Thinking of Prague

Perhaps strange but Brindabella Orchestra is the one orchestra I perform with that gets full houses.  The house is not too big, but it is full.  I don't play with Brinda always but I do play occasionally to fill in on bass when needed.  Brinda was my first orchestra so has a connection.  I also had a connection with this program.  We played The Moldau.  It's about the river that runs through Prague and we've walked over that.  We stayed near the clock tower for several days and I got to various jazz haunts although not the Jazz boat cruise (see under Prague in this blog).  Prague is also the home of Miro Bukovsky and Miroslav Vitous and George Mraz.  Miro tells of playing with Miroslav in his younger days.  But back to Canberra.  The program was the Moldau and selections from Coppelia and Phantom of the Opera and some Russian folk songs and to finish, an arrangement of the Blue Danube waltz complete with a dancing couple.  Shilong Ye is current conductor and he's a capable and affable leader and great for Brinda.  I erred occasionally, but I was happy to hear that one cello bear me hadn't noticed.  I cover well.  So, a pleasurable afternoon with an old haunt.

Brindabella Orchestra performed at Weston under Shilong Ye (conductor).

Premiere

I hold a spot in my heart for the Brindabella Orchestra because they were the first orchestra I played with.  I left down the track after playing Beethoven 5 with Maruki and I've moved further on since.  I like to play the big and challenging works, all the movements, the repertoire.  It's an incredible pleasure and challenge, but I still go back occasionally to Brinda and I did this weekend to hear them playing a world premiere, no less.  It was The old man who loved to sing, a children's book put to music by Mike Dooley, no less,  under commission by Brinda.  A mate and a capable composer.  This was a great pleasure with an intimate and attractive theme, some pretty melody and glorious orchestration and harmonies.  I was mightily impressed.  Brinda also did a run of smaller well-known works:: Saint-Saens Carnival of the animals, Bizet Carmen suite, Borodin Steppes of Central Asia, Nicolai Merry wives of Windsor and Strauss Sr Radetsky March.  There was great pleasure there, not least in the playful or boisterous themes, Radetsky, of course, but also The Elephant or Les Toerdors.  It';s the sort of thing that brings smiles to the faces of some players and I enjoyed watching a few like this isn the cello section.  So a memorable outing for a fine world premier by Michael Dooley and otherwise some popular and joyous works. 

Brindabella Orchestra under Shilong Ye (conductor) performed a world premiere by Mike Dooley along with Saint-Saens, Bizet, Borodin, Nicolai and Strauss Sr in Weston.

Chortles

Brindabella Orchestra played on Sunday and I sat it.  Nice program, nicely developed orchestra with Shilong Ye as the current conductor, nice cello solo on a Dvorak Rondo for cello and orchestra and overall a great little program.  None too difficult but musically interesting.  More Dvorak with a few Slavonic dances and Gounod Faust for more dances, although more balletic in style.  Both those were lively outings.  Faure Pavane was mightily different.  Not hard but demanding soft, responsive pizz throughout and really quite beautiful.  I relax with pizz, being a jazzer, but it taxes my sense of time.  I do tend to sit ahead of the beat in jazz to drive the swing, but classical requires pizz right on the beat and it can be unforgiving as pizz from a string of instruments arrive at different times.  It can happen.  The Cello Rondo, too, had some lovely touches, bowed, but reminiscent of pizz, a two feel that moved behind the cello melody from solid and tight to bouncy and balletic.  It was a very satisfying change and a similar thing appeared in our last work, Brahms Academic Festival Overture.  It's the third time I've played this in concert so my understanding is expanding.  Brahms is perhaps my favourite composer, not for difficult or busy lines but for clever constructions and variations.  AFO is a hoot, they say drinking songs and the university theme song, written to announce his honorary doctorate.  It just seems like all manner of styles and snippets thrown in together, brilliantly contrived, gorgeously humourous, mostly pretty playable, but a few testing syncopations and descending themes.  Great stuff.  It often brought me a chortle at the audaciousness of it all.  Thus another concert much enjoyed. Thanks to Brinda and Shilong and Sam and Celeste who invited me.

Brindabella Orchestra performed Dvorak, Faure, Gounod and Brahms at the Weston Community Hub.  Shilong Ye (conductor) led and Sam Payne (cello) soloed on Dvorak Rondo op.94.

A return for Christmas

It was a rushed affair but not too difficult to pick up and with some inviting music.  Celeste asked me to sit in with Brindabella Orchestra for their end of year, Christmas concert.  I managed just two (?) practices and spent the week before in Melbourne but I managed to get through.  And, at its best, the music was delightful.  We did a few movements of Vaughan Williams songs (more stodgy than delightful, but that's the English style).  Sibelius Andante festivo was lovely, as was a Sound of Music suite.  Libertango was a blast but that's pretty much inevitable.  We also did a string of Christmas carols and a suite of them.  Those were all performed by orchestra or strings alone.  The winds and brass and percussion did an Abba medley and a swing piece.  We were preceded by the professionals, our conductor led his Grevillea String Quartet playing Haydn Lark quartet and a collection of tunes from the Nutcracker suite.  The quartet was classy, nicely intoned, sharply interactive and the rest.  Nice.  And they sat in with the orchestra for our performance.  I melted over some of the melodies, not least Sound of Music.  Surely not, but yes.  Is it a function of age, or maybe just a realisation of the beauty of good melody, think Richard Rodgers and Abba and Beatles and the like.  So, a first concert since April and very pleasant at that.

Grevillea String Quartet performed Haydn and Tchaikovsky.  GW comprise Shilong Ye and Matthew Witney (violins), Julia Clancy (viola) and Samuel Payne (cello).  Brindabella Orchestra was conducted by Shilong Ye.

Brinda's best

>br> Brindabella was a different orchestra this time. I haven't played with them for a few years, but sat in for Geoff who was away for a while and then did the concert. The program was satisfying (starting with Mozart and working though Mascagni, Humperdinck, Saint-Saens, Holst and a few pop favourites, Ketelbey and Vangelis). We had a few members of NCO and Woden Winds filling out some positions. We had a decent room with space and the noisy aircon was mercifully turned off for the concert. I loved to start with Mozart Marriage of Figaro overture with its pleasures and quick runs. From the top I noticed that Brinda was playing satisfyingly tight. Craig Johnson, ex-head of Army Band, was up front. He was generous and pleasant in rehearsals, but had a good ear for advice and drilling and some effective exercises in intonation and harmony that did good. I always expect to play right on the night, and we displayed this here: much better than rehearsals. And the Elephant! We played selections from Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals and the Elephant was our bass-end feature. It was accompanied by an amusing narration from seriously well-voiced Mike Goodman. Overall a great pleasure and the best I've ever heard from Brinda. Congratulations!


Brindabella Orchestra performed at Weston Community Centre under Craig Johnson (conductor). Mike Goodman (narration) introduced the menagerie movements in Carnival of theAnimals. The low end was provided by Geoff Prime and Eric Pozza (basses).

Brinda

I've got an affection for Brindabella Orchestra. They were the first orchestra I played with when I took up this style a few years ago, so it includes lots of friendly faces. This was their end-of-year concert and included a few works that I've touched on with them in the past. The program was a collection of marches and dances. Short works but by big names - Elgar, Delibes, Berlioz, Beethoven, Dvorak, Saint-Saens, Orff. Plus a Telemann that was a concerto rather than a dance or march, and a few modern dances from Fiddler on the Roof and Jamaican Rumba. So, an entertaining and lively program. I particularly liked the first, Elgar Pomp & Circumstance no.4, and the Telemann viola concerto Gmaj. Viola has such a nicely rich tone, I guess the alto to the violin's soprano, but it's a less common concerto instrument. Marilyn Moir played that one with considerable panache. I admire concerto players for the individual tone they must draw from the instrument; she did it nicely. The whole was conducted by Rosalie Hannink, sometimes cellist in the orchestra, oftentimes conductor. Brindabella is just another of the tapestry of classical groups in Canberra, one of several local symphony orchestras and an enduring joy for a committed group of players. Great to hear Brindabella again.

Brindabella Orchestra played a program of marches and dances at Queanbeyan Uniting Church. Rosalie Hannink (conductor) convened and Marilyn Moir (viola) soloed for a Telemann concerto.

Fiddling

It's almost getting to be passé, playing orchestral concerts. This is my first of three over three weeks, this one with Brindabella Orchestra. The program was a mix of Russian and Northern Euro/Scandinavian composers. The major work was from Tchaikovsky, Slavonic March, with some themes from Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade, Swan Lake, Russian folk songs from Liadov, Khachaturian's wonderful Adagio from Spartacus that everyone knows as the theme of the Onedin Line (at least those of a certain age; I knew of it but never watched an episode) and some Dvorak from the American Suite. The odd one out, and the hardest to play, was a medley, Symphonic dances from Fiddler on the Roof. Who would think that's the hardest read? But it was, for the irregularly changing musical-theatre tunes and the Russian-Jewish styled themes and oddly syncopated fills. It doesn't look difficult on the page, but the twists are clangers. But throughout, the orchestra performed with dynamics I hadn't heard in rehearsal and we had a great time of it. Congrats to Brinda for another successful outing.

Brindabella Orchestra was led by Peter Shaw (conductor).

Brinda and climate

I had a clash, the People's Climate March with Brindabella Orchestra's final concert of the year. I chose the immediate (and much enjoyed) concert, of course, as one must, but in spirit I was also on the streets for climate. Before Brinda, once more my summary of the climate predicament:

All you really need to know about climate change. We're one big civilisation and climate is changing fast given a sudden imbalance of carbon since the industrial revolution. The mechanism of greenhouse gasses has been known to science for 150 years or so and we're at 400ppm and adding another couple each year, and 2 degrees warming (guessed to come at 450ppm) is a rough, perhaps optimistic, estimate of where runaway climate change could happen given various feedback loops (the ubiquitous "tipping points") and it looks to me like we've got Buckley's chance of staying within 2 degrees. With business as usual, IPCC estimates 3-6 degrees rise by 2100. That's just 85 years. Scientists provide the proof of all this for honest readers. To me it looks like game over and sooner than we think. I just hope I'm wrong because nobody wins an argument with physics.

At least my family went to the march. Back to Brinda. On this topic, I was amused to find a denier of anthropogenic climate change amongst the Brinda performers ... but it takes all types. My response was warming so I left the counter to a calmer voice currently studying for an ANU science doctorate. But to Brinda...

This was Brindabella Orchestra's final concert for 2015. It was entitled Dominant tonic; held again at Qbn Uniting Church (nice acoustics); conducted by Peter Shaw. The program was significantly more demanding than previous and the outcome confirmed the choice. Ensemble playing was impressive with nice shared senses of dynamics, time feels and intonation. The composers were the real thing: Beethoven Creature of Prometheus overture, Faure Elegy for cello and orchestra, Dvorak Symphonic variations, Brahms Academic Festival overture, Bizet L'Arlesienne no.2 and some music theatre, Lloyd Webber Selections from Phantom of the Opera. Challenging but not impossible. I even enjoyed the last amongst the more historical fare. We had visitors: brass from Western Winds (Peter also directs this ensemble, so a happy coincidence) and Jennifer Wurtzel, guest soloist from NY via NCO to play the cello part in Faure. This was a happy and very successful concert that I reckon brings Brindabella to a new level. Congrats to Peter and all.

Brindabella Orchestra performed Beethoven, Faure, Dvorak, Brahms, Bizet and Lloyd Webber under Peter Shaw (conductor). Jennifer Wurtzel (cello) soloed in the Faure Elegy.

Thanks to Phuong Dang for some of the pics

Arrayed forces

This Brindabella Orchestra concert was something like that: arrayed forces. Because it was big. Brindabella played with Weston Winds and some guests, so the stage was packed with players and the roof lifted when the brass let loose. And the theme was WW1, the Great War, with tunes from the era, so often touching, occasionally bombastic and nationalistic. Yes, and because we played God save the King (for king he was as that time) and our own little number, Advance Australia Fair. It all worked a treat, better than I'd hoped (especially after a few weeks away with no practising) and was a blast when the whole outfit started up. Not that I liked the overt nationalism that is people standing for the anthem. We are more nationalistic and overtly proud these days (Anzac Day in the '60s was nothing like it is now, but then we had many returned soldiers who knew the hell it really was. There are fewer surviving returnees these days (mostly some Vietnam vets, Middle East, perhaps Korea and WW2) and we mostly just have pollies using and abusing and playing at militarism, viz, Operation Fortitude as the latest dangerous blunder). So, I felt uncomfortable when the audience stood but I have a very nice male voice on the recording, singing along, so not all bad. The program was made up of a few pieces for Weston Winds, a few for the Orchestra, a few combined and one song with piano. I liked our Tunes from the tranches medley, not least the appearance of Land of hope and glory (I am not immune from these emotional stirrings), and Banks of green willows (George Butterworth) and Elegy for strings (FS Kelly) were touching and all colours and spaces, as are poems and pieces from those who experienced the war. The Winds played Holst First suite in Eb 1st mvt and I was taken by a spot that was all the world like a jazz solo played by saxes with band accompaniment, and otherwise some nice melody passed through the band. Lachlan McIntyre, currently studying at ANU School of Music, sang By a bierside by Ivor Gurney, which BBC Four describes thus: "Surrounded by the chaos of the trenches, serving soldier Ivor Gurney composed a number of haunting songs, including 'By A Bierside'." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01w9ry3). Orchestra and Winds played well and the program was nicely constructed, so, a very successful and nicely themed concert.
Brindabella Orchestra and Weston Winds were conducted by Peter Shaw in "From Gallipoli to the Somme and beyond : music from the WW1 era". Lachlan McIntyre (vocals) featured. Too many perfomers to list.

Orch 3

Coming quick and fast recently. This was my third orchestral performance; my second with the Brindabella Orchestra. The program was fairly short, fairly light, but with a few difficulties. There were several challenging passages in Mendelssohn Hebrides overtures (Fingal's cave), and the final page was dark with semiquavers. We did a few movements of Dvorak Suite in A major (American): the fourth was luscious and the fifth was a counting nightmare with the 1 and 3 all over the place. Strauss Kaizerwalzer was a thing of delight and it will be interesting to play it in a few months with Maruki. Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld is the CanCan and just a treat to play, all lively and rollicking and immensely joyous. I could not help but beam when the dance came up. Too bad, but no dancing girls for this performance (although I read in Wikipedia that men also danced the CanCan as an athletic and perhaps less salacious dance in mid-1800s Paris). The whole was held together with the Dam Buster march (immensely nostalgic for a certain age group) and ended with a JC Superstar medley which I found surprisingly satisfying. Again, great fun, a few mistakes from me, but the orchestra played with more ear and dynamics than at any practice. Just another confirmation of the adage: "She'll be right on the night".

Brindabella Orchestra performed a program called Musical journey. Rosalie Hannink conducted and Heather Shelley led from the principal violin seat. Rosalie hands over the baton to Peter Shaw for the next concert.

My inaugural orchestral concert

I missed the August Brindabella Orchestra concert due to prearranged travel but I was determined to perform for the November concert. I made it despite a thong-induced trip and resultant physio and a long pop gig the night before and little practice over the previous week to rest my left hand. But it was fun. There's little musical that will match an orchestra when it's in full flight. Brindabella has about 50 players and most instruments are covered. Our first violins were down on the day and there were a few visitors sitting in for ill members. It's not auditioned, so the playing varies; there are music teachers, amateurs, returnees and the like. We can slacken during some harder passages, don't always play every note, determine that we'll do the dynamics better next time, but it's a blast. We mostly play excerpts, movements of larger works. This concert featured Beethoven Coriolan Overture, movements of Brahms and a superbly pretty movement from Schubert's little symphony in C major (no.6, 4th mvt), Carl Orff, Misty and songs and dances from Britten and Vaughan Williams. Great stuff; not too difficult but still a challenge. I fluffed a few, but there's surprising space to cover the errors amongst so many players. The basses missed a DS and were surprised when everyone kept playing, but at least we did it together. Great fun and recorded for posterity. And BTW, new members are welcome; practices Saturday mornings.

The Brindabella Orchestra was conducted by Rosalie Hannink.

Brindabella

Here's my latest musical indulgence. I've joined a local amateur orchestra as one of three double bassists. I have much to learn about bowing, reading, dynamics and the rest, but I'm three practices in and I'm having a great time. We are working on the program for the next performance, but sadly, I will be out of town. When it's going well, I drool over the second movement of Beethoven's Second Symphony which is so simple but so beautiful. A Delibe has some lovely dance movements; a Gilbert & Sullivan medley is just immense fun; Ketelbey and Anderson are simple and the tango is a nice change in bowing; the Saint-Saens March Militaire is a good, lively read. The hardest work is a series of variations on Hadyn by Brahms. I love the plucky pizz of the main melody, some hard syncopations and rolling semi-quavers in a few variations and the ballooning intensity of the 5-bar ostinato passage in the final variation. As for differences from jazz, I find it's more analytically relaxed (no need to create the tune as you're playing it: the dots are already there on the page), even if technical things like reading and bowing and intonation are a challenge. But I'm new to it and I guess we are nowhere near playing the hardest repertoire. The Brindabella Orchestra is associated with U3A but is also open to other ages. The pic shows the orchestra down on numbers, perhaps due to school holidays and a cold spell.