An unlikely forty winks

Apparently someone heard snoring in the audience and was surprised given this was a Shostakovich symphony but Rami was just 6 months old so, so be it.  NCO is generous to its audience!  But jokes side this was a big and impressive gig.  NCO played Shostakovich Symphony 5, Weber Bassoon concerto with Ben Hoadley as soloist and Ella Macens  The space between stars.  Ella had studied with Louis so was close to home, but well regarded in her own light.  The Macens is a work celebrating the night sky, picturing stars, constellations, even meteors, all long notes and slow tempos and defined dynamics moving amongst parts.  The Weber is a renowned concerto on the cusp of classical, neat and ordered, steady with flashy inserted passages, ponderous but pensive second movement, and a quick, lively, buoyant third.  This was fun.  The orchestra could have overwhelmed the solo bassoon, but was delightfully restrained.  I personally loved the light touch this demanded.  It also demanded a good ear for Ben and a trained eye for Louis, for there were some very malleable tempos.  But so lovely and satisfying to play.  Then to the interval and the main work: Shostakovich Symphony no.5 op.47.  It was all a confusing mess at first but came together with practice and rehearsals and ended in concert as a fascinating, challenging expanse over four movements.  Plenty of action for the basses who start two movements with gutsy melodies.  There's a truly delicious passage for the concert master, explosive runs throughout, odd movements and harmonies (I drooled over a passage running scalar to Bb then dropping to an E to end.  Louis directed with aplomb, the winds were stupendous as they so often are, I'd heard some touchy intonations in the basses, but listening after to a little video I thought the intonation was quite professional.  But it's a complex and different work thus challenging and I can only admire people who enjoyed it if not knowing it before.  This is big and a difficult listen but fascinating.  How wonderful to have played it.

National Capital Orchestra performed Ella Macens, Carl Maria von Weber and Dmitri Shostakovich at Snow concert hall under Louis Sharpe (MD, conductor) with soloist Ben Hoadley (bassoon) and Thayer Preece (concertmaster).  String bottom enders were Henry South (principal), Juliet Flook, Jennifer Groom, Talia Meischke, Jeremy Tsuei and Eric Pozza (double bass).

Thanks to Sophia for the bassists pic.

Observations

 

This was a combination of bassoon and harpsichord from Ben Hoadley and Ariana Odermatt at Wesley.  It's not a common combination, but quite lovely.  And it's not a pairing of baroque instruments as the bassoon was modern, but nonetheless, quite lovely.  And also not all baroque music, and again quite lovely.  Ben mentioned playing the modern bassoon with harpsichord and how it was a different experience, bigger and louder, I guess, and maybe more fluent.  Whatever, they sat nicely together.  He also highlighted the period of the musics: the first three were Marcello, Telemann and Couperin, all early 1700s, and the last Francois Devienne, late 1700.  It was obvious when you were made aware of it.  The earlier period was of royal courts; the later was of the people, entertainment, post-revolution and clearly more classical-styled.  I'd quipped to Ariana earlier that the harpsichord didn't change volume and she'd responded with louder, dirtier sound.  Then sure enough, the first and second courante by Couperin did exactly the same, quiet and delicate, then dirtier and louder.  So lots to observe and some lovely playing to just enjoy.  What's better?

Ben Hoadley (bassoon) and Ariana Odermatt (harpsichord) performed at Wesley.

Female offspring

The concert was called Half the sky and the half was women. It was a CIMF event formulated around Ensemble Offpring and some ring-ins. EO plays music only by living composers, but this year they are playing music only by living women composers. I expect little difference in the music (I liked how Chen Yi, female composer in residence at CIMF, put it: "we happen to be women writing music"), but a great opportunity to level matters. The concert was at and about the National Portrait Gallery, in various locations over several hours. First up was a performance in the foyer, by the sextet, then by a trio. Then a "promenade": four mini performances by soloists or small groups. Then a choice (not an easy thing!) amongst four pieces in four places at one time. I happened on two by settled on third, Loo Sze-Wang playing sheng, a smallish, multi-piped free reed instrument, just to experience something different (not new: shengs date from 1,100 years back). Then the forum, about women composers and more broadly about women in music, with Chen Yi, Claire Edwardes, Sarah Kimball (CSO), Sally Greenaway and Laura Tingle, chaired by Karen Vickery (NPG) and a final two pieces performed in the foyer, one by the current composer-in-residence, Chen Yi; the other by next year's c-i-r, Mary Finsterer. What stands out? Firstly, it was all fabulously interesting, challenging, edgy, read contemporary. The playing was mightly, but as a string player I particularly noticed Blair Harris on cello and was fascinated by the score he was responding to with all manner of new written techniques; Claire E's deeply satisfying rhythm and the pentatonics in her later solo on merimba had me feeling jazz, although another later work was more obviously classical-sounding; an impressive trio including some blissful playing on horn from Darryl Poulson; Loo Sze-Wang's cheng because it was just so new to me. And some interesting comments in the forum caught my ear: what did we miss about Julia Gillard's time amongst "all that noise"; CSO's programming of 9 women with 6 commissions in a smaller group series curated by Matthew Hindson; Sally G observed that being a composer is "fraught", also that she'd come to love music by female composers she'd met (I guess she means some familiarity helps in music and otherwise: I feel that too); Chen Yi observed that action is most important (she spoke of the SF Women's Philharmonic and a competition for female composers); Claire's suggestion that women may not be "as bolshy" as male composers, calling on others to "listen to me"; it was generally recognised that history has left a male bias to the repertoire (not hard to think this!) and a "repair [is] all we can do now". A great afternoon of intriguing contemporary music played with wonderful skills and with a political edge. Great!

Half the sky was a CIMF concert at the National Portrait Gallery. Performers were Ensemble Offspring comprising Claire Edwardes (percussion, musical director), Jason Noble (clarinet), Zubin Kanga (piano), Veronique Serret (violin), Lamorna Nightingale (flute), Blair Harris (cello) with Ben Hoadley (bass clarinet, bassoon), Loo Swe-Wang (sheng) and Darryl PoulsEn (horn). The forum comprised Chen Yi, Claire Edwardes, Sarah Kimball, Sally Greenaway, Laura Tingle and Karen Vickery. Composers on location were Chen Yi, Joyce Tang and Mary Finsterer (perhaps others).