In their thrillingly ambitious Distant World concert, Australian chamber orchestra Omega Ensemble presented an athletic and emotional glance at the natural world.
Last night’s audience at the Melbourne Recital Centre were witness to numerous shades of our planet’s variously placid and violent states, in an inspired selection of works that vividly evoked the concert’s compelling title.
Penned by a mixture of Australian and eastern European composers, the four dense, vital works presented a startling variety of style and dynamic range, keenly exercising the technical skill – and general stamina – of the gifted players that comprise Omega Ensemble.
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Beyond that, the sheer enormity of what took place onstage, reflective of such an incredible precision of performance between immensely different pieces of music, is such that a single review cannot adequately capture the brilliance and versatility of last night’s show.
What can assuredly be underlined is the star status achieved by pianist Vatche Jambazian, who exhibited outrageous degrees of skill and technical interpretation between the huge dynamic range across the pieces played.
Beginning with a crisp, smooth recital of Arvo Pärt’s iconic Spiegel im Spiegel – here played at a slightly higher tempo than most recordings I’ve heard, reflective of the overall high-energy theatrics of the concert as a whole – and shifting to the manic energy of Pēteris Vasks’s Piano Quartet, Jambazian proved simultaneously a muscular and delicate presence.
Another highlight was the world premiere of DuskLit, a new work by Australian composer Miriama Young that fuses field recordings of the natural world with original composition. The work’s first movement, “Jubilant Youth”, vibrantly fulfilled its title: opening with curious, fidgeting quivers of violin, the small piece bloomed with patters of low piano trills and talkative billows of clarinet.
These uncertain clusters of stammering arpeggios and the chattering staccato of clarinet secured more stable footing in the second movement, each of the initial sonic textures becoming fastened by the frolicking gusts of piano across the lower registers of the keyboard.
There is, of course, more to be said. There is simply too much, at too high a quality, to be squeezed into this review. Just go and see the show; it’s more than worth it.
Omega Ensemble’s Distant World concert continues for two more performances in Sydney on Saturday 17 May 2025. Get your tickets here.
