AI daze

In these days of AI and social media stalkers and the rest, it's sad that I can't take a pic of the performers (at least not without permission) but I understand.  Tragic, though.  Instead you have old and new tech with Wesley's decent organ pipes and the newly installed EV PA for the streamed services.  That's modern too, I guess.  But I was there to record the Canberra Girls' Grammar School annual performance on the Wesley stage.  This year it was Telemann, Beethoven, Mozart, Danzi, and Vivaldi from various instrumental groups, a piano trio, clarinet and sax ensembles, string and wind quartets.  There were some lovely performances and a few standout players, one who I noticed playing a string of wind instruments in different groups and a saxist who sounded to me to be jazz formed and a very competent first violin.  I also noticed some lack of confidence, occasionally expressed by rushing in challenging spots, but nothing unexpected.  But my favourite for the day was the choir; I love singing and the clear purpose of words.  They performed Faure and Stef Conner, both religious pieces, accompanied variously by piano and clarinet.  I drooled over a particularly high (coloratura?) voice that floated over the other parts, but I also enjoyed the young female voices, after hearing various choirs of non-standard format recently, the boys choir from Kings College Cambridge (boy sopranos and more) and a local men's choir (ATBB).  All interesting and different and with words and that floating high soprano.   It's like a piccolo: so present it's impossible to miss.  A lovely outing.

Students from the Canberra Girls' Grammar School performed at Wesley.

So much fun

I have great respect for pop music.  I have great respect for prof musos, for their chops, for millitary bands (always capable players), for American music especially of black descent. Maybe not so much for our shared military exploits or that ridiculous subs deal, but let's leave that for now.  I've just seen Hana Hou! USAF Band of the Pacific and they were playing a short gig of popular music and it was fabulous.  A singer out front and rhythm section of guitar, keys, bass, drums, and a horn section of tenor, trumpet and trombone.  And the mixer up the back, of course.  They played 9 songs, although there was a medley of Stevie Wonder (I thought I'd heard an intro on Superstition and then it wasn't).  The singer merged into the audience in the madly raked little theatre at Tuggeranong Arts Centre, inviting a couple and some kids and some TAC staff onto the stage to dance and one young girl to sing, which she did surprisingly well.  All good audience interaction.  And some blowing solos, several from tenor and one trom and a few blaring guitar outings, all pentatonics up the neck, screaming fast stuff, perhaps some wah, all thrilling.  The drums and bass were not features but they were the supremely solid but interesting and busy back line they should be.  And those horns just glowed brightly with backing lines.  BTW, the bassist was the MD.  I didn't get names.  But everyone walked out with a smile, plenty had a chat, to singer or guitar mainly, both available.  Pop music is a great field that has its own special demands, the grooves and the melodies and the performances that seem simple but aren't too easy to create in the first place and then pull off.  These guys did it off so well, and loud.  So what did they cover?  Steve Wonder, Korea's BTS, James Brown, Uptown funk, Play that funky music, Michael Jackson, KC & the Sunshine Band.  That stuff: fun to boogie and funky.  I had a great time and I was not alone.  And thanks to the US Embassy for organising the visit: a good side of AUKUS perhaps?  PS, "Hana hou" translates from Hawaiian pidgin as "do it again" or "one more time" as in "Bravo".

Hana Hou! USAF Band of the Pacific performed a pop set at Tuggeranong Arts Centre.

Mellow tones

This was my second hearing of the Canberra Men's Choir and I recognised some of the faces.  It's a non-auditioned choir that meets weekly at the Harmony German Club.  Despite hearing them before and knowing they have very few sopranos (none), I was still surprised by the tone.  There are four sections, ATBB (alto, tenor, baritone, bass), but any song may be sung in 2,3 or 4 parts perhaps with solos, or almost unison on a sea shanty.   I was sitting admiring the rich, deeper, mellow tones and harmonies and counted 3 parts in one song but there can be more.  And sometimes there may be solo singers for a higher line, but mostly this is characterised by those lush, deeper tones.  They are directed by Leanne KcKean and accompanied by Vivian Zhu  which is somewhat amusing in a gender sense but perfectly effective.  Lovely to be in a time that feels this way.  They sang a range of style, from shanties to Appalachia to Cole Porter, Leonard Cohen and Benny/Bjorn and even a folk song form NZ, so this is of a style but eclectic in sources.  A lovely afternoon interlude with blissfully indulgent harmonies.

The Canberra Men's Choir performed at Wesley under Leanne McKean (musical director) and with accompaniment by Vivian Zhu (piano).

Stan

Mereki plays cool, correct, crisp, nicely inventive with beautiful and consistent tones, gorgeous not boisterous.  I once saw Stan Getz and I mentioned him to Mereki and she noted that he's an influence.  I wasn't at all surprised.  Such a lovely tone and such understated but expressive playing!  She was playing at Molly for a Tuesday evening jazz night gig with Michael and Greg.  Greg is probably one of her teachers; Michael is a fellow student and I often see them playing together.  I first thought he was on guitar and he did have 6 strings, but it was a Fender Bass 6.  It's actually a bass guitar, tuned EADGBE one octave below a guitar, although its short scale makes it a different beast.  I feel they sound like guitarists playing low rather than bassists, but it's thuddy and it does the trick and they get the gig, so so be it.  He played some quick solos down low or up the neck that few bassists could manage.  And Greg was playing guitar in his lithe but quick, crisp, fluent style.  Just standards, carefully and precisely done, expressive and relaxed and sometimes up, neat and clear, or maybe a ballad.  The Nearness of you had me melting.  It's so beautiful and they did such a lovely job on it.  I just caught one set but it was a lovely thing.

Mereki Leten (tenor) led a trio with Greg Stott (guitar) and Michael Larsen-Collins (guitar) at Molly.

Double shot

It was the opening night for Smiths Alt upstairs and I was interested.  But a quick look at NPC had Rafael Jergen in town playing with Greg Stott and Mark Sutton.  I caught the first set, all standards as is the style of NPC Fridays, and an awe-inspiring set all round.  Of course from Raf, who studied in Canberra, then in Luzern and now teaches at the HSLU Hochschule Luzern.  A story of commitment and the outcome is evident.  Wonderful playing.  Quick and correct but also relaxed and responsive.  So good.  Nice to see Mark back from the coast for some gigs, too.  Both he and Greg played effective and communicative solos, playful to Raf's ever-wide smile.  (OK, so I caught them in a moment of concentration!).  And I met Raf's family.  These visits for so many overseas-based players are family visits with some gigs thrown in.  Since COVID and those imposed music school antics, we haven't had the visiting players as before, so glad to see any and especially Raf.  Then a quick visit to Smiths upstairs.  It's been on the agenda for some time and now established.  Two decent rooms and a balcony upstairs.  One room is smaller with bar, upright piano and electric organ and a comfy hangout atmosphere.  The band on the opening night was Leisa Nicole (organ), Stephen Richards (drums) and Ben O'Loghlin (guitar).  Lovely tunes, organ tones, left hand organ bass.  The other room is more an upstairs concert-cum-events space, larger, with a stage, a grand piano (!), a pipe organ (?) and a small but decent PA.  It's early days yet, not too much furniture (despite a string of pianos throughout), but it bodes well for an extension of Nigel and Beth's lovely, laid-back and inviting, exploratory and bohemian atmosphere.

Rafael Jergen (bass) performed with Greg Stott (guitar) and Mark Sutton (drums) at the National Press Club.  Leisa Nicole (organ), Stephen Richards (drums) and Ben O'Loghlin (guitar) performed upstairs at Smiths.

Trad'n'on

Voice can be so touching, so true to humanity, so close to emotions and telling in a way only words can do.  That's particularly how I felt about the first song, a trad. song from USA dated around WW1 telling the thoughts of a dying soldier as he speaks to his brother and passes messages to wife and family.  Deeply touching and very apt to be sung by a baritone, strong and male as it is.  Almost tear-jerking, thinking of tunnels and trenches and huge losses.  The baritone was Alasdair Stretch, of Luminesence and more, accompanied by Callum Tolhurst-Close on piano.  Both deeply emotional, sometime behind the beat, always precise in note formation and pitch and apt timing.  Highly trained and serious in using that training.  The concert proceeded to German artsong (R Schumann and R Strauss) then to English (Howells and Vaughan Williams) to a finale using the final word Adieu (Faure).  The artsong is more complex with stories and lyrics that place the music distinctly in another era, not C20th and way from C21st.  I find it a hard style to warm to, even if I hugely respect the performers and performances which I certainly did here.  But that's my bad.  This was a wonderfully intimate and musically precise concert and I enjoyed it immensely for that.

Alasdair Stretch (baritone) was accompanied by Callum Tolhurst-Close (piano) at Wesley.

Free Tues

It was a free Tuesday and that means Molly and perhaps Smiths but who was Cherly? I didn't know the name and no reference in FB or otherwise that I could find.  Lucky I went.  Cherly were great.  Students or thereabouts from the Music School and that's always a good sign.  First up, a latin and a swinger but not played standard at all.  This was all rich chords, Nord piano tones, 16th note busy bass, edgy drum fills, interestingly ignoring the grand piano and facing each other for easy visual closeness on that small stage.  I was loving this, but then a tune had me thinking Domi & JD Beck and that scene.  In the end it was a Kiefer tune, another contemporary jazz/hiphop/electronics crossover.   Then later another one by Kiefer called Cute.  A similar chordal piano wash and moving effects through solos and blistering bass and stunningly perverse drum grooves and a drum solo over an ostinato.  Just lovely stuff.  So who were Cherly?  Ruben Hinton, Harrison Whalan and Elisha Adisa.  In the break I got off to Smiths for a Bang! Beng!... session.  Not quite so thrilling for this jazz oriented listener.  I caught three singer songwriters with strummed or fingerpicked guitar and presumably self-penned songs.  This is more folk scene, so words and thoughts and feelings are more central and for that they were interesting.  Danny V with songs of Trouble blues, Jungle of your love, Zoom catastrophe and more.  Merryn Cavenaugh with songs mostly of love and relationships but also about not being so young anymore (early 30s), Ready for you, This love has changed you/me.  Then Jeffrey Charles, self-described musical comedian with songs of "banal middle class existence": I wanna work from home, Take back the skies (kill all the magpies), You need deodorant and You asked me why I left the group chat.  Variously amusing, angry, social, relational.  So an interesting night out and a great jazz find.

Cherly performed at Molly.  Cherly are Ruben Hinton (piano), Harrison Whalan (bass) and Elisha Adisa (drums).  Danny V, Merryn Cavenaugh, Jeffrey Charles (guitar, vocals, songwriting) performed at Smiths.

Happy 30th

We got to the 30th anniversary Gala Event for The Australia Institute.  We were the unconnected ones amongst the journalism and political elite.  It was fun and interesting if somewhat unsettling.  Lots of faces that you know, some identifiable, some with name tags and that helped.  The people of our notoriety were quite obvious, looking a bit lost and not in jovial conversation and not mingling, perhaps grabbing at all the canapes and refilling glasses a little too often.  No problem there, really.  The scene was friendly enough, just that we weren't really in it.  I crossed gazes with Joseph Stiglitz sitting off to the side looking a bit out, obviously not in this crowd if known and respected, but someone started chatting before I got to.  I toyed with a chat to Jack Waterford but I remember embarrassing myself with him once before, trying to do much the same thing.  I saw faces that I must know from Insiders or Q&A or other but couldn't name.  Similarly for at least one independent.  I knew David Pope when I saw him and he was hard to miss.  We could all identify David Pocock.  Various others I won't mention.  An Intro and welcome, then later a discussion between Richard Dennis and guest Joseph Stiglitz.  I must stream Q&A when I can because of a comment on Insiders suggesting an encounter of ex-AFR Editor Michael Stutchbury and Stiglitz.  It was just a dropped comment on Insiders but it should be amusing.  I embarrassed myself with Ebony Bennett with my Manuka encounter story.  Such is life.  But I chatted with various interesting outsiders: another CIMF billeter; someone who'd attended our Beethoven Missa Solemnis; someone involved with Megalo Print Studio.  Megan chatted to an old work mate in the film archive scene.  And hidden down the bar at the end of this lovely Old Parliament House Members' Dining Room were Matthew Dennett and Andreo Esguerra switching between classical and jazz.

The Australia Institute has a 30th Annniversary Gala event at Old Parliament House Members' Bar.  Joseph Stiglitz chatted with  Richard Denniss.  Matthew Dennett (piano) and Andreo Esguerra (violin) entertained.

Biggie B9

I've recently been living off this quote from Dave in the bass section of the CSO: "It's not that hard; it just takes a year to learn it".  He was talking of the bass part of Beethoven Symphony no.9.  I just saw them playing it and the bass section did a fabulous job, clear and present and crisply played.  The next morning I looked at the B9 bass part and I can see what he meant.  Lots of notes over 25 close pages of bass clef, but it's in Dmin so just one flat, and key changes to just 2 flats and 2 sharps at various times and pretty few accidentals, so the fast runs are scalar and mostly consistent.  There are some big intervals and the lower notes that get played on their extensions so some clumsy stuff, and the tempos are not very forgiving although pretty consistent, but it is a work of supreme genius so worth the effort.  The CSO did a great job at a decent tempo.  The singers were satisfying.  The choir was prepared by Tobias Cole and was good but I just wanted it bigger.  I guess ~100 on stage with choir of ~40.  The vocal segment only comes in the final movement, although that's the longest.  The choir sat from the start, but the feature singers entered after the second movement, I guess to allow that transition to the final thrills.  They don't sing masses, but they were lovely to hear: always the presence of the soprano, the fullness of mezzo, the bigness of bass and the humanity of tenor.  But mostly my ears were for the basses.  I did notice a revealing passage where a lines moves from bass to cello to viola to seconds to end with the firsts, not always identical but related.  For me it was a revelation for the violas.  Otherwise, Jessica Cottis was flowing and expressive in her conducting and informative with her introduction, as were the EU Ambassador to Australia, Gabriele Visentin, and CSO CEO, Rachel Thomas, who introduced the concert.  The Ode to joy is the EU's anthem, of course.  And not to forget composer Miriama Young who wrote the introductory piece, a brooding and fairly short Daughters of Elysium, who appeared on stage to applause after.  But it's hard to share with B9.  It was given as 71min duration but it felt nothing like that.  I guess it's a function of how well it's known, although I did notice the repeated themes a few times, especially in the third movement.  But the explosive styles and the uplifting power and the thrilling fugues just take you over.  Perhaps not apt for a classical concert but my head was often nodding and my mouth a grin.  Just so fabulous.  I just hope to play this great work one day.  Congrats to our local orchestra and great to see so many local faces on stage and off.  Bravo and thanks!

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra performed Beethoven Symphony no.9 and Miriam Young in Llewellyn under Jessica Cottis (musical director, conductor).  Kristen Williams (violin) was concertmaster.  Solo singers were Emma Pearson (soprano), Ashlyn Tymms (mezzo soprano), James Eagglesone (tenor) and Adrian Tamburini (bass).  Tobias Cole (chorus master) prepared the CSO Chorus.  The bass section comprised Max McBride (principal), Kyle Ramsay-Daniel, David Flynn and Muhamed Mahmedbasic.

Musical rounds

Robert Schmidli is a regular pianist at Wesley and I've seen him playing elsewhere but it's a part-time thing.  He's musically trained but otherwise a medical specialist.  It's often the way and this time he was joined by flautist Liz Minkyung Kim who studied at the Univ of Cincinnati Con and has played with orchestras and ensembles in Seoul, Tokyo and Ukraine but is now taking a similar path, being in teh second year of her medical degree.  So this was a medical encounter, maybe, but a serious musical performance.  They played JS Bach Sonata for flute and keyboard Ebmaj BWV 1031 and at least the third movement was eminently recognisable.  They other pieces were more obscure and all from the latter half of C19th, by Benjamin Godard, Paul Taffanel and Francoise Borne/George Bizet.  The Taffanel was particularly interesting, being a piece written for flute testing purposes with all manner of skills on show.  A capable display of a lesser heard combination, at least for me, flute and piano.  Lovely.

Robert Schmidli (piano) accompanied Liz Minkyung Kim (flute) at Wesley.

Choral weekend 3

Back to choral gigs to record.  This was excellent.  Luminescence Chamber Singers with Apeiron Baroque with the Luminescence Children's Choir and the Children's Choir holiday program.  So, the best local voices with wonderful local baroque players and up-and-coming singers.  The Children's Choir is for ages 10-17; the holiday program is for ages 7-12.  Now all this offers many possibilities and variations.  Suffice to say, they indulged to the hilt.  There were two sets.  The first set had Apeiron up the steps with the choir singing Monteverdi, and Cavalli and a Folia from Reali by Apeiron.  Apeiron moved off stage for the second set leaving room many kids and all manner of jokey performance.  John Ma introduced segments of a walk in the woods by Biber called Sonata Representativa.  John is ever entertaining to add to his immense baroque chops.  Then to finish, a comic cantata by Fehre featuring a schoolmaster and his Singschule with kids even indulging in dressups.  The concert was called Magnificat and featured Popora Magnificat Amin and the theme was "stories or vignettes of musical mentorship and tutelage" with reference to Basilica San Marco, Monteverdi teaching Cavalli, the Venetian Ospedali and the comic opera.  The singing by the choir was just divine, precise intonation, clear expression, beautifully aware and responsive.  This after the Kings College Choir the night before, so high praise.  Apeiron were a wonderful match as capable and accurate and historically apt and often amusing to boot, thanks to John.  The older kids were well on a similar path, obviously well tutored, and the young ones were entertaining just in their presence, not least in donkey ears and tails.  This was a gig of great quality and energy and  aptness and humour and just a huge pleasure.

Luminescence Chamber Singers, Apeiron Baroque, Luminescence Children's Choir and Children's Choir holiday program appeared at Wesley.

Choral weekend interlude

For this one I performed and luckily I wasn't singing.  This was Forrest National Chamber Orchestra playing in St Pauls Manuka.  It's a pleasure to play for Gillian and her chamber group.  Gillian is a violin teacher and invites her students and capable family and others to play.  It's lovely to play in such a noble place.  OK, it's not Kings College Cambridge, but it is lofty and has a decent organ and an altar with steps so it seems right.  This was not a particularly difficult program and I'd played several of the tunes before, but with very little practice I was not quite spot on, but there were some lovely passages and some seriously good playing around.  The Corelli concerto had its challenges.  The Elgar Serenade has some tricky counts but I knew it.  Satie Gnossienne no.1 was an arrangement by Gillian using bass as a key instrument so I liked that one.  The Vivaldi double cello concerto was a pleasure, if with a few slips by me, but with a lovely pair of cellists up front, Frances and Duncan, who happen to be partners and parents.  From the program, I see that Frances has an illustrious career, playing with the LSO, London Phil, Berlin Phil, Hungarian Radio Orch and others, no less, but very positive and inviting to play with.  And Holst St Paul's suite to finish, another I'd played.  Maybe I was a bit rough this time given very minimal preparation and practice, but a huge pleasure nonetheless.  And a switch from choirs for one session this weekend. 

Gillian Bailey-Graham (musical director) conducted the Forrest National Chamber Orchestra at St Pauls.  Featured were Frances Stevens and Duncan McIntyre (cellos) and Rebecca Lovett-Kotze (violin, concertmaster).  Eric Pozza (bass) played the low end.

Thanks to Michael Hoy for the pic

Choral weekend 2

Choral concert 2 was a veritable biggie in more ways than just musical.  Kings College Cambridge Choir was in town for Musica Viva.  Once again we hosted 2 singers from the choir for a few days so we had youth in the house and chatter on Cambridge and England and not just the choir.  Our guests were Tom Pickard, now bass but once a chorister, and William Rodgers, alto.  The sections in the choir are Choristers (18, presumably boy sopranos, as young as 8) and the Kings College students and staff who make up the lower voices, altos (4), tenors (5) and basses (5) and organ scholars (2).  Canberra was their penultimate location after Melbourne (Hamer Hall and Recital Centre), Brisbane, Sydney (Opera House and Recital Hall) and Adelaide.  After Canberra, they were off to Perth for one day with one gig.  Canberra got in a free day so somewhat a last fling before the final gig and the long flight home.  We got to the concert at Llewellyn.  They performed their Program 2: Garbielli, Bull, Tallis, Grandi, Durufle, the local work of Damien Barbeler's music to Judith Nangala Crispin's poem Charlotte, Laruidsen and a final Stravinsky mass interspersed with Judith Weir Psalm 148 and movements from Vertue.  This post-interval set featured a wonderful Australian chamber combination of wind players (2xoboe, cor Anglais, 2xbassoon, 2xtrumpet, 3x trombone), from Melbourne and Sydney, gathered by Nigel Crocker, of our own Canberra Symphony Orchestra.  So what of the music?  This is one of the famed choirs of the world so I expected the blissful consonance and harmony that we got.  I lean to earlier works rather than later, but all was superb as expected.  The winds were similarly superb.  The Aussie original by Damian Barbeler and Judith Nangala Crispin was much more contemporary, the words of JNC's poem On finding Charlotte in the archeological record sung a capella.  It's on Spotify and released 19 July 2024 so presumably for this tour by this group.  Enough said; have a listen.  This was awe-inspiring music and a pleasant international visit all in one.  Loved it.

The Kings College Cambridge choir performed at Llewellyn Hall under Daniel Hyde (musical director).  A chamber wind group gathered by Nigel Crocker (trombone) accompanied for much of the second set.  We billetted two singers, William Rodgers (alto) and Tom Pickard (bass).

Choral weekend 1

First up was The Resonants performing a very meditative and gentle concert entitled Go gently.  In three parts with instrumental numbers separating.  First up, more religious, Benedictus, Lux Aeterna and the like, occasionally with piano or guitar accompaniment and once with cello and piano.  Then a piano interlude, Brahms Intermezzo Amaj, and a grouping on hope and love, with some accompaniment from choir members, on ocarina, cymbals and recorder.  Then, to end, a solo guitar,, Vivaldi Largo from Lute concerto Dmaj, and four more songs on sleep and stars and water and singing gently, three of which by Eric Whitaker.   This was a relatively quiet choral concert, pensive and meditative, with lovely harmonies and ever expansive consonance but always with an eye on the time.  Kings College Cambridge Choir was in town that evening.  Quite lovely.

The Resonants were conducted by Helen Swan (musical director) and accompanied variously by Emily Leong (piano), Steve Allen (guitar) and Katherine Wilkinson (cello).

Pre-pop vox

Wednesdays are my regular lunchtime recording session at Wesley and I love that I hear all manner of styles and mixes of classical players.  This time it was Hilda V-S again as accompanist for soprano Miriam Rose.  They performed a mix of German, French and Italian art songs and arias.  Richard Strauss, Schubert, various Italia arie antique and Faure.  I understand Italian and a little French but I still found it difficult even with the lyrics.  This style is like that but at least I can argue the Italian was an olde styled.  This is not pop or jazz singing but it's quite beautiful when your ear or mind turns to it.  It's fairly recently that my mind has.  I found Miriam's a lovely expressive, full and rich voice, towards the mezzo end, and an inviting host.  Best when I closed my eyes and partook of this beauty and the complexity that poor Hilda had to read.

Miriam Rose (soprano) was accompanied by Hilda Visser-Scott (piano) at Wesley.