Darkness and light

It's amusing that this was the second gig with Chris Latham as MD where we sat in darkness.  The darkness was for the projected images of modern art that we were accompanying.  OK as long as your batteries on your music stand lights were fresh!  (They were).  Batteries for tuners, too, because the basses had to tune down E>Eb for the final tune.  Otherwise, this was reverent, as Chris' concert are.  We were located at the Chapel at the ACCC (Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture) near the huge cross on the lake.  The space is cement and thus has its own acoustic.  The music was a string of short pieces, from Bach and Rach through a string of lesser-known Europeans and others, Weinberg, Klein, Weiner and Kattenberg as well Simon, Walton, Koicki and Dreyfus and a segment of lovely FS Kelly songs.  I so love the gentle and touching music of FS Kelly, deceased young in WW1.  Chris had gathered and often arranged the tunes. Our singer was Christina Wilson with her soprano of power and obvious invention that showed when she sang a complex but wordless segment.  Fumiyo Yamamoto also featured on one violin solo.  Let it not be thought that short and predominantly slow means easy.  There's difficulty in delicate bowing and in unexpected counts.  It's nothing like fast incessant Beethoven parts with their own difficulties.  So another successful and purposeful performance with Chris Latham.  Thanks again Chris.

Chris Latham (conductor, musical director, arranger. violin) led Musica da Camera in a string of tunes at the Chapel at ACCC.  Christina Wilson (soprano) sang and Fumiyo Yamamoto (violin) and Margaret Kahn (cello) soloed.

Weekend 1

These were two profound outings this weekend.  The first was Musica da Camera's latest outing with Chris Latham.  Chris is currently artist in residence at the Australian War Memorial.  He uses this time to develop a series of musical performances on war-related themes.  This is always touching, emotional, profound even.  This one was on Australia and its role in peacekeeping.  We've done pretty well in the past but not so well in the last decade or so.  No surprise if you are following our politics.  Money wins, for some, not pride in country.  Whatever, this was advertised for adults and near-to.  There was an accompanying slide show with troubling scenes: scenes of conflict and its outcomes.  I was playing so watching the visuals was a distraction, although I did catch bits.  But for me, the satisfaction was playing FS Kelly, touching on Beethoven 9 (Ode to Joy, of course), a string of original compositions by Chris himself and attendant composer Cyrus Meurant, others by Elena Katz-Chernin and Graeme Koehne, even John Lennon, Cat Stevens and ABBA.  Who would expect it?  Nice to feel that stylistic crossover.  Actually, the ABBA tune was quite challenging, with a time signature that moved precariously through 4/4 and 6/8.  Counting was essential.  And of course B9: what could be better?  It may be the closest I get to this pinnacle of the art.  At least I've played this snippet if not the whole, challenging work.  Then there's the wonderful musicians that featured : Susannah Lowergren, Riley Lee on shakuhachi, Matthew O'Keefe and that strongest of pianists, Edward Neeman.  It's a privilege to play with people like this.  So thanks to Chris.

Chris Latham (musical director) led Musica da Camera String Orchestra with soloists Susannah Lowergren (soprano), Riley Lee (shakuhachi), Matthew O'Keefe (clarinet) and Edward Neeman (piano) at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.

Unexpected histories

What an interesting outing.  First up Street Theatre and Chris Latham and a preview for a tiny audience of a work under development although well advanced, the Changi Songbook.  Chris is currently an artist in residence at the AWM and the first musician to be one.  The Changi songbook is a presentation of story telling and associated songs of Australians in Changi, perhaps another camp, and their musical and theatrical activities.  It was fascinating and unexpected stuff.  They built a theatre, presented plays, wrote music and performed it.  Quite an incredible story and obviously a morale sustainer for the period, and a tough period it was.  There was some great performances.  Neil Pigott recited and sang and I think developed the script.  He's a TV and theatre actor with an interest in military history.  Quite incredible to see such relaxed professionalism so close up.  Tobias Cole also sang both male and female parts.  The role of female impersonators was a major theme of the story.  And the musical backing was Bill Risby, noted Sydney jazz pianist.  All very impressive and intriguing and an impressive display of professionalism.  They had only rehearsed together for 4 hours but the sharp cuts and structure was often to die for.  It was a fascinating and involving story well told and should become a theatre work and subsequent recording later in the year.  I was lucky to be there to make a minor recording of the event.

The Changi Songbook preview was presented at Street Theatre 3 with Chris Latham controlling images, Neil Pigott (story telling, vocals), Tobias Cole (vocals) and Bill Risby (piano).

Triumphs

This as a new experience, performing in the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, on behalf of the Australian War Memorial, through Chris Latham, currently (musical) artist in residence, doing early work towards a later recording, playing virtually all new arrangements, with soloists from the Army Band and the School of Music.  Some of those things we, as Musica da Camera, have done before but not all together like this.  The program was called Triumph of the Imaginationn and it recalled the experiences of POWs in war, especially WW2.  It was profound at times, telling of fellow support, with one piece from a Jewish internee shipped to Australia and several tunes by FS Kelly, our renowned composer (and Olympian) who survived Gallipoli but was lost, still young, on the Somme.   Our soloists were Edward and Stephanie Neeman on piano and Jaime Grech on soprano sax and Chris himself on violin.  We invited several males to chant for the first piece, a movement of a symphony by Schulhoff, all march-time and bass drone.  This was not a concert to take lightly.  The fast stuff can be relatively easy, but the delicacy required for such quiet or pensive works is a challenge, if satisfying to perform.  So a deep, thoughtful concert helping Chris in his work towards another musical memorial and musical recovery project.

Chris Latham (director, violin, arranger) led Musica da Camera (string orchestra) in a POW memeorial concert, Triumph of the Imagination, at ACCC, with soloists Edward and Stephanie Neeman (piano) and Jaime Grech (soprano sax).  PS. Obviously not my best pic!

A time for silence

The title and the theme were sacrifice and the sub-title was Lost songbirds of the Somme. This was another of Chris Latham's investigations into WW1 with the support of the Australian government (100 years of ANZAC) and various other embassies and institutions and departments. All part of the Flowers of War project. This one explored a string of composers from both sides who partook at the Somme and who mostly died there. There were songs, of lost fellows, of girls left behind, of memories of home, elegies and laments and war sonatas and death. Not too much of valour in battle; perhaps the piper came closest to that, given a piper's role in those days. There were pieces well known by Australians and others and many lesser known. There were instrumentals amongst several songs. The concert itself lasted 90 minutes and the request for no applause between tunes lent it a pensive air which suited well. The British High Commissioner recited the Ode of remembrance with some emotion. The Ode is longer than the commonly cited Australian version ("They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old / Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn / At the going down of the sun and in the morning / We will remember them"). The HC narrated two of seven verses from the original, excluding some specific references to England. Then a minute of silence, the Last post sung by tenor and a final bugle call. With the piper and the lofty Cathedral-like space and following over an hour of tragic memories, the room's mood was palpably affected. The musicians were impressive, intoning and bowing with lovely precision. Just 3 violins, viola, cello and accordion, sometimes with voice, so the music was clear and open. My favourite was FS Kelly Elegy, but only because I know it well, and his Somme lament. The whole was bathed in pathos which most showed in some songs. Like Suzette, presumably an ode to a lover, but displaying little joy amongst its dense Edwardian romanticism; or Gurney singing that "I'm homesick for my hills again"; or Gurney again by a bierside "It's most grand to die / most grand"; or Ibert's strained attempt at recall of home and hearth in his Noël en Picardie. Then to end, the walking piper coming down the High Court ramp growing louder as he approached, and the Ode and the Last Post. It was touching and quiet and beautifully presented and some superb performances (including some thoroughly impressive piping). And a printed program that was a work of both history and art. Congrats to all.

Sacrifice was coordinated and much music was arranged by Chris Latham (violin) and performed by the Sculthorpe String Quintet comprising Anna McDonald, Rose Kavanagh and Chris (violins), Tor Fromyhr (viola) and Zoltan Szabo (cello) with Andrew Goodwin (vocal tenor), Anton Wurzer (accordion), Jason Craig (bagpipes) and an unnamed bugler. Menna Rawlings (British High Commissioner to Australia) recited the Ode of remembrance.

Blue horses

I didn't know of Franz Marc, a German artist (painter) who died in WW1. Chris Latham is running a series of WW1 memorial concerts which are, as Chris is wont to do, seriously broad-minded and intelligently themed. The concert program gathered a series of songs and tunes from the era and presented them against a backdrop of projected pencil drawings and coloured paintings (some watercolours? others perhaps oils?) from FM's sketch book. Seeing so many works gives a real understanding of the artist's mind, of how he manages the interactions (geometric and very much like Picasso and Braque cubism) and how he colours (bright, primary colours) and what subjects he considers (deer, horses, birds, mostly in nature, but occasionally people but distant, occasionally in human environments distressed by war). Chris mentioned that he died young and may have lived to be famed like Kandinsky, and his swirls remind me of that. Apparently, he also painted blue horses and moderator Alex Sloan, at the discussion before the concert, brought one her grandmother had given her. Apparently blue horse are remembrances of WW1. New to me. The earlier discussion also had Joan Beaumont, professor of history, speaking of the battle of Verdun, of 700,000 lost soldiers over 303 days and Jacqueline Dwyer, well spoken daughter of a French immigrant who returned to France to fight and ultimately survived in Australia. And Chris Latham who spoke of the sketch book. I expect Chris gathered the pictures and the music; he rearranged several pieces for the ensemble of piano, soprano and string quartet. All touching and illuminating and will be well received in the French churches where future concerts will take place. I admire the knowledge and the respect, but am not comfortable with the culture-war expenditure that is this anniversary of the Anzacs. $A550m+ to promote this celebration of war loss; way beyond European countries (Australia $8889 per WW1 death; Germany $2, France $52). The people deserve it; the use by politicians degrades it. But that's politics. The music was intriguing and fitting and the projected works of Franz Marc was enlightening.

Franz Marc was the man who painted blue horses in his WW1 sketch book at Verdun. Alex Sloan, Joan Beaumont, Jacqueline Dwyer and Chris Latham conversed. Louise Page (soprano), Tamara Anna Cislowska (piano) and the Sculthorpe Quartet comprising Veronique Serret (violin), Chris Latham (violin), Tor Fromyhr (viola) and David Pereira (cello) performed the music.

War and Canberra

Chris Latham led the Canberra Camerata Chamber Orchestra for a performance of the Mahler Symphony no.9 at the National Museum and they did a great job. It’s only a little orchestra and there were times I missed big strings for the sprawling expanses, but how well did they do with what they had? The various winds were there and spot on: flute, trumpet, oboe and others that felt just right, spelling out the lamenting lines with precision and empathy. The strings were just a quartet with the addition of bass. They weren’t big and suffered for that, but they were clear and the lines were evident, so that the intellectual construction was clear. Perhaps the violins suffered most from the lack on numbers, but they smaller and less space-filling. The cello and especially the bass seemed to be nicely present. The orchestra was filled out with piano, accordion and percussion. Piano and especially accordion seem unusual for a symphony. Perhaps Mahler wrote for them, or maybe they were included in the arrangement to provide some body or to complete some parts. Both are instruments that play chords, so each can take the place of several single note instruments, strings or others. That said, I could hear the accordion easily enough, but the piano was kept well back. I only remember noticing it a few times. But despite the smaller scale, this was an immense success. I wallowed in some trumpet parts and gloried in flute and oboe, was excited by percussion and empathised with strings and cello. This is a long and contorted work: about 90 minutes in 4 movements. The program spoke of Mahler’s awareness of death, farewell to love and pleasure. It was certainly a sombre work, and perhaps a premonition of WW1 to follow only years later. The program also suggests that Mahler had faith in an afterlife, but this sounded to me a secular lament. It would be a strange faith that speaks quite so mournfully, even hopelessly. The context of the work was set for us by Marion Mahoney-Griffin, or at least by her alterego. I’d not been quite so comfortable with her husband, Walter’s, appearance the other day before the Sculthorpe piece, but I’m warming to the pretense. This was an excellent touch, setting the context of WW1, the losses and the associated delays in development of Canberra; more specifically, how the planned civic centre at the base of Mt Ainslie became a memorial to the WW1 dead and how the lake was delayed 50 years and how the railway didn’t appear at all. All very relevant and informative. So, set in the context of turn-of-the-century Europe and Griffin Canberra, this work was clarified, if it remained turgid and even indecisive at times. I enjoyed much of the middle parts and even the slow development and denouement, but the endless end had me chuckling quietly to myself. The concert was entitled the last Romantic symphony. The mistakenly described war-to-end-all-wars saw to the end of all that. So, long and even ponderous it may have been, but it was also touching and speaks to its era. Chris and the orchestra did the work proud. Wonderful.

Just a few final words about the venue. It’s a strange acoustic with hard surfaces in strange shapes. Before the concert I clapped and heard a single slap-back. It’s very live, and that’s good for a smaller outfit like this, making it bigger than it sounds. As with many such institutions, it had a noticeable aircon hum that appeared several times during the performance. I was talking to their local sound man, and they seem to have digital 64-track capability on hand. So it’s a unique acoustic environment as well as being a unique visual space.

Prep 1

I attended two rehearsals the other day. One was for a CIMF gig and it was run as a mini concert for friends of the Festival although with a good deal of chatter and friendly banter. The other was a proper rehearsal, all stops and starts and lounging between tunes and no audience.

First was the Canberra International Music Festival gig. The performers were Louise Page, Chris Latham, David Pereira and Tamara Anne Cislowska. The venue was the Ainslie Arts Centre, which is riddled with musical activity so there were sounds of practising or lessons seeping through at times. We could only hear it in the breaks and it didn’t really interfere. In fact, along with the casual dress of the performers, it gave a lovely feeling of industry and musical purpose. The players mixed in various combinations for songs and compositions by a string of woman composers and two males. The theme was “In praise of the feminine” and it’s a major theme for this coming CIMF. Chris gave a wide-ranging introduction: the historical impropriety of women composing; the architectural work of Marion Mahoney Griffin; the association of coffee and musical tempo; the importance of encouragement in musicians’ lives; the sourcing of manuscripts of lesser known composers from archives; relationships to suffragettes, WW1, Yin/Yang, French impressionism and more. They played songs by Amy Beach; a lovely nocturne by Lily Boulanger; an impressionist piece called Midsummer moon by Rebecca Clarke (my favourite); Elena Kats-Chernin’s Blue silence, unusually dedicated to the parents of schizophrenics (Megan’s favourite); Phyllis Campbell and more Rebecca Clarke. We had to leave before the men displayed their feminine side, so we missed David Pereira’s Mt Ainslie rising and Ross Edwards’ Lost man. Unfortunate.

There were nibbles and drinks and Helen representing the C100 Musical Offering. What a superb interlude: capable musicians presenting some very obscure music in a casual space with a fascinating commentary. And nice wines. Chris Latham (violin), Louise Page (soprano), David Pereira (cello) and Tamara Anna Cislowska (piano) praised the feminine in music.

Early elegance restored

Megan and I got an invitation to the launch of the Canberra International Music Festival 2010. This year’s launch was at the Albert Hall, one of Canberra’s earliest public buildings (meaning ~1920s). It’s a small, timber floored, multipurpose hall in a Georgian Revival style with faux classical columns, big windows, a strange little dress circle area over the foyer and a proscenium arched stage. All quite a mixture and odd for modern tastes, but it’s much loved and has been recently restored (although I didn’t notice much difference). There were drinks and hors d’oevres, followed by speeches by Dorothy Danta (Pro Musica Board president), Don Aitken (CIMF Chair) and Chris Latham (CIMF musical director), and the premiere performance of a work by Peter Sculthorpe, Kyrie for cello and strings, performed by cellist David Pereira and the ANU School of Music Chamber Orchestra. Megan described it as dreamy, evocative, wandering music that reminded her of Arvo Pärt. It was nicely played, too, although the massive reverb in the now curtain-free Albert Hall made the orchestra sound less fresh than it should have. We discussed the lack of curtains with some friends. They would have served several purposes in this reverberant hall with big windows in Canberra’s harsh outback environment: managing the sound and limiting extremes of temperature. I bet they will reappear. It was not a young crowd. The ageing of the audience is a concern of classical music. I hope the seriousness of the music will work its magic in the end. There’s just a touch of jazz on the program but it looks interesting: the Sprogis/Woods Jazz Composers’ Competition. It’s advertised as an award for emerging writers from the Jazz Department at the ANU School of Music. Bill Risby, Miroslav Bukovsky and Mike Price are judging. The final is in the Fitter’s Workshop (the venue with the “Stradivarius acoustics”) on 23 May. Check out the CIMF website for the program.

CIMF website