Big name, no blanket was rock and roll theatre telling the story of the Warumpi Band at Canberra Theatre. By Andrea James (writer) with Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher (consultant) and Rachael Maza and Anyupa Butcher (co-directors). And thanks to Canberra Theatre Centre for the tix.
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Oh well, here we go again. Changes to ANU; changes to the School of Music. The School took a while to recover from the damage of the last round of changes but it's a lesser being, as I presume it was after the initial move from independence to the ANU. But there was money then, I guess, because the buildings are impressive. The latest seems to be to forego the conservatorium model. There was some of this last time, what with requirements for PhDs for music teachers and the rest. Some of the best jazz teachers have none of that. Coltrane had none of that. Thus musicology seemed to be of great interest in the last round. I'd heard gossip of a renowned teacher and international-class performer soon to leave, then I chatted with another significant staff member who'd taken package. I guess there are more to be announced over coming weeks and months. There was an article in the Canberra Times announcing changes to the SOM. Interestingly, just the night after I'd been chatting to a friend with connections into ANU. I'd put it down to the managerialism of universities, the reduced government funding, the need for paying students especially foreign students and the effects of COVID for reduced student numbers then the foreign student numbers bounce-back and the politicisation of immigration and foreign student numbers. My friend spoke more of internal ANU and senior management matters. FWIW, again as an ex-librarian I will keep a running list of references in Canberra Times and other sources that I find but it looks increasingly serious this time. From Peter Tregear (ex-head ANUSOM in Canberra Times, 8 July 2025 p.1): 'Teaching people how to play instruments would be replaced by "Indigenous Music in a contemporary context, and Music and Wellbeing", and with an emphasis on the technology and production of contemporary music.' Cause for considerable concern.
See my bibliography Save Music in Canberra no.2 2025
Again Jinbo Huang brought his students to Wesley for a concert outing. I've seen several of these and they are always rewarding, starting as they are with younger, newer players on simpler yet still satisfying pieces, and working up to the major works and perhaps working up in volume. Certainly volume this day! The other aspect I noticed this was the arrival of film and game themes. I've been watching this is classical outings and even played a very successful and popular film theme outing with NCO so I was not at all surprised. Film and games is a location for much contemporary orchestral and classical instrumental music these days. I expect the film connections but I'm old enough to be somewhat flummoxed by the games, but so be it. Things change. Games are a huge business and composition is part of it. So the concert started with the theme from Interstellar and finished with some very raucous Game of Thrones music, with Bach and Haydn and Chopin and Schubert and a few lesser names between. I'll just mention the final two players. Charles Huang with some delightful Schubert impromptus and Damien Ruan with some very stormy and voluminous Game of Thrones music. Suffice to say I set my recording levels on Damien's warmup.
Charlie Sanoubane, Arabella Lu, Khloe Chen, Frank Huang, Naomi Feng, William Mon, Charles Huang and Damin Ruan (pianos) from the studio of Jinbo Huang played at Wesley.
Pippa Macmillan was coming to play with John and Marie in Apeiron Baroque and I was in. Pippa is now in Australia but is quite and international, with degrees for the Royal Academy of Music and Juilliard and appointed Professor of baroque double bass at the RSM, that school next to that other Albert Hall, and performing with Tapfelmusik, Florilegium, Austn Brandenburg Orch, Austn Haydn Ens and the rest. She was playing violone with the gut strings and those gut frets and a big Dragonetti period bow. But how lithe and quick and unrelenting in her drive. No slowing down with this rhythm section! Otherwise, this was a joy of baroque historical overview with a program called Something old, something new. Thirteen composers, mostly C15th, some C16th and just two contemporaries. Ariosti and Albinoni and a string of lesser known names, seldom encountered. All held together with backgrounds and stories from the ever-engaging John Ma, himself of considerable European history, and Marie Searles on harpsichord, again of Euro-connections. The group would move through tunes, with Matt Greco, again a Euro-aligned and Aussie-busy concertmaster and soprano Susannah Lawergren up front for a series of tunes, not least a fabulous modern work but Michael Bakrncev who was in the audience, and if I remember right, was listening to the world premiere of this composition, a touching song of a mother laying in bed with her new child while her partner rings updates downstairs. The text was by Cate Kennedy and the work was called Thank You. Just glorious music. Otherwise, the modern works were Allemande from the Jorn Borsen Harpsichord sonata and Spring from Dominick Argento Elizabethan songs. And several Canberra advanced students invited by John and Marie, Brad Tham, Alex Monro and Dante Costa, all well known in local circles. Just wonderful playing with that stellar bottom end, a varied and intriguing program from the ages and some delightful, welcoming patter. Another great outing.
Apeiron Baroque performed at Wesley Church. AB was led by John Ma (violin, MD) and Marie Searles (harpsichord, MD) with Susannah Lawergren (soprano), Matt Greco (violin), Pippa Macmillan (violone), Michael Bakrncev (composer), Dante Costa (flute), Brad Tham (violin) and Alex Munro (viola).
I love my jazz and other gigs but my longed-for favourite each year has to be NCO with CCS. That's a full orchestra and choir at Llewellyn; 120 or more on stage and some fabulous music. I've played a string of these including Beethoven, Carl Off, Monty Python (?!), Haydn, Brahms... Playing in such orchestral strength with a capable massed SATB choir is a huge thrill. This year was perhaps more modern, story-telling, filmic with 2 modern pieces. First up was the occasionally jovial recounting of the experience of migration to Australia and the surprises and loves of process and outcome created by 2 immigrants, composer Elena Kats-Chernin and librettist Tamara-Anna Cislowska, telling stories from Chinese migration at the time of the gold rush, post-WW2 migrants, Vietnam refugees and more. The lyrics were lengthy and not always so easy to catch but suffice to recognise an ode to Vegemite and an immigrant's surprise at topless bathing at Bondi. How Aussie! The bass could be repetitive, other than for one fiendishly tricky quick movement, so perhaps the voices defined the pleasures, but I languished in the pleasure and good humour of it all. Then an interval and surprisingly similar approach (repetitive accompaniment, filmic accompaniment, more complex lyrics with inviting melodies) from a one-time member of Soft Machine and now composer of a British Classic FM Hall of Fame no.2 hit. This was the Kosovo-inspired mass for piece, The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins. Again inspiring if mostly for the voices, but quite touching and apt for out times. Suffice to say, this was again a deeply thrilling outing and another for the diary. And as for the post-concert party and Martin's dip, well, that's another story of joy.
National Capital Orchestra and Canberra Choral Society under Louis Sharpe (conductor, NCO MD) and Dan Walker (CCS MD) performed Human Waves and The Armed Man at Llewellyn with soloists Jillian Halleron (soprano) and Liam Meany (cello) and Bilal Berjaoui (vocals) performing the Call to prayers. The bottom enders were Henry South, Juliet Flook, Mel Fung, Jeremy Tsuei and Eric Pozza (basses).
Apparently Geoff had suggested a standards trio and I was not alone in thanking him for it. Jazzers can become a bit blasé about our American songbook but when it's played with this delicacy and beauty and awareness of the great players that precede us this can be a thing of great beauty, immense subtlety and respect for history. Thus it was with Hannah James and her return to Canberra with her standards piano trio with Adrian Keevil and Paul Derricott. Just beautiful melodies played with respect, an array of great solos and a few traded fours. Oscar Peterson, Mulgrew Miller, Horace Silver, Ray Brown, Tommy Flanagan: what's not to like and to swing to. And some tunes that can be cheesy but just sat so nicely of the likes of Tea for two or Love for sale or Mean to me or some lesser knowns like NY attitude or It never entered my mind or something a bit funky with Mulgrew Miller Soul-Leo and that lovely transition that I think her offsiders didn't even expect, when Hannah sat on a repeated G on the 4/4 beat of Here's that rainy day that subtly mutated to the 3/4 of Moon river, a heartache favourite of mine, continuing to a solo and melody almost obliviously. The room was swooning and the playing was delicious and Hannah's solos were understated and instructive. Just lovely and I'm hanging out to revisit it in the mix. Thanks, Hannah.
Hannah James (bass) led a piano trio with Adrian Keevil (piano) and Paul Derricott (drums) at Smiths.
Zachary Li was new to me but he'd started playing piano at 4 and achieved his AMEB Grade 8 at 14 so I shouldn't have been surprised with the effectiveness and commitment from the first notes of the Mozart Sonata that started his concert. Played from memory, like all the pieces, expressive, firm and confident, quick and loud but also dynamic and nicely balanced hands. Then followed a JS Bach prelude and fugue and another later form Mendelssohn and an oddly different Pink Nautilus from Michael Kieren Harvey, all handfulls of percussion over the whole 8 octaves and busy and driving and handfuls of arpeggiations. This was different. Then a very lovely Samuel Barber with ostinato left hand and a Ballade from Chopin. Quite a range of styles and all done with musical maturity to my ears. Then, after thanks and bows, his sister Lillybelle joined him for a four handed encore. Just stunning and unexpected from such a young performer, a student of Stephanie Neeman. I wonder are we seeing early days.
Zachary Li (piano) performed at Wesley and encored four-handed with his sister Lillybelle Li (piano).
Sally Whitwell is a Canberra resident and it was she who designed a deliciously effective description on her day. She earlier spoke of being in a rut with choirs and finding this enlivening as a musical interpretation of our true lives: three coffees a day, breakfast, cat, veggies for lunch, emails, housekeeping, visitors for dinner and sleep with a book club thrown in. A typical day but with wonderfully inventive music, some borrowed, some original. So we got Michael Nyman Miserere with Three ways to vacuum your house and an indie Oxford comma and a delicious sleep from Eric Whitacre. And such a capable choir to sing it all, a towering soprano, capable parts and harmonies and a division (interestingly at the vacuuming and later dinner) of the women's voices then the men's. So cute nad joyful and true stories told with superbly effective choral complexities in all manner of styles, Sally herself and Nyman and Whitacre and lesser names and Indie rockers Vampire weekend and some musical theatre from Beauty and the Beast and one work by OC's emerging composer in residence Aija Draguns, with Sally's piano accompaniment and Dan Walker's direction and a clarinet in there somewhere. Delicious, delightful and down to earth.
Sally Whitwell (piano, direction) created the program Musica Domestica : a musical diary of a remote worker ... in thirteen chapters and with Aija Draguns wrote some original music for Oriana Chorale under Dan Walker (conductor) and one clarinetist that I can't name.
It was a pleasure to take in Musica da Camera with 2 basses from the audience. This was such an interesting and inviting program and well presented. The MD was Robert Harris and the title dances and suites and there were plenty of them, nicely bouncy and rhythmic for dance. But RH is a viola player and the core theme was the presence of this lower sounding instrument, or at least moderately lower sounding for any cello of bassist. Maybe not so much lower as rich and big and just a fifth below the violins. And the bottom end filled out with Dorit Herskovits, Robert's wife and fellow long term professional. But the program was the feature and so inviting. Two pieces by Telemann, a concerto for two viols and an Ouverture-suite and a Schubert valse. Then a truly lovely modern Australian piece, River Valley dawn by Emma Greenhill, picturesque in its presence. Then five raucous and polytonal Greek dances from Nikos Skalkottas and a waltz and a tango from Elena Katz-Chernin and to finish the pizzicato polka from brother Strauss. And these works had relevance to RH and DH, Dorit having studied with Elena, they having toured the Greek musics, Telemann being a favourite and generally the joy of the dance, too, I guess. A lovely concert and nicely played.
An impromptu is a classical piece that's "reminiscent of improvisation". Today I heard four impromptus on piano. It's probably not easy to think of an orchestra improvising, but I've described the piano as "an orchestra in a box" but that's probably because I'm a bassist and we play low and mostly single notes. The multiple fingers and 8 octaves and 88 accessible keys on a piano seem like all and everything to me. Perhaps guitarists would think differently: they only have 6 strings but they can form chords, play associated bass line and melodies, mostly at the same time. Today was Mark Jurkiewicz playing four Schubert Impromptus. The program put it best; I won't even try. "The first Impromptu in C minor blends elements of sonata, variation, and through-composed structures. The second impromptu in Eb major is a swift moto perpetuo with a ternary design. The third impromptu is a flowing and meditative piece in Gb major, charaterized by long melodic lines and unbroken triadic accompaniments. The fourth and final impromptu, in Ab major, starts in Ab minor and is characterized by cascading arpeggios and a chordal response." Nicely put even if I prefer British spelling. Suffice to say that Mark was trained at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw so is close to the sources of such music. And played from memory with intense presence and interpretation. Always so good to hear another concert from Mark.
Mark Jurkiewicz (piano) performed Franz Schubert Four impromptus D.899 op.90 at Wesley.
It was just a week or so ago when I published CJ's 3,000th blog post. Today I/we celebrate CJ's 20th birthday. 20 years! Tons of time and energy and a decent record of my musical journey over those years and how it crossed with Canberra and the Jazz School and travels and my later interests in classical and recording. I write up most of my musical events and some other public events that I might attend other than some Tilt jazz gigs which are not too common but would be too seriously indulgent. Sadly, CJ has missed my recent mix/mastering of multitracks from Bevan at Smiths because those home-based duties don't quite fit as an event although they are a fascinating task, a revealing way to attend a gig ("All about the bass") and a nice gift to the performers. I notice the seriousness of my commentary has declined over time given I've said most things many times, but the effectiveness of the record persists and the list of performers just keeps growing. I always referred to these posts as reports rather than reviews anyway. As for records, CJ has 6,787 index entries as I write this, including band names, performers' names, locations outside Canberra and various other items. And there's Canberra Jazz Group on Facebook which sat a few years after its creation in 2018 then took off as a gig promotion site and today has 2,437 members. Thus it goes and it goes on. I can't imagine life (or remember gigs) without it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I’m in Adelaide again to visit family. I always check out the jazz around and this particularly interested me: COMA Creative Original Music Adelaide. But then I had visited the venue, the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Thebarton (the Wheaty) so maybe I’d happened on this group. I couldn’t attend this night but all gigs are streamed then released on Bandcamp as audio and YouTube as video so I could catch snippets on the night then follow up with a huge catalogue later. COMA convenes 1st and 3rd monday each month, requires 80% original content and presents 2x40min sets each night. The bands this night were Yung Horns and Similacrum 5. YH was somewhat jazz-influenced indie-pop, a duo of trom/vocals and keys/tpt, nicely melodic and infectious and a decent voice out front. S5 was a quintet and, even with a visiting trumpet, was wonderfully adventurous. The configuration (tpt, tnr, pno, bs, dr) was stock-standard but very unexpectedly they introduced a single 30-min number with a string of themes and melodies and solos all round. Some wonderfully inventive piano, a lovely bass solo, some great interplay in the horns, complex heads and varied feels. I’ve just skipped through the full work but was mightily impressed. This non-profit venue-cum-club has been running these gigs since 2005 and covers fields of jazz, improv, new classical and electronica. COMA even presents a radio show on 5MBS. Fascinating and from what I’ve seen well skilled and quite intriguing.
COMA (Creative Original Music Adelaide) presents gigs at the Wheatsheaf Hotel, Thebarton, on 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. COMA streams and released all performances on YouTube and Bandcamp. The most recent gig was Yung Horns and Similacrum 5. Find more info and links from the COMA website.
I last wrote of this pair at Wesley with great admiration and pleasure, especially for a work telling of a dying soldier's thoughts in WW1. That concert visited the romantics and the eras before our admittedly very transactional times, to use the current parlance. This return was equally satisfying for its training and skills in voice and piano but also a return to earlier times. This was a fascinating investigation into musical takes on Shakespeare's language by Gerald Finzi and Roger Quilter and a group of songs by Vaughan Williams. The program describes their takes as Shakespeare "rich and rhythmic ... in turns, witty, wistful and profound", Finzi "introspective and melancholic", Quilter "light and charming" and finally Vaughan Williams "reverent and human ... moments of serenity and soaring joy" in takes on music of George Herbert "deeply expressive and spiritual ... quiet intensity". Thus is artsong, I guess: intelligent and reverent, fabulously skilled and beautifully performed and quite distant from our times to my ears. Not that we couldn't do with some alternatives just at the moment.
Alasdair Stretch (baritone) was accompanied by Callum Tolhurst-Close (piano) at Wesley.
It's said that you are only 6 degrees of separation from anyone. Maybe. An old friend had shared a lift with George W Bush in the White House; 1 degree of separation: check. I played a gig once at Rupert Murdoch's house out of Canberra and RM himself came up to the band, and in the break we spoke to several NY media executives, then Bob Hawke arrived in a helicopter; 1 degree of separation: check. Micah Heathwood sat in with us at Molly and he was the support act for Kamasi Washington; 1 degree of separation: Check. We were at that concert. Micah opened and said it was their first concert in Sydney: at Carriageworks supporting Kamasi Washington. What a nice place to start! From the top the sound was dreadful. Most obvious was a huge stomach thumping kick that lasted beyond the first minutes. Had they done a sound check before the gig? Just 3 players and one singing. But I could appreciate some oddly structured but well-maintained drum grooves over changing and unusual counts. With soft and relatively indistinct guitar strums and notes, rich with delay and more, creating colour over the drums. And keys that laid bass lines that again thumped the stomach or perhaps chordal work, but not distinct like that literally thumping bass. Perhaps a solo somewhere but again not too clear. And Micah with some vocals, indecipherable to my ears with my trade mark-tissue earplugs. I took one out to listen but still no luck. That stomach thump receded later but I still didn't catch lyrics. Lyrics interest me. To me they define song with intellect beyond emotion. For lyrics, I can ask Micah or wait for his upcoming recordings. But despite sound, I was mightily impressed. Inspired post-punk perhaps; floating jazz colour; contentious rhythm; even a lyric if I could hear it. Richard mentioned shoe-gaze but there were also jazz chops and knowledge to inform it. Hope to hear more and great congrats to Micah and Jamie and Max.
Micah Heathwood (drums, vocals) performed with Jamie Rea (keyboards) and Max Sturm (guitar) in support of Kamasi Washington at Carriageworks.
This is CJ Blog post no. 3,000. Blogspot keeps the count, not me, but it's opportune that a big international touring artist should get this post and also that it's someone who is making jazz as it is. I like big bands and swing and bop and modern and the rest, but jazz must remain a mutating art to survive and Kamasi is doing that, with rap, with Thundercat and the like. I'd prefer that the gig was not such a long drive (Carriageworks by the Sydney Central Station) and that it was a little more comfy (standing room only). But this seems to go with the territory. The territory was an 8-piece band touring Kamasi's latest album, Fearless movement, which is itself 1h26m long. Probably the best I got from this was clarity about the music. His albums are layered, complex, immensely busy and I love that, but live, as an 8-piece band, things were clearer. Firstly, there was immense drive, energy, an unrelenting nature. Drums and bass just never mild, all incessant grooves and variations just adding to interest but never weakening forward movement. Drums obviously double pedal as in metal and bass dirty and distorted and big as and sometimes loudly bowed, even to a bowed solo. Kamasi, especially, played on that with long solos, sometimes dissonant, always yearning, screaming. Perhaps keys was similar but he was hard to hear other than in one Moog solo. Then the essential jazz structure was evident: head/melody, perhaps a limited chord structure or just a groove as base for lengthy solos. DJ Battlecat could add to the rhythmic plays electronically, all turntabling or desk effects, or acoustically on percussion and singer Patrice could offer some words sometimes or perhaps a unison with a melody, reminiscent of overlays of vocals on albums, and I think just one balladic song, but mostly offering visual presence to the groove. Bass did that too, although he was far more muscular in his movements. The others mostly perused while not soloing or accompanying. The front line of three - Kamasi tenor sometimes piano; his father Rickey soprano or flute; Ryan trombone - defined the melodies and that was a lovely sound over the driving grooves. There was a pleasant vibe from the band, too, from Kamasi's chatter and interested phone videos and pics of the audience to end and Patrice's gentle interpretations in dance. It felt like good will. Quite a few around me (me too) were moving to this music. And that lovely sense of inviting melody that Kamasi plays with in heads before his strident, raucous solos. His albums are far more obscure, less obviously thus structured given layers of plays and embellishments that don't go live, although there were some recordings on stage, not least to introduce a particularly busy first few bars of his daughter's invention, Asha the first, and quite strangely a rap later in the piece. We were pretty close to stage so saw well but not too sure of the sound, losing voice and keys mostly. Maybe it was our location, although there was a central line array for the "dance" floor. But so be it. And being a modern event we were standing for 3 hours and sadly not really meeting too many of the locals. I heard a suggestion of an arts crowd with a wide range of ages. Maybe. But a great gig and very much enjoyed and not nearly as difficult to attend despite cold and wind and the long drive to Sydney and back. A very worthy gig for CJ's 3,000th post.
Kamasi Washington (tenor, piano) led his octet West Cost Get Down with Rickey Washington (soprano, flute), Ryan Porter (trombone), Patrice Quinn (vox), DJ Battlecat (DJ, percussion), Brandon Coleman (keyboards), Miles Mosley (bass) and Tony Austin (drums) at Carriageworks, Sydney.
This is CJBlog post no. 3,000
The Wesley Scholars are a changing group and they perform several times each year and this Wednesday lunchtime concert was one. And it was a doozy, very good and plenty varied. First up was virtuoso piano from Joyu Yuen playing a Saint-Saens Toccata from memory. This one was fascinating, merging early jazz, ragtime or New Orleans, with classical themes through dynamics and busy chordal figures throughout the octaves. Then solo cello from James Munro playing a Ligiti sonata movement, again mad, complex, dissonant timing and bowing and intervals, and a hugely impressive great take. Then one of the singers, Phoebe Bourke, accompanied by Joyo, with a modern piece she'd played to the composer, then her examiner, then back to her origins with a karaoke take on a musical number, Your Daddy's son from Ragtime. That was all heavy. We all know and love Tom Lehrer and Martin Magill played piano and sang Poisoning pigeons in the park. Sadly the vocals were a little lost but the audience could imagine the theme easily enough. Then cellos again, with Chloe Law and James Munro playing three movements from David Popper Suite for two cellos. Apparently the composer is known for his 40 demanding etudes, but these were sweet and melodic if challenging and again so satisfyingly played. And to finish up a longish lunchtime concert, another singer, Evangeline Osborne with Martin Magill, and the first song was that classic song from that classic album, River from Joni Mitchell Blue. That just struck me as it would have many in the, shall we say, mature, audience. And then Hoard Blake and A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square. So a huge expanse of music, not just established classical but newer fine musics and jazz and even musicals. Stunning so well performed. This was a special one.
The current crop of Wesley Scholars performed at Wesley: Joyu Yuen (piano), James Munro and Chloe Law (cellos), Martin Magill (piano, vocals), Phoebe Bourke and Evangeline Osborne (vocals).
Later in the night, after the book launch, is not so late for jazz these days. We must be an ageing cohort. Whatever, Ben Lerner was playing at Smiths at 7pm with his quartet on tour before recording an album with ABC and they were something pretty special. The others were Steve Barry, well known and big handed with busy, rich, arpeggiated solos; Max Alduca, for some time trained locally, of solid groove with busy syncopations and some quick fills up the neck; and Alex Young, new to me but again syncopated, intensely grooved, sharply snared and creatively responsive. They were all a pleasure, with Ben's lithe and expressive alto over, playing his compositions. I reminded me of bop, heads and solos and groove, but not neo-bop. That was conservative; this was more creative, open to broader stylistic influences, far more varied in chordal structures and not all 2-5s but you could still hear those pentatonic or other solo patterns that were just so effective from the alto and the heads were intriguing and often unexpected while the intensity and drive remained up. This was some fascinating music and it's not at all surprising that Ben is off to NYC and Manhattan School of Music. We can only wish him well but he's got a great start. In the meantime, I look forward to mixing his gig at Smiths and later hearing the band's take from whatever ABC studio.
Allan Anforth (barrister, academic, author) was in conversation with Jack Waterford (journalist, opinion writer) at the launch of his book 'The role of rhetoric in politics and the media' at Paperchain bookshop, Manuka.
Just 2 pieces, Snow angel and The snow. It had been cold overnight in Canberra. I was not sure quite what to expect. This was the Canberra Community Chorale directed by Olivia Swift. Olivia does good work. I spoke to her after the concert about the compositions. She said most people like one or the other and they were quite different. I was commenting to her about Sarah Quartel Snow Angel. This one fascinated me. It's modern: it has a string of spoken word passages from Angels 1,2,3, written as paragraphs but quite poetic with rhymes and repetitions, telling stories with discrete religious themes; it has modern piano accompaniment of limited harmonic movements with rhythmic structure, with quite complex voices and harmonies over. And it has just a few rap passages. Rap! That fascinated me and I felt it may have somewhat discombobulated the mature singers. But this was a fascinating modern composition. The other piece was a poem by Caroline Alice Roberts put to music by her husband, Edward Elgar, which seemed fairly obvious English music of the period. So I had a preference and it was Sarah Quartel. This was a run through for a later concert in this Church in a month or so. Snow angel was quite intriguing. Hope to catch this one again.
The Canberra Community Chorale performed at Wesley Church under Olivia Swift (director) with accompaniment by Lucus Allerton (piano) and angels Helen Moore, Maxine Robinson and Martin McGill (spoken word).
Then Maruki performing more repertoire. I love Maruki for its brave approach to repertoire, the full programs, the unflinching takes on the hardest works. Again a threesome of overture, concerto and symphony: Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream overture, Beethoven Piano concerto no 2 Bbmaj and Tchaikovsky Symphony no.1 Gmin. Never flinch, even with the demands of this Tchaikovsky symphony. This was a doozy, all chromatics and glorious melody, not least on bass and quick lines and odd timings and frantic stringendos and ever trustworthy brass who saved the day for me a few times. This was not easy and I'd not managed too many rehearsals. Next to the Tchaiks, the Mendelssohn seemed trivial if exciting and the Beethoven, played by Cornelia Dragusin, was beautiful with a Mozartian delicacy and danceability. But as ever, to reach the end of such a program and such a demanding composition as the Tchaiks is a pleasure and satisfaction. We are a welcoming unauditioned community orchestra and this is as hard as it comes but just having learnt this and the rest of the repertoire that we work through is a great satisfaction and an opportunity to get into the guts of a work and know it in a way that listening just doesn't provide. And the size of the orchestra just confirms I'm not alone in this pleasure. PS. The pics are from the warmup, not the concert, of course.
Maruki Orchestra preformed Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky at Albert Hall under Kristen Simpson. The Beethoven concerto featured soloist Cornelia Dragusin (piano). Bottom enders were Owen Livermore and Eric Pozza (bass).
I do wonder how many towns the size of Canberra are supplied with musicians like this town. Concerts just seem to roll in, frequently, during the week or conflict over the weekend. And so I managed to fit a Canberra Bach Ensemble sets of four oratorios into the Saturday evening between a final rehearsal and a Maruki concert. More on that next. But it's busy. And CBE concerts are not lightweight. Four cantatas featuring ~50 performers comprising choir and soloists and period instrumentalists, some visiting from Melbourne or Sydney for the event, but mostly local. That's 2 hours of performance with an interval in the middle. Not shirking. And each cantata preceded by a presumably related motet by another composer, all cantatas for the Jubilate Sunday, once the Third Sunday after Easter. True to form, the baroque instruments were wooden and detuned and of considerable interest and some rarity or at least uncommonness. We got a long necked Theorbo from violinist Shaun Ng, a sixth flute (essentially a descant recorder in D) that had been borrowed by Robyn Mellor from Melbourne, oboes d'amore and baroque bassoons and the like. And plenty of gut for the tone. The choir sounded glorious, the vocal soloists informed and clear, the whole a glorious and generous indulgence in the period and quite a learning proposition. Thanks once again to Andrew and CBE.
It's not often you see 2 orchestras in one night, although I noticed Miro called the Jazz orchestra a big band. Whatever, a classical orchestra and a jazz orchestra/big band are different things. The fact that the classical orchestra performs on the Llewellyn stage and the jazz orchestra plays in the bar just confirms the different formalities and memberships and musicalities but I love them both and obviously the audience does too. These were the ANU Orchestra and the ANU Jazz Orchestra performing on one night in the same building. First up was the classical players under Rowan Harvey-Martin playing Respighi, Vaughan Williams and Kodaly. I was amused to not know of the Hary Janus suite although a friend knew it best of the 3. The Respighi was Fountains of Rome and this didn't convince me. I have lived in Rome for a several years and seen the fountains frequently and this didn't click for me, but that's composition not performance. The RVW was Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis interestingly with 3 groups comprising 2 small string sections and soloists. I was most taken by some lovely solos, not least amongst the violas. Amusingly, I greeted the basses before the gig and there were 3 (Dave, Mel and Hayley) and none are current students. Then on to the bar and the big band and some swinging numbers although I didn't catch titles. Miro was filling in for Greg Stott on the night. At one stage he invited dances but only one male couple got up, amusing all while displaying some swing dance skills. I recognised some faces in both orchestras but certainly not all. Presumably for two reasons: new players in the music school and other ANU students who are taking part, for both orchestras are open for students and others from ANU. Amusingly, I found I could take a wine into Llewellyn in a plastic glass, so maybe the two venues were more similar than I'd expected. It's all music, after all, and all music is well suited to lubrication.
The ANU Orchestra under Rowan Harvey-Martin (conductor) performed on stage in Llewellyn Hall. The ANU Jazz Orchestra under Miroslav Bukovsky (conductor) performed in the Athenaeum.
This was something special. It's not every Wednesday we have a Canberran returning for a visit from Berlin where she's been playing for 10 years in various European chamber groups, and improv collectives. But accompanied by the cream of Canberra's players, CSO and the like, just added to it. Alexina Hawkins played a lovely, period Carl Stamitz followed by a 20th century contrast in a Bartok viola concerto. Then an added string quartet playing Haydn. That wasn't on the menu/program but was a lovely thing. These were not full works but movements, given available time, and at least the first two played by Xina from memory, With glorious, woody tone and lithe, always expressive interpretation. Edward Neeman provided accompaniment for the Stamitz and Bartok and was exemplary. Just recently I've noticed how much more you take in up close, after a string of masters at close quarters. This too was enlivening and enlightening. Then a lovely unexpected, unprogrammed Haydn string quartet to offer an opportunity to play again with old Canberra mates. I knew the Stamitz so enjoyed that with great intimacy, anticipating every note. The Bartok was new, twisted and mangled and indicatively C20th strife-filled; Xina suggested industrial or even romantic/poetic, presumably in response. And the Haydn was just lovely, of course. So a memorable and special Wednesday lunchtime concert flown in from Berlin.
Alexina Hawkins (viola) performed Carl Stamitz and Bela Bartok with Edward Neeman (piano) and Haydn with Douglas McNichol and Pip Thompson (violin) and Samuel Payne (cello) at Wesley.
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