Evening at TheL

Now in black and at Llewellyn. First up is composer Jessica Wells giving a pre-concert talk. She spoke of her experiences as a composer and especially in film, supporting various renowned names on major projects as well as doing her own compositions. Also of the development of this piece of 12 short movements picturing the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac calendar. She had used it to experiment with different compositional tools, layering, colours, parts and combinations, various percussion and their uses and shapes for a workshop with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. It's an interesting and surprisingly challenging piece: for the basses, especially for Snake with its slithering odd time and exposed bottom end. Jessica mentioned she was originally from Brooklyn and we chatted about Park Slope and Seventh Ave afterwards. Then the serious work of the night: the concert. First up, Zodiac Animalia, a world premier performance, then a stage move and Matt Withers soloing on Castelnouvo-Tedesco Guitar concerto. Then interval and Rodrigo Concerto Madrigal with Matt and Callum Henshaw, another stage move and Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol. Other than Jessica's starter, this was a Spanish heavy night. I hadn't expected to enjoy it as much as I did, but it went over stunningly well and I was surprisingly taken by the music, or at least the performance. Megan was in Madrid that night so I dedicated it to her. I shouldn't be surprised - this is a seriously decent non-professional orchestra with an impressive conductor and some very decent players. I am often surprised by the skills on stage or in rehearsal at NCO: easy sight-reading, impressive chops and the two guitars were hugely impressive, seemingly joined at the hip for the pairing in Rodrigo. And how could you not be taken in by the finish of the Rimsky-Korsakov? The turnout at Llewellyn was decent and the whole was professionally videoed, so we can expect to see at least some on YouTube sometime. Just another wonderfully satisfying outing with NCO. And the inevitable party after. A big day and massive fun.

Jessica Wells (composer) gave the pre-concert talk. National Capital Orchestra performed Wells Zodiac Animalia (world premiere), Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Radrigo and Rimsky-Korsakov. Leonard Weiss (conductor) led with soloists Matt Withers and Callum Henshaw (guitars).

Pre-visiting

This was Matt Withers and Callum Henshaw performing Rodrigo Concerto Madrigal at Wesley with Anthony Smith on piano. Matt joked that Anthony was their orchestra on the day then went on to invite the audience to hear this work in a few weeks with a full orchestra, in this case, the National Capital Orchestra in Llewellyn on 7 April. I'm in that, so this was a pre-visit/preview for me too. Not that we haven't played it through a few times and listened to other performances. But it's something special and a bit unusual to hear the concerto you are to play, performed in this format by the very people who will lead. It was an eye-opener. I was surprised by the extent of the work (12 movements over ~33mins), but not by its endlessly Spanish character and dancing rhythms and tangy guitar tones. Matt and Callum played well together, looking up for solo lines or ends and starts but otherwise intent of the complex, chordal charts that are guitar scores. Being a string player, I also enjoyed the quick lines of fretted notes high up the neck, especially when the two came together, in harmony or unison or jagged echoes. Guitar is plucked so sharp and so unlike other strings with their genial attacks and long sustains. This is all tack-sharp, cutting, alive and biting as we imagine the tap and snap of Flamenco and other Spanish styles. Looking forward to a night of this with Matt and Callum soon.

Matt Withers and Callum Henshaw (guitars) performed Rodrigo at Wesley with Anthony Smith (piano) accompanying.

PS. Wesley had baked a cake for Bach's 333rd birthday on 21 March 2018 (in preparation for a birthday organ concert that evening).

Befuddlement

One thing I've learnt is that I should never judge a music prize. I seem to come up with different results. Maybe that's how competitions are - despite all our training and rationality, we are still influenced by our own experiences and preferences - but do still have faith that the professionals do it better. I only caught the final two players and I won't go into reasons (although I have some) but I would have given it to the violinist over the guitarist. Then, in the end, the violinist got no prize. Strange and bewildering to my ear. I walked out chatting to a woman who had different choices again. I enjoyed the vivacity and application and variety of program that Joshua Hu presented: San Saens, JS Bach, a modern work by Eugene Ysaye, Paganini and Tchaikovsky. What a program! But the judges saw things I didn't. Strange how it works. But competitions have value to a performer, for the winnings but also for the CV and future career, so they demand serious thought. I'm sure they got it; I just thought differently. Not for the first time. BTW, guitarist Callum Henshaw (who I missed) came first.

The finals of the Whitworth Roach Classical Music Performance Competition was held on the stage at Llewellyn Hall. The finalists were Mia Huang (piano), Callum Henshaw (guitar), Hamish Strathdee (guitar) and Joshua Hu (violin).

Showcase

This was an ANU School of Music showcase. Six outfits: two classical, three contemporary cum improvisational. They were playing for a few Music Ensemble prizes from the Friends of the School. The two classical were all guitars. The rest were a collection of varied jazz cum contemporary with an experimental improv trio which was pretty much unlike everything else. As is this music. There were judges' prizes and also people's choice awards. First up for classical was the Wattle Guitar Quartet playing Piazzola and Bizet. I particularly enjoyed the second Piazzola, La Muerte del Ange, swinging and edgy and with a fairly challenging harmony. They were later followed by the guitar duo of Andrew Blanch and Callum Henshaw performing Nigel Westlake and Paulo Bellinati. The Westlake was particularly gorgeous with changing time and slithery triplets and such groupings. This pair played it was great confidence and professionalism, lovely balance and gentleness and an easy take on the complex time plays. They won the Judges' award and the Wattle Quartet won the People's Choice award. The classicals started off and were intermixed with the other bands.

The others were a varied mix. This award was for "Jazz and Contemporary music, including jazz, contemporary, improvisatory and popular music". So what a mix, especially after a pair of classical guitar ensembles. Sev Quartet started with a jazz set, in improvised piece called Retrospect and a take on Beautiful love. Varied time feels, double bass, clear playing, perhaps my favourite playing I've heard from Eddie Bernasconi on Beautiful love, swing and groove and various changes. Then the ANU Improvisation Ensemble reduced to three players for the day. A cat amongst pigeons. Piano, bass viol, electronica and bows and ancillary noise makers or alterers; no groove, no charts, much ear and tone and sound and colour. It's a different world and the suggestion to "enjoy the sound, don't worry too much about the music" was apt. Then Three Men One Chamber, a jazz trio playing with e-bass and loops and effects and the rest. Floating or busy or processed or with accompanying sampled voice. I liked the feels and the richness of studio-like processed sounds. I asked after about influences: Explosions in the sky and Toe (Jpn). Finally, a '70s funk outfit with heavy 16th grooves and very clear melody, few chords, simple direct grooves. Takes me back and nicely played. This was the Hugo Lee band with two original compositions from their recent CD. HLBand won both the judges' and people's choice prizes, presumably for their obvious clarity and drive. My fave was 3M1C even though they often disappeared over pedals and weren't so sharp, but the processed tones sounded new and rich to my ears. But vintage keeps being new again and HLBand was certainly sharp.

Wattle Guitar Quartet comprised Jeffrey Cheah, Emma-Shay Gallenti-Guilfoyle, Cassandra Low and Alex Clark). Sev Quartet comprised Eddie Bernasconi (trumpet), Ben Forte (guitar), Alec Brinsmead (drums) and Brendan Keller-Tuberg (bass). Andrew Blanch and Callum Henshaw played guitar. The ANU Improvisation Ensemble comprised Amelia Watson (piano), Ben Drury (bass viol, Kaoss pad) and Ben Harb (electronics). Three Men One Chamber were Haydn Fritzlaff (drums), Stephen Read (guitar) and Brendan Keller-Tuberg (e-bass). Hugo Lee Band comprised Hugo Lee (alto, EWI), Ben Forte (guitar), Jack Schwenke (e-bass) and Alec Brinsmead (drums).