There’s a reason why Biographica has eluded the curse of new opera

MUSIC
Vision String Quartet ★★★★½
Music Viva Australia, Melbourne Recital Centre, September 23

A solitary seat onstage signalled that this was to be no ordinary string quartet concert. The four young men from Berlin who form Vision Quartet play entirely from memory, with only the cellist seated. Freed from music stands and seats, their physical flexibility is mirrored by their extraordinarily intense focus on the music.

Such focus was immediately apparent in Bloch’s Prelude, B. 63, where violist Sander Stuart unfurled a soft-grained, modally infused melody that was to grow into an increasingly ardent outpouring that lay somewhere between romanticism and early 20th-century expressionism.

Contrasting explorations of folk music’s creative wellspring formed the rest of the program.

Bartok’s masterly modernist String Quartet No. 4 had a freshness born of striking rhythmic incisiveness and impressive dynamic control, especially in the muted Prestissimo second movement, where every detail could be heard in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall.

An extended cello soliloquy in the central night music movement was exquisitely realised by cellist Leonard Disselhorst, neatly contrasted by the rustic humour of the fourth movement Allegretto pizzicato, which was unexpectedly reinforced when a broken string caused leader Florian Willeitner to retire briefly. Vibrant energy and astonishing unanimity in the finale balanced the equally striking opening.

Dvorak’s String Quartet No. 13 benefitted from the quartet’s strong grasp of its musical architecture, the first movement’s rhetorical flourishes and shifting tonalities empowered with shape and purpose. The plaintive slow movement focused on the empathetic playing of Willeitner and second violinist Daniel Stoll. Gypsy elements in the final movements came to life amid softer, lyrical diversions, all delivered with enormous verve and infectious good humour.

Encouraged by the quartet, these splendid, captivating performances were punctuated by audience applause after each movement. In a world of soundbites, hopefully there is still room in the concert hall for the power of appreciative silence.
Reviewed by Tony Way

THEATRE
Celebrity ★★
By Suzie J. Jarmain, La Mama, until Oct 1

Our obsession with celebrity has transformed – some would say degraded – the way cultural news is produced and consumed. Last week alone I read countless column inches devoted to the endless catalogue of eccentricity that is Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, the latest allegations of sexual assault against comedian Russell Brand, and the extreme forms of digital fandom known as stan culture.

Academics are in on the action too. When Don DeLillo dreamt up a professor of Elvis studies in his 1985 dystopian novel White Noise, the joke soon became prophecy, and celebrity studies has been a reality since at least 2010. There’s even a peer-reviewed journal, publishing everything from essays on the marketing strategies of social media influencers to a Marxist analysis of Pippa Middleton’s buttocks.

The field is so vast, comrades, that academic and actor Suzie J. Jarmain struggles to make a performance lecture focused or coherent enough to delve with much depth into the multifaceted discourse around celebrity.

The lecture sections let this show down. Jarmain’s academic persona skitters around superficially, without developing sophisticated argument or analysis. Some pop culture references sound dated, and more contemporary developments and terminology – the parasocial relationship, for instance – don’t get much of a look in.

What does work better are Jarmain’s comedic alter egos – among them an aspiring theatre actor and a narcissistic influencer – which she uses to probe the psychology of celebrity culture from the inside out.

Jarmain is at her sharpest when skewering the industry, showing how performers contort themselves to fit the celebrity mould. And there are moments of outlandish satire and histrionic wit, from a mockumentary 60 Minutes-style interview (co-starring Jim Daly) after a red-carpet assassination attempt, to the spotlight going out on a hopeful auditioning (“Out, damned spot!”) for the role of Lady Macbeth.

Still, Celebrity does feel pretty basic compared with other theatrical works invoking the subject – the gladiatorial pursuit of fame across theatre, film and digital media in Calpurnia Descending, or the trolling of a celeb as a springboard for social critique in Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner. The intellectual side of the show needs more rigour and refinement.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead

The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger. Get it every Friday.