Cygnus Arioso at Hale School for Mustonen and Tchaikovsky, from first rehearsal to concert in one afternoon

Brisk bowing and edgy intonation launch Olli Mustonen’s Nonet No.2, the raw attack a hallmark of a first run through.

Cygnus Arioso string ensemble has taken over Hale School Auditorium to share the process of performance, from first rehearsal to concert, all in one afternoon.

Musicians range in experience from director Akiko Miyazawa, a WA Symphony Orchestra regular, to students and emerging professionals.

Like any chamber music collective, the nine-strong group is led by consent.

Details of timing and expression are up for discussion, and all are soloists in the sparse setting of Mustonen’s score. Each takes the lead then passes the invisible baton to another as clusters of notes build towards a symphonic whole.

Gradually, like the dripping of water on a stone, trial and error smooth the way to wisdom, drawing on centuries of tradition.

Mustonen’s 2000 work shares in that long legacy, harnessing timeless gifts and contemporary energy in a prelude to the third millennium.

After a short break the cohort grows to 14, including three high school students, for Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.

Rich harmonies of the Romantic era swell the theme as the blending of individual character and technique takes effect.

Light and playful phrases in the upper strings skate across denser chords in cello and bass; lithe pizzicato alternating with cat-like strokes of the bow.

Miyazawa is now the deus ex machina, observing from the auditorium then reading from the score to adjust elements in the mix.

A bigger group requires more comment but the basics are unchanged; correct, repeat, run again.

Fine points of rhythm and phrasing are measured and finessed. Close attention to detail in the opening dance sequences pays dividends when the elegiac third movement comes around.

Ears attuned and minds in sync, the ensemble needs less and less guidance as they progress, so the finale gets a straight run through, uninterrupted down to a robust conclusion.

“I don’t have anything,” Miyazawa declares. The charm’s wound up.

In performance, strident bowing broaches the Nonet, morphing to warm melody then back to urgent discord in the opening movements.

Lilting, sighing high strings reset the mood for the Adagio third stanza. Assurance builds as the work rolls out sonorously; individual lines and flourishes emerging then fading amid the gentle rise and fall of dynamics.

Hardly a pause leads directly into the finale, its hurried, furtive phrases buoying all towards an explosive conclusion.

Regrouping for Tchaikovsky, lush harmony spreads a calming balm, spiced by the earworm main theme, again full of assurance as the piece grows with the infectious appeal of live performance.

Violins lead a merry dance in the Tempo di Valse, drawing lower strings along to a featherlight cadence.

Solemn in the Elegy, all 14 musicians move as one; prayerful in ambience then breaking to a broader, panoramic sweep, giving time and space to the resonance of viola and cello in the luxurious middle range.

Easing into the finale, musicians meditate, pause, then plunge into the Allegro con spirito conclusion; a final fling to close out the night.

Cygnus Arioso next presents Mendelssohn’s Octet on September 20, 5pm, at Snaden’s Pianos, Nedlands.