Reviews
Barry Snyder
2001
“Snyder’s recent recital at Hale School was not only the occasion of the first airing on this side of the continent of the Stuart and Sons Australian-made piano, it was also the first important piano recital in the splendid auditorium of the School’s new Music and Drama Centre. This state-of-the-art hall, with a capacity of 353, and its well-raked, exceptionally comfortable seating, its adjustable acoustics and its ample backstage rehearsal rooms, is surely set to become the city’s premiere recital venue. Hale School has an exceptionally fine recital hall.”
Robert Curry
The Australian
Australian String Quartet
2003
“The Australian String Quartet’s concert this week at Hale School was a chance to test the acoustics of the luxuriously appointed auditorium in a chamber music setting. Heard from about halfway back from the stage and, after interval, from a seat at the rear of the hall, the ensemble’s sound had a pleasing natural quality, the acoustic allowing the ASQ to make even it’s most emphatic tonal points without the ear feeling assaulted. And at its quietest one could listen easily without straining to catch the sounds. So it seems the western suburbs have another acoustically fine music venue.
Paul Dean joined the ASQ in Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet. It would have been worth attending the concert only to experience artistry of this quality, each note finely pitched and exquisitely wrought.”
Neville Cohn
The West Australian
Roger Woodward
2005
“This was vintage Woodward, an all-Chopin recital in which the listener was led through rarefied interpretive territory as if by a master guide. This was strikingly apparent in an account of the Sonata in B minor. In the opening movement, notwithstanding an occasional slip of the finger, the playing was altogether in accord with Chopin’s requirement that it be played maestoso.
But like in the nocturne-like Largo, Woodward’ presentation could hardly have been bettered, conveying Chopin’s message in gloriously golden sound. And the nobility and grandeur of his fine playing in the finale swept all before it. At many climaxes that dot the score, Woodward revealed yet again that as far as generating massive sound is concerned, he has few peers, an impression reinforced on hearing tidal waves of tone crashing into the auditorium.
Woodward also played the Polonaise Fantaisie, in which he built up apocalyptic sound of climaxes of such muscularity that the piano required the services of a tuner during interval.”
Neville Cohn
The West Australian
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