ANUSOM not SCUNA

I've had to explain SCUNA to a few people over recent days and maybe the abbreviation ANUSOM is much the same, but I haven't done it.  [BTW, another difference: SCUNA is an acronym; ANUSOM is an initialism). Anyway, this was the annual fund raiser concert for the ANSOM (ANU School of Music) jazz school with the jazz orchestra led by Con Campbell and a small ensemble led by James Luke and the whole introduced by Greg Stott.  The numbers weren't so large this time, but there are various gigs coming up, not least the Jazz Orch with the Classical Orch in Llewellyn soon.  The orchestra was lovely and loud, playing complex arrangements of Central Park North, Body & soul, Ya gotta try and Malaguena.  Con led 5 saxes (bari, 2xalto, 2xtenor), 6 brass (3xtpt, 3xtrom) and a rhythm section of piano, guitar, bass and drums.  All pretty standard and thrilling in this format, noisy and complex and satisfying as this music is.  The small ensemble was James with Josh (guit), Caleb (keys) and Oscar (drums).  Notably they played two originals, one each from Oscar and Caleb, both really impressive, and a few standards, Stomping at the Savoy, Triste and a take on Sweet and lovely with considerable arranging.  If I heard right they had retitled this as Tweet and lovely, but probably not...  A nice outing but sadly for too few supporters.

The ANU Jazz Orchestra and a small ensemble performed in the Band Room at the ANUSOM.

Palace or chamber

I think it was Hampton Court Palace where Henry VIII strolled in while we were in the room.  But then it was not the real Henry VIII and the room didn't lend itself to intimate music anyway, like that was played in chamber.  I think of such things when I hear harpsichord and a solo instrument, or here, voice.  Ariana was playing with alto Teresa, starting with Couperin on solo harpsichord then Cesu and Vivaldi, again solo harpsichord by Zipoli then Giacomelli, Conti and Handel to finish.  The composers are very Italian or European, other than Handel with his connections with England, and the lyrics were appropriately operatically despairing, of love, delight, dreams, despising, ignited flames, tyrants and the like; and amusingly the aria from the Princess-courtesan declaring love for her idolised long-lost prince who has fainted from her rage.  This era was not so simple.  Anyway, a lovely outing of period music and operatic emotions and a little amusement for our overly confident era.

Ariana Odermatt (harpsichord) soloed and accompanied Teresa Block (nee Wojcik, mezzo soprano) at Wesley.

Uni larks

It was another opportunity to play some great music with a choir and I loved it as always.  These choir spots are short on rehearsals, perhaps one for the musicians then a get-together with the choir and the performance, usually with a good run of a capella singing.  And how I love choirs, given my contention that the voice is the most intimate and emotive of human musical sounds.  But in addition, this was SCUNA with the University lark of their title, SCUNA.  I explained it to several people on the weekend, best not to do it here.  Suffice to say, it amuses me and others.  The concert was a playoff of JS Bach vs GF Handel, with compositional pairings and cheers measured for intensity (rough dBs) by the host known only as Leo Amadeus.  SCUNA performed some seriously great music and apparently it always does.  Our Camerata played just 4 of 15 tunes, but they were to die for: Zadock the priest, Magnificat Dmaj, Jesu Joy of man's desiring and Hallelujah chorus.  Otherwise the choir sang works of genius from Messiah, Donna nobis pacem and Paul Simon Bridge over troubled water to end (said to be influenced by one or other composer, but Wikipedia identifies a gospel song by the Swan Silvertones).  This was all directed and conducted and occasional sung with by Veronica with keyboard accompaniment from Anthony Smith and occasionally flutes and the Camerata.  All hele together by a jovial and inviting commentary-cum-introduction-and-scoring by Leo Amadeus in apt costume.  Not sure of Leo's non-stage name: I can only guess.  In all, a great pleasure in a restored but seemingly unchanged ANU University House Great Hall under artwork of Leonard French and all recorded by Tim Lamble.

SCUNA (ANU Choral Society) performed works of Bach and Handel at the ANU with the SCUNA Camerata, under Veronica Thwaites-Brown (conductor, MD) with accompaniment from Anthony Smith (piano) and running commentary by Leo Amadeus (MC) and audio recorded by Tim Lamble.

Many happy returns

It can be quite intriguing watching young players as they develop over the years.  Thus it is with Charles Huang.  This concert featured Schubert impromptu Abmaj, two Chopin Etudes, op.25 no.3 and no.5, the longer and more developed 3 and the unexpectedly short 5, and Beethoven Sonata no.3 Cmin, early, in four movements and dedicated to Haydn, and lengthy, lasting ~25mins.  The Schubert impromptu and Beethoven were easily recognised but the two Chopin etudes less so, at least to me.  And Charles impresses as expected, given his history or piano competitions and Eisteddfods.  Congratulations and thanks to Charles and his piano teacher father, Jinbo.

Charles Huang (piano) performed at Wesley.

Travels and memories

I associate saxes with jazz rather than classical, but I was taken by the Andromeda Sax Quartet that played at Wesley.  I was recording and I had recorded them before and the theme of the concert, Mass transit, seemed pretty pedestrian (well, not on foot, but you get the idea) but it was anything but.  So we heard a string of cities imaged by composers in their youthful ramblings, Cordoba, Sarajevo, Koln and Addis Ababa from Guillermo Lago and Lisboa, Casablanca, Alger and Retour from Pedro Iturralde, and a view of the worlds from Irish composer Emma O'Halloran after a move to Miami, picturing the city of night life and ocean.  These are not particularly known composers showing the adventurousness of the Quartet and the rarity of the sax quartet format, probably/perhaps both.  The format is Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone saxes, so a neat choral-like structure and related somewhat to the much more common string quartet.  They added a piano for the second half of the show which included the concert's namesake, Mass transit.  This was originally written for string quartet and piano and arranged for this format: very successfully even if the piano was lost amongst some loud horns (excuse the jazz-ism).  This particularly interested me, given it was a memory of the composer's, Sam Wu's, memories of public transport in Shanghai, metro, gardens, train announcements and the rhythms of motion.  It was particularly interesting for me as we'd been in Shanghai just weeks before and travelled the 300kpm, 7min maglev trip to the airport which appears as mvt.3 Airport express.  So it was close to home but also loud and insistent and adventurous and wonderfully capable.  Chatting with the group afterwards, I heard of workshops and friendships with the masters of the classical sax world.  I guess this is a pretty small community and well known within its own world: something that strings or even woodwinds and the rest might not know.  Whatever, this was a fabulously interesting outing, loud, skilled, mature and responsive and open to all manner of new classical and related musics, from jazz-like grooves from bari and tenor through pretty 30's-like big bands to C20th classics.  Catch them if you can.

Andromeda Sax Quartet comprises Paige Gullifer (soprano), Ryan Piccione (alto), Henry Docker (tenor) and Sam Dong (baritone) and Catherine Li (piano) joined them for the second half of the performance.

Deserving youth

I record Wednesday lunchtime concerts at Wesley and I often hear upcoming pianists, experienced with great teachers and Eisteddfod and the likes and it's a pleasure.  This day was Shreyas Sunkaraneni who I had seen before but not as a solo concert performer.  He was seriously impressive, capable, memorised, authentic and emotive, playing Haydn, Chopin, Brahms and interestingly and more diversely, Debussy.  I drooled over the delicacy of the playing, the beautifully spelled out passages, some free floating times and insistent, forceful statements.  The Haydn was a Sonata in C minor, the Chopin an Etude in C# minor, the Brahms a Rhapsody in G minor, but the  most demanding and exquisite with modern colours and pensive restraint was Debussy, La soiree dans Grenade.  This arrived at a recent century, with what I interpreted as a dancing, dotted rhythm, Habanero to teacher Marie.  But all, varied as it was, was played with seriousness and commitment despite a few slipups.  So be it; this was serious and demanding music played from memory by a young player.  In fact the concert was entitled Delicacy and Passion.  How could I question that?  I was impressed and look forward to being so again.  Youth never ceases to impress me after having left it somewhat behind.

Shreyas Sunkaraneni (piano), student of Marie Cull, performed Haydn, Chopin, Brahms and Debussy at Wesley.