Jess Hitchcock and Penny Quartet revisit songbook in classical mode for Musica Viva at His Majesty’s Theatre

Singer-songwriter Jess Hitchcock’s luminous voice and persona allied with Penny Quartet’s elemental strings to light up His Majesty’s Theatre for their Perth Festival collaboration, launching a Musica Viva national tour. The mash-up of Hitchcock’s songs reimagined by 11 Australian composers, interspersed with passages from Caroline Shaw’s quartet Plan & Elevation: The Grounds of Dumbarton Oaks, had a lustrous appeal beyond the sum of its parts. Hitchcock, an “accidental opera singer” as star of last year’s Festival in the Noongar-language Wundig wer Wilura, brought a disarming candour in word and voice matched by the age-old elegance of the quartet to a stage sparsely planted with LED cotton-bud shrubs and bushes. Three stark violin notes, repeated, opened WA icon Iain Grandage’s take on Days Are Long, morphing to febrile viola then triad chords as a listless quality took hold. Pulsating pizzicato then led in a soaring, keening vocal, strident and ethereal by turns. A torch song of sorts, with lyrical reference to “burn out” and “open flame”, the delicately nuanced backing stood in contrast to Hitchcock’s regular rock-pop beat. “Two of my worlds collide,” she said, to warm applause. Homeward Bound (arr. Isaac Hayward) broached a dialogue of folksong vocals and folkloric strings; almost a sea shanty in ambience with its edge softened by wistful accompaniment. Collide (arr. Nicole Murphy) was mournful in a quietly rumbling quartet and soulful yet bright diction crystal-clear to the last syllable; rolling off the tongue with heartfelt regret. An air of mystery laced with classical euphony in the quartet changed the mood to introspection for an instrumental interlude, fading to whispers. Soak to My Bones (arr. Harry Sdraulig) evoked “Mist amongst mountains” in pizzicato droplets giving way to rhapsodic, plangent phrases in a lament verging on despair: “Don’t search for the key, There is none”. Leader of the Pack (arr. Ben Robinson) flipped the switch to celebration, with insistent strings sketching a skittish soundscape for violin melody (Glenn Christensen), then voice in a paean to sibling rivalry and affection. A more fluid vocal and bolder tone in the quartet stepped towards ballad as a genre, with a touch of lullaby in the gentle cadence. Hitchcock’s Islander heritage came to the fore in By the Sea (arr. May Lyon), a cheerfully open-throated love song to the ocean over ripples, rivulets and echoes of bird song in high strings. Muted harmonics in violin, viola then cello led in a complex kaleidoscopic mix, lifting to a frenzy then breaking to courtly dance mode to introduce On My Own (arr. Holly Harrison); authentic in tone with intricate highlights in strings, bustling towards a quirky conclusion. Hitchcock again nailed her colours to the mast for Together (arr. James Mountain), written during the Voice campaign. Fragmentary flurries across the quartet over solid cello (Jack Ward) broke to furtive pizzicato and a jazz-like vocal delivery, understated yet potent; fading once more to a sudden cadence. Fight for Me (arr. Christine Pan) opened in swooning strings and vocal; a reflection on romantic frustration, pointed yet without rancour: “All I want is someone who’ll fight for me.” That lightness of touch persisted in another instrumental interlude, a symphony of nature teeming and tender in dexterous violin solo play (Madeleine Jevons). Running in the Dark (arr. Matt Laing) introduced a hint of regret, ruminating on lost years and “steps we took that we can’t take back”. Flickering, rhapsodic strings reset the scene again in Shaw’s bucolic splendour before Hitchcock took to a keyboard camouflaged centre-stage for Unbreakable (arr. Alex Turley). Warm chords sustained a generous, lavish spirit of celebration; “Like a diamond shining through.” Strings held the stage one last time with cello triads and pizzicato high strings, rising to harmonics over mellow viola (Anthony Chataway) for another scenic moment. Repeated piano pulses then broached Not a Warzone (arr. Grandage), expansive in voice and keyboard with perhaps a homage to We Are Australian; quietly, comfortably victorious to close. It was a sincere compliment to have Grandage top and tail the show, and the encore underlined that in his take on My True Love Hath my Heart (Sir Philip Sidney). Serenaded by strings, Hitchcock sang the Shakespearean sonnet with the same sweet yet searing passion she had embodied all night; resolving at last to bliss. Jess Hitchcock and the Penny Quartet are on tour until March 7.