Ford not Fordism

Many know Andrew Ford from his voice on radio. He's the Music Show on ABCRN, endlessly knowledgeable about all manner or musics, interviewing visitors and locals from pop through jazz to classics. A musician and composer and broadcaster for all seasons. He's now the ANU Coombs Creative Arts Fellow (for 2018)so we had a lecture and a concert in the last few days. I got to the concert. Several staff performers from the ANU SOM playing a string of works by AF including one premiere. First up, Once upon a time were two brothers... with Sally Walker on flute telling a grim Grimm Fairy tale and accompanying herself on flute. It's another of those out-of-time stories with a moral message. King offers daughter's hand for anyone who will slay the boar; one of two brothers receives a magic spear and kills it; other brother gets first brother drunk, steals the dead boar and claims the maiden; a blind minstrel carves the first brother's bone into a flute that accuses the other brother who is condemned to death by being buried alive. Like I said, otherworldly: there are few boars around Canberra. Peter & the Wolf came to mind: doesn't that feature flute? There were times I could hear the dancing or drinking of travelling in the music. So, interesting and nicely played/recited. And with some backing harmonic drones from violin and cello. Then several piano works played by Edward Neeman. Broadway Boogie-Woogie is like a Mondrian painting, highly constructed with notes tied to place then a free tune overwritten in the right hand and with the existential rhythms of jazz. And Fear no more..., a commission commemorating the Bali bombings influenced by AH's visit to the Washington DC Vietnam memorial. Slow and sparse; extremes of pitch against mid-range notes and chords; sometimes heavy and mournful; later atonal and light in 2 single lines; references and self-reflection. Edward Neeman remained to play Cradle song with Tom Fromyhr on violin: a lullaby in 3/4 passacaglia form with ground bass and a floating violin over, initially playing harmonics, then melody, then a return to harmonics. The premiere was Hearing voices performed by David Pereira which explored bowing - over the fingerboard, normal position and at the bridge, mixing the three as a type of counterpoint. David did this seriously well. All interesting; all played very well by some local masters. For me, it will be the Boogie-woogie and the cello bowing that I will most retain. A fascinating outing of modern, Andrew Fordian composition.

Sally Walker (flute), Edward Neeman (piano), Tom Fromyhr (violin) and David Pereira (cello) performed compositions by Andrew Ford (composer, ANU Coombs Creative Arts Fellow 2018)

Which is it?

For me it was Llewellyn 2, my second performance in Llewellyn Hall. For everyone else it was Llewellyn 3, National Capital Orchestra playing Beethoven's Triple Concerto with our soloists Barbara Jane Gilby, David Pereira and Edward Neeman, with a featured extra work with Stephanie Neeman. The rest of the program was Haydn Symphony no.49 "Passion" (named by his publisher but reasonable enough; apparently his only symphony in Fmin) and an intro with Beethoven Fidelio Overture. The four-handed Neeman performance was a little extra, not requiring orchestra and using the Steinway readied for Beethoven: Martin Wesley-Smith My brother Jack. I spoke to Edward about this after the concert. It's a work in 17 (12-5) with canon-like melodies from each performer (perhaps each hand) featuring snippets from Frere Jacques. No wonder this was my favourite, especially given my recent interest, if not success, in polyrhythms. Otherwise, I fell in love with the classical dignity of Haydn, so that was my other favourite to play (other than movt.2 which is a killer). But I couldn't help but enjoy both Beethovens. Fidelio was all bluster and drive from the top. The Triple was a pleasure, to play and to listen to, for I did get time in this one to listen. The lines that moved from cello to violin were clever things; the odd rhythmic interplays of piano and violin were perplexing; the virtuoso cello lines were stunning. I can worry about the count when I'm not playing, but Leonard is a wonderful leader, always there with clear counts and dynamics and cues. But maybe I should think of this as Llewellyn 1 for it was my first outing for my new/old bass. I am still adjusting to a different scale so intonation is a challenge and it's clearly toned, so not particularly loud but projecting well. A new instrument takes time and adjustment. I'm enjoying making my investment.

National Capital Orchestra play Beethoven, Beethoven and Haydn under Leonard Weiss (conductor) with soloists Barbara Jane Gilby (violin), David Pereira (cello) and Edward Neeman (piano). Stephanie Neeman (piano) performed with EN in four hands for Martin Wesley-Smith.

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.

Wasting

A wise mate once said to me that you should try everything once. I have attended theatre and even poetry readings before, but this was just that bit more hardcore. This was The Waste Land by TS Eliot. Perhaps the great modernist landscape in poetry. So they say. Certainly it was hugely dense and obscure, for me and others. But I could gather some classical references, Tiresias and Carthage and others, pick up some London references, chuckle at some modern allusions and generally gather the sense of despair at life shortly after WW1, like having sex then playing gramophone, of duties and loss and the manic forgetfulness of the flappers and deco. The program summarises WL's theme as "can a world so broken be redeemed". I was not the only one wondering about relevance to our own time, of consumption and short-termism and climate change. (Reading today in the SMH that there are only 5 northern white rhinos left in existence is symbolic*). Waste Land was performed by Hong Kong-Canberran Julian Lamb with cello accompaniment by David Pereira. This was a powerful and committed performance by Julian with gentle and responsive accompaniment from David.

Cassie Brizzi started the night with a collage of quotes from Spears, Simon, Bowie, Previn, Leunig, Kesey and more gathered by Ernie Glass into a work called Tales of ordinary madness. This was far less obscure than TS Eliot and another worthy piece. A woman tells her story from birth through school, imaginary friends, fears of control, caged bird metaphors, eventually to motherhood and loss of her mother. Nicely done, clear and relevant. Some of the lines strike home for anyone these days, thinking of Orwell and Snowden and corporatism and the rest; others are more specific to eccentricity and insanity. "I'd rather madness / than this sadness / in my heart". "Blue buttons / black machine underground" (admittedly, this one needs context). "Day after day / they steal my friends away". Or the memorable interaction with Mrs Oppenheimer who sees the essential innocent goodness in the character's madness: :"You are crazy woman to be so good" (sic). "Look Mummy, no hands" is the hopeful; "They've got a system / and everyone's gotta fit in" is not.

TS Eliot's The Waste Land was performed by Julian Lamb with accompaniment by David Pereira (cello). Tales of ordinary madness was performed by Cassie Brizzi and devised by Ernie Glass.

*SMH: Now only five northern white rhinos left in the world

Piano and two deep voices

Kimberley Steele presented another of her concerts at Wesley, this time with two very different streams: baritone Alexander Knight and cellist David Pereira. Alexander took much of the program with his big voice. [I was near the stage as they were warming up and this voice was huge! Who needs amps with a trained voice around]. Alexander was singing a range of art songs, from Rachmaninov and Schumann and Vaughan Williams, but through to some more obscure names like Gerald Finzi, George Butterworth and Dilys Elwyn-Edwards. I think Finzi was my favourite with more modern malleable harmonies and words form Shakespeare. Schumann was my least favourite. Perhaps because of his fame, he seemed predictable and the foolish nationalism and boy-war-wonder of the Two Grenadiers put me right off (I’ve just finished Farewell to arms and All quiet on the Western front so I’m now distressed by the war is great / Great war meme at the moment). His I bear no grudge also annoyed me, seeming to be more grudge bearing in musical presentation than not. Kimberley’s inclusion of the Elwyn-Edwards was a great remedy. Trust a woman’s sense. It was a song sung at her wedding and was vastly different to the Grenadier’s view. Perhaps the encore was somewhat the same, if from a bloke’s POV. It was one for the rum drinkers and Alex performed it with humour and grand operatic gestures. Fun.

The other part of the program was very different. David Pereira joined Kimberley for a rendition of Chopin Sonata for cello and piano in G minor. Chopin wrote it very near his own death, but it was not maudlin. Despite Chopin pianistic flamboyance, this was a work of joy and seriousness and unpretentiousness. Four movements over about 30 minutes. A very real pleasure with wonderful playing on both parts. I’ve heard David at two recent concerts and this one was particularly intimate. This was confident, firm and informed playing. I can understand his reputation.

A very enjoyable concert of two very different worlds. The outspoken verbalisation of voice with baritone power and a similar range in strings held together by Kimberley’s empathic piano One image returns to me here, when voice set the tempo and piano followed with wisps of notes. I think it was in Rachmaninov The Isle. Quite beautiful but also perfectly responsive and coherent. Another memory will be the wonderfully colourful image from poet Housman put to music by Butterworth: “feather head of folly”. Perhaps out of modern times, but amusing.

Kimberley Steele (piano) accompanied Alexander Knight (baritone) on songs by Gerald Finzi, George Butterworth, Rachmaninov, Vaughan Williams, Schumann and Dilys Elwyn-Edwards. She paired with David Pereira (cello) on Chopin Sonata in G minor for cello and piano. Op.65.

Heavy on bottom end

David Pereira joined the Limestone Consort for a cello-heavy concert over the weekend. It was called Back to Bach and I guess it was a play on back to back. The concert started with Dad Bach JS and his Brandenburg concerto no.3 in G major with three cellos. It ended with Son no.5 Bach CPE and a very different music, his Symphony no.1 in G major. Director Lauren observed that both Bachs were prolific; that JS was reclaimed by Mendelssohn (it’s hard to think of Western music without JS Bach as a lynchpin) and that CPE was influential for Mozart and Haydn and Beethoven.
Also that CPE’s symphony was “quirky” with jumping dynamics and unexpected phrases. I liked how the mathematical integration of baroque got an intrusion from vibrant and colourful lines of massed strings in CPE’s work. It’s a different feel from the dry but attractive intellectuality of counterpoint. But this one only had two cellos; JS had three. They also performed Vivaldi’s Concerto for two cellos (with a third in support) and that was a fascinating opportunity to compare two cellists on similar material – here teacher David and student Clara Teniswood. Master David was stronger and more confident but Clara did an admirable job as colleague. There were several shorter pieces, two choral preludes from Brahms and two aquarelles from Delius. The Brahms impressed me as pieces rich with symphonic development, one dignified and the other welcoming and generous. Lauren commented that, if push came to shove, she might pick Brahms as her favourite composer. I warmed to these pieces. The Delius were apparently annotated to be played on a summer’s night on water. The first had a pretty descending melody with string backing. The second was more mixed, with what I heard as an American theme (perhaps borrowed for some film?) leading to flowing swells. I was most amused at David’s introduction to the premiere of his Double concerto for cello and violin. Not so much for what he said, that the cello has proved good to get work and that it’s down the “pecking order” against piano and violin. I could only think that the bass is so much further down and clumsier too. A cello seems such a neat and portable instrument to a bassist. This was a harder work for the consort, more dissonant, very varied. There were features for harpsichord and bass. There was strength in cello and huge distance in range of cello and violin when they played together. There was a middle movement with no strings in support. I’ll be listening again to my recording because this is a demanding modern piece with various references. So this was a worthy and wide-ranging concert complete with a world premiere. I was impressed. David Pereira (cello) performed with the Limestone Consort at All Saints. The Limestone Consort comprised Lauren Davis (violin, leader), Lucas Allerton (continuo), Alison Giles, Alys Rayner, Jacqueline Smith, Mia Stanton (violins), Sarah Ingram (violin, viola), Elysia Fisher, Hannah Keese (violas), Clara Teniswood, Jack Hobbs (cello) and Kinga Janiszewski (double bass).

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.

Cocktail hour

The Canberra International Music Festival had its launch at the ANU School of Music and Megan and I got an invitation. This is an evening for mooching around, chatting, speeches, a few drinks and just a little music. Not that we knew too many people, so it wasn’t too long an outing. Musical director, Chris Latham, spoke of course, along with a government rep, Dorothy Danta, Robyn Archer and Gary France. I hoped to chat to Robyn Archer (we were at Adelaide University at the same time and I remember her from Uni reviews) but she only passed through. Chris introduced the program, and it looks great. Bach was claimed as the deceased composer-in-residence. No-one will quibble with that invitation. Pieter Wispelway is visiting to play the solo cello suites. There’s lots of original music and premieres and plenty of deliciously obscure music (at least to me). Chris highlighted Jesus’ blood by visiting UK composer-in-residence Gavin Bryars and there’s also a theme of connections to West Coast USA, including performances of (one of two) John Adams.

These launches always have a musical component. This time it was David Pereira playing his (as yet unfinished) Mt Ainslie rising, which is to be premiered at the festival: a duo of cello and piano (Kimberly Michael?) that I’d locate in the realm of impressionism or tone poems. He later played a piece written for him by Carl Vine 20 years ago and called Inner world. It’s cello played against a recorded soundtrack of mixed and effected clips of David playing cello, so it’s a duo of David Pereira with David Pereira, with the help of electronics. It was quite a contemporary effect with strong rhythms and attractive melodies. I liked it. CIMF is not a cheap outing (Gold pass for all events $590), but it’s intelligently and challengingly constructed and anything I’ve attended has been a joy. Sadly, I won’t get to nearly enough of it but I trust I’ll get to some.

Reschedules

It was an amusing string of rescheduled meetings that makes me miss some concerts and get to at least one other. What I did attend was a rehearsal with Ella Luhtasaari, David Pereira and Barbara Jane Gilby. It was a star cast, in daily work routine, rehearsing a Mozart Trio (K-whatever) and Brahms’ E-minor sonata. In fact, even this was in place of a concert I had expected to attend but which had been rescheduled. So I was playing it by ear.

I was playing by ear as I listened, too. The Mozart was delightful, lively, jovial, but also changeable with shards of passion that appeared amongst the merrymaking. It was interrupted for discussion to compare ideas on bar nn (“85’s a good bar”) or to talk interpretation. The audience was unexpected but welcomed. The players were comfortable enough – they were perfectly professional and at ease – but I felt at one stage we were forcing them to perform, rather than rehearse. So be it. The music was a delight. Barbara departed after the Mozart, and the David and Ella rehearsed the Brahms E-minor sonata. This was more profound, more complex, less playful, and this is where I noticed the musicians performing. Most of the audience had left by then, so it was just a few stayers. After the first movement, there were discussions on the balance of cello and piano. They raised the lid of the Steinway and it was suddenly much more clear, sharp, loud. David’s voluminous and toneful cello had overwhelmed the piano with the lid slightly opened, but the unlidded Steinway took on power and clarity that easily bettered the cello. I wondered which was the better option, but the performance was not to be in this room and that was also a factor. As a string payer, I luxuriated in David’s cello. Cello has a larger range than bass – it’s tuned in fifths, not fourths. It reaches to relatively high notes and down somewhere amongst bass notes. And it’s flexible and malleable and toneful. David’s a renowned master and his ease with bowing and the fingerboard was a delight. The same message went easily for Ella and Barbara. I enjoyed the ease of reading and the search for interpretation from all the players. Also Ella’s skills and increasing abandon on a few passages in the Brahms. And, of course, the powerful but precise sound of the Steinway unleashed.

To be included in the life of the ANU School of Music can be even better than a concert. What must it be like to live this life every day. Thanks from CJ. Ella Luhtasaari (piano), David Pereira (cello) and Barbara Jane Gilby (violin) rehearsed a Mozart Trio and Brahms’ E-minor sonata.

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