Revisiting youth

I've enjoyed my last few years playing in orchestras but I really thought I'd left my run for the Canberra Youth Orchestra a little late. But no! Last night I played with CYO in Carmina Burana! I joked about that with someone and they commented on the interchangeability of orchestras in Canberra. Perhaps because we are a smallish community where people have common connections and are physically mobile and flexible. Also that we are pretty well endowed with classical opportunities. I hope this lasts. At least last night, the complete viola and bass sections were friends or alumni. And they often just drop in at the last minute. I only sat in Friday night and Saturday morning before the performance on Saturday night. But it's quite readable for bass and I'd played it before. Not sure the singing was so easy. Canberra Choral Society provided most of that and they performed a treat. There were less frequent kids voices from the Canberra Children's Choir and some accompanying aged voices from Seasoned Voices. That was fascinating: the two ends of a singer's life represented in these mediaeval words put, fairly recently, to music (Carl Orff wrote Carmina Burana in the 1930s using mediaeval texts). Plus there were solo singers, soprano Rachael Duncan, tenor Tobias Cole and baritone Andrew O'Connor. They impressed massively, not least Rachael's glorious and touching resolution with the endless (8 bar+) sustained high note and Tobias' black boa and matching theatricality. The choir had been prepared by Dan Walker and he sang amongst the tenors. Otherwise, there was the CYO itself with its friends and alumni. Great job by them and all. I sat by the percussion and they were wondrously varied and sharp. The winds did a great job with their features. The basses done good, too. I'm pleased to notice my own improvement over recent years. I played CB with NCO in July 2016 but I felt far more in command this time. That's a personal satisfaction. And again Lenny is passing a baton: this was his last concert with CYO before going off to study in Baltimore. And perhaps just one oddity to mention: a classical concert with no interval, just the uninterrupted Carmina. This was a great pleasure and a wonderfully evocative and successful rendition of this popular classic.

Carmina Burana was presented by Canberra Youth Orchestra, Canberra Choral Society, Canberra Children's Choir and Seasoned Voices with soloists Rachael Duncan (soprano), Tobias Cole (tenor) and Andrew O'Connor (baritone) under Leonard Weiss (conductor) and Dan Walker (chorus master). The bass section was Hayley Manning (principal), Kyle Daniel, Chelsea Kennett and Eric Pozza.

Again to move on

National Capital Orchestra performed Carmina Burana and more last night in Llewellyn with the Canberra Choral Society, Canberra Brass, Turner Trebles and a string of solo singers. It as a mammoth effort that had the stage packed. Two Steinways swapped places with the brass band; the fourteen children in the trebles choir fitted where they could, at one stage off stage; the basses arranged themselves so the singers could walk on and off. Never seen so many timpanis on one orchestral stage. So this was big and deliciously exciting. The Llewellyn stalls were pretty much sold out. The buzz was infectious. This is hugely popular and thrilling music, even if it's one of those pieces that experienced choristers are hark less for. Carmina B was the star of the night, deservedly, but Sean O'Boyle's River Symphony was also big and flowing and I enjoyed it immensely, and a little intro of Wagner Prelude to Lohengrin Act 3 was a blast. I was amused to hear someone say recently that Wagner has loads of ideas and uses them all at once. I could feel that. It's very attractive but a surprisingly tricky piece. The River Symph was pretty much that, flowing, big and lyrical, a tone poem at times with images of waves of strings and beauteous soprano paens. It's another that's big and no doubt expensive to stage. CB is a counting challenge. One conductor I know jokes that everyone can count to four, but these counts were all over with frequent changes of time signature written in an unusual format. This was a counting trial. But again, hugely satisfying, oddly unique and satisfying lyrical. Everyone knows it but not as you know it by playing it. Which brings me back to how strange this classical performance world can be. We work intensely on something for months (professionals, perhaps less time), but suddenly it's over, and on to the next. Over time, I expect you develop a repertoire with opportunities to return to old friends, but in the meantime, that's it. Like theatre but not like jazz, where a tune will be called frequently, so goes through ongoing development never to be finalised. And the development is different: classical is all interpretation and technical correctness; jazz is more harmonic and lyrical development and exploration. Both are valid, of course, but they are very different. I'm elated after the considerable success of CB but also slightly disoriented to leave it as a recent companion. Strange, this. But congratulations to excellent performances all round, by NCO and CCS and soloists and others and not least by my capable basso profundo colleagues, Roger, Juliet and Matthew.


National Capital Orchestra, Canberra Choral Society, Canberra Brass, Turner Trebles and soloists Sarahlouise Owens (soprano), Susannah Lawergren (soprano), Tobias Cole (tenor) and Jeremy Tatchell (baritone) under Leonard Weiss (conductor) performed Carmina Burana, Sean O'Boyle and Wagner in Llewellyn Hall. The bass section comprised Juliet Flook, Matthew Gambrill, Roger Grime and Eric Pozza.

Carmina coming

Not such a momentous occasion but the first rehearsal with combined choir and orchestra for our upcoming Carmina Burana. Treat it as an ad rather than a report. The choir is Canberra Choral Society under Tobias Cole; the orchestra is the National Capital Orchestra, substantially enlarged, under Leonard Weiss. The location is Llewellyn Hall on 23 July. Sure to be a monumental thrill. How could CB be otherwise? Tix from Ticketek. Concert include a snippet of Wagner and O'Boyle River Symphony.

NCO website with link to Ticketek

Ya gotta love it

It’s Carmina Burana, of course. Everyone loves the brash and sensual audacity of it all. It’s used in numerous ads and films. It’s sexy and shimmering and speaks of lovs and student life and we all think back to that with rose-coloured glasses. It’s got a big orchestra and two choirs and lots of percussion and simple harmony with little development and malleable rhythms. It’s also one of the sure-fire pop hits of the classical repertoire. Perhaps some like it less given its frequency and pop presence. I spoke to a choir member who was sitting this one out (as she does the Messiah). Too boorish, I guess, too frequent. But I’ve only seen it a few times and I can still thrill at O Fortuna and the rest.

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra presented it with two choirs to a full house at the Llewellyn last night. There must have been 220 people on stage and it was a blast. I was surprised just how many themes are embedded in my consciousness. It must be borrowed even more commonly than I’d thought. I left enraptured but also considering the artistic environment of that time. Stravinsky is noted as an influence. CB is melodically and harmonically simple but very complex rhythmically, so I thought of the primitive in the arts. That path leads to Rite of Spring which was a sensation for Stravinsky a few decades earlier. And also to Gauguin's escape to Tahiti and Picasso's masks and newly discovered indigenous arts. They called this primitive and ethnic, but that’s only a European conceit. But they are pre-industrial. This was a convincing performance and truly impressive reading of rhythms. I felt some rushing at times, but I expect it was intended. The soloists were wonderful. I was particularly surprised by some falsetto baritone. Very competently performed. CSO and CCS can be proud.

There was other program, too. This was a German night, introduced by the German ambassador and sponsored by the embassy and German multinational SAP and thanks too to James Grieve who sponsored the Beethoven. Beethoven Leonora Overture no.3 was the first piece. Inevitable pastoral flutes, distant trumpet, sounding strings and the colours of Beethoven’s orchestration. I was taken by some semiquaver lines on bass and other strings. Beethoven does drop those lines in. Then Wagner Flying Dutchman, all bold and brassy with harp as rippling waters, and the stupefying Ride of the Valkyries. All led with energy by Nicholas Milton and an impressive competence from our our local players. Congratulaitons to all for an immensely entertaining show.

Carmina Burana and other works were performed by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra with the Canberra Choral Society, the Canberra Children’s Choir and the Turner Trebles. Soloists were Leanne Kenneally (soprano), Tobias Cole (counter-tenor) and Jeremy Tatchell (baritone). Carmina Burana, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Choral Society, Canberra Children’s Choir, Turner Trebles, Leanne Kenneally, Tobias Cole, Jeremy Tatchell