Boys' turn

It's not so much boys as young men when the Canberra Grammar School performs at Wesley, but given recent posts, it fits.  This was a smaller, shorter and more discrete performance.  A pianist was unwell so couldn't perform.  Otherwise, it was mostly solo performers with piano accompaniment -  clarinet, voice, alto sax-cum-voice - and a solo guitar.  All in preparation for HSC exams in coming weeks/months.  Some things never change, though.  First piece was a Katz-Chernin rag and it was lovely, played on clarinet, followed by a Poulenc second movement.  Second movements are commonly the slow,  contemplative ones.  Then that solo guitar, playing a tango, which fits guitar so well.  Then voice, but somewhat more modern in presence and in style, with one tune from the famous rap musical, Hamilton, and a similarly wordy, rhythmic, rap adjacent lyric with some sung pitches, Gnarls Barkley Crazy.  Then would be the missing piano and a final discombobulatingly different vocal with a Finzi tune that I'd heard before, all classical voice, perhaps tenor, incessantly melodic and story telling  and not at all rappy and two alto sax numbers from the same performer.  So a vast mix of styles and takes and tones.  Really quite a satisfying outing from the boys-to-men at CGS.

Canberra Grammar School students Alistair Bridgewater (clarinet), Pace Allen (guitar), Jarvis Christie (voice) and Willem Hehir (voice, alto sax) performs mostly with accompaniment by Anthony Smith (piano) at Wesley.

Satriani and more

I was amused just how different were the Wesley concerts of the CGS and CGGS (Canberra [Girls] Grammar School).  The CGGS concert was huge, with a string of performers, with choirs and larger ensembles, and located in the larger Wesley Church venue.   The CGS concert was mostly single or pairs of students with an accompanist performing in the Wesley Concert room ... and with two electric guitars.  But I enjoyed both the gigs.  Perhaps the difference was that the CGS concert featured 6 performers preparing for the HSC music exams.  So we had a Sally Greenaway, Elgar, Joe Satriani (unexpected, all tapping and chordal fingering, obviously on an e-guitar, not surprisingly Ibanez), Richard Percvile, Paganini, JS Bach (on another Ibanez electric guitar, this time a wide, flat maple-necked 7-string) and Hindemith.  The playing was good to excellent and always entertaining: the piano accompaniment from Anthony Smith was also excellent; interestingly one performer, Ben Monro, appeared on two instruments, cello and trumpet; those two Ibanez guitars and especially the Satriani were unexpected but interesting; the other instruments were flute, oboe and viola.  So a mix of capable players in preparation for exams.  Great.

Six players on various instruments appeared at Wesley in preparation for their HSC performance exams.