy seemed to get a little lost.

Philip Glass’ Madeira River from his Aguas de Amazonia suite was a highlight with a rhythmic pattern set up by Bailey on the bass end of one marimba, O’Keeffe adding melodic lines on the tuned cowbells and the two others adding vibraphone, tuned pipes and a synthesizer, which added chordal patterns behind the marimba.

The final offering was Nigel Westlake’s well known Omphalo Centric Lecture written for a two marimbas and other percussion, here edited slightly for just two marimbas and four players. This a rather more rhythmically complex and urgent work than the Philip Glass but equally as absorbing and a fitting end to an excellent concert by four very fine musicians.