Her music

Shilong presented a wonderful overview of Australian women composers with his program called Her music speaks for Musica da Camera.  I've played lots of music by women composers recently and lots of Australian composers, but not a full program (the closest was one by Sally Greenaway with MdCC a year or two ago).  Some of the composers were on this program, too.  They were Sally Greenaway, Corrina Bonshek, Helen Gifford, Margaret Sutherland, Betty Beath, Maria Grenfell and Elena Katz-Chernin.  And the music was delightfully varied and nothing disappointed.  Sally's homage to the Balkans and Batik was culturally influenced, bouncy and melodic.  Then through a slow pensive Dream, a free-like atonal and a-rhythmic piece that came together for me as  watched Shilong's conducting, all changing time signatures, sparse odd harmonies, varied techniques, even thumbs on bass.  I loved it.  Then a Margaret Sutherland concerto in three movements, an sad adagio lament for Kosovo, a homage to knitting unicorns to bring solace and optimism in hospital settings and a final jaunty and challenging piece in 5/4 and various divisions thereof by Elena Katz-Chernin Fast Blue Village 5.  For this concert, I was in the audience recording so it was a new vision of MdCC but also missing playing such an imaginative program.  Well done all round.

Shilong Ye (musical director) conducted Her Music Speaks for Musica da Camera Canberra.

Itinerant, somewhat

It was an interlude with friends visiting from Melbourne but surprisingly I found it fascinating.  I hadn't expected it.  This was the Gauguin exhibition at the NGA.  It was big (~140 works), one of which had just been bought for the NGA and from now is his only Australian owned work.  It was intriguing how he worked in so many fields (painting, woodblock and other printing, ceramics, carving, one lone bronze head.  Self-taught, varied in styles and influences, fairly unsuccessful in his business ventures despite his success in his art, very well travelled (this is late 1800s; travel wasn't quick) from the youngest of age through the merchant navy and military call-ups and marriage and kids.  And the reviled affairs with young Tahitian girls.  We booked into a tour guide session and learned lots.  He doesn't seem too easy a person, even if a self-taught master.  He shared a house at one stage with Van Gogh and they had a run-in, although, as with his wife, they continued to correspond.  He did have an affair with a 13-yo maid, but at that time the age of consent was 13 in UK (11 in US!) and she had several other affairs while in his employ.  Apparently early sex was preparation for marriage in that culture.  Odd to our ears and infuriating to some.  Generally, the impressionists are not my faves, but we learnt of how he's different and how he's related.  All interesting and making for an intriguing NGA mega-exhibition.

Gauguin's World : Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao was an exhibition of works of Paul Gauguin at the National Gallery of Australia.

Sandwich

Not too many gigs these days but then think quality not quantity (although frequency can also correlate with quality).  But this was a good gig, with James and Mark and me at OCI.  It actually sandwiched my NCO films gig with another at Mercure on Saturday night, so there was at least considerable frequency this week.  Both Tilt gigs were great fun.  At OCI, I got out the P-Bass for a few funkier lines, but mostly the double and that felt lithe and sounded full.  Mark just played snare and high-hat given some kick problem but still blew the place out with his understated syncopations.  James has been playing with increasing litheness and inventiveness of late and this just continued.  So all was well.  Thanks to James and Mark.  And to Liv who was double-booked.

Tilt played at Old Canberra Inn and Mercure with James Woodman (piano), Eric Pozza (bass) and Mark Levers (drums).

Satriani and more

I was amused just how different were the Wesley concerts of the CGS and CGGS (Canberra [Girls] Grammar School).  The CGGS concert was huge, with a string of performers, with choirs and larger ensembles, and located in the larger Wesley Church venue.   The CGS concert was mostly single or pairs of students with an accompanist performing in the Wesley Concert room ... and with two electric guitars.  But I enjoyed both the gigs.  Perhaps the difference was that the CGS concert featured 6 performers preparing for the HSC music exams.  So we had a Sally Greenaway, Elgar, Joe Satriani (unexpected, all tapping and chordal fingering, obviously on an e-guitar, not surprisingly Ibanez), Richard Percvile, Paganini, JS Bach (on another Ibanez electric guitar, this time a wide, flat maple-necked 7-string) and Hindemith.  The playing was good to excellent and always entertaining: the piano accompaniment from Anthony Smith was also excellent; interestingly one performer, Ben Monro, appeared on two instruments, cello and trumpet; those two Ibanez guitars and especially the Satriani were unexpected but interesting; the other instruments were flute, oboe and viola.  So a mix of capable players in preparation for exams.  Great.

Six players on various instruments appeared at Wesley in preparation for their HSC performance exams.

Thrills

I've always thought myself immune from popularity of film music  I was wrong.  NCO just played a concert of film music in the Snow Concert Hall and I was thrilled by the event and enamoured by the music.  Especially the works of John Williams.  Now along with film music, I remain reticent about going to films so I'd seen just a few of these.  First up Star wars suite.  Fabulous, intriguing, inventive, involving, unexpected, by John Williams.  This was exemplary.  Not easy, either, for the syncopations that change all over the place and the bowing and odd intervals and some delightfully delicate tunes too.  Then Lord of the Rings, Two towers, and the Dambusters march.  I remember that film from my childhood, although I see it rather more reticently these days.  "History is written by victors" is often attributed to Winston Churchill, but perhaps not, as he'd be undermining his own place in it.  But the music is a fabulous, driving march and the NCO did a great job.  And it's a big NCO now: ~80 players on stage for this concert in our new venue, the Snow Concert hall at Canberra Grammar School.  The stage was chockers with the orchestra and the venue was almost full with 800+ in the audience.  Sound was great, too, from where I sat.  It's a relatively intimate place for ~1,000 seats and a decent stage, with organ and Steinway so it works.  Then after the interval, the Complete Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean medley, Interstellar suite and How to train your dragon end credits.  Well, some films I have not even heard of, but the music was good to great and the orchestra played up to the occasion with a few costumes and the reception was enraptured.  A great and successful way to pass a Sunday afternoon.

The National Capital Orchestra performed a concert of film music at the Snow Concert hall under Louis Sharpe (conductor).

Which one

It was Ariana so I fully expected a worthy concert, but this was a doozy.  It was entitled Repeat and the audience got to choose works to play on piano or harpsichord, or to choose the order then to vote for a preferred instrument.  So this was a fascinating comparison of the Yamaha C6 and a well renowned Australian-made harpsichord (forgotten the maker).  The works  were from Bach, Beethoven and a modern work by Psathas called Waiting for the aeroplane, played this day on piano and apparently played numerous times by Ariana at the Venice Biennale 2011.  The vote was generally for harpsichord, certainly for Bach Prelude Cmaj BWV846 and his Goldberg variations.  I preferred the piano for the Beethoven (Moonlight sonata) but Ariana observed that it wouldn't have been played on an instrument like the Yamaha and her preference was the harpsichord.  So be it; maybe just habit on my behalf.  But lovely playing and very different sounds and a range from Bach to modern and the audience participation made for a fascinating concert.

Ariana Odermatt (harpsichord, piano) performed at Wesley Music Centre.