Direct lineage

Given this concert's Bohemian theme, I would no longer think of Simandl as unconventional but artistic, yes.  Simandl developed the major technique of double bass playing although he now has competition from Rabbath.  But still his technique and book is known by all who take up classical double bass.  Kyle Ramsay-Daniel, known to all the local classical string community, performed a lunchtime Wesley concert with Ella Luhtasaari entitled the Bohemian Double Bass and featuring Franz Simandl with Adolf Misek, Frantisek Cerny and Vojtech Kuchynka.  All from the Austro-Hungarian area and perhaps all having studied in Prague.  Kyle gave a great background to each composer even if I didn't catch it all, but most important, of course, were the compositions.  A scherzo capriccioso form Simandl, melodic and playful and way up the neck as perhaps as all double bass solos do.  Then a three movement sonata from Misek, a beautiful notturno & intermezzo from Cerny and a final canzonetta from Kuchynka.  So mostly light and lyrical with a touch of dance in the rhythms.  It was demanding bass for Kyle and he did it proud (I learned tons from just watching) with effective and responsive piano accompaniment form Ella.  But the greatest claim of all was Kyle's own link to Simandl, having studied in a direct line of a few generation to Simandl himself.  It's not so far back (Simandl 1980-1912) but still wildly exciting to hear.  I guess that places Max McBride one step closer to the great Simandl himself.  And that story of 600 solo recitals by Kuchynka.

Kyle Ramsay-Daniel (bass) was accompanied by Ella Luhtasaari (piano) playing compositions for double bass at Wesley.

Clarkey

Clarkey is for Rebecca Clarke, viola player and composer, born in Harrow, England, trained at the RSM and RAM and one of the first female professional orchestral players. Alina Zamfir and Ella Luhtassaari performed Rebecca's Sonata for viola and piano at Wesley and it was a seriously fascinating piece, variously impetuous, pensive, rife with demanding techniques, impressionist and romantic. They also played Ernst Bloch, oddly confused with RC as a woman composer wasn't thought capable of writing this Sonata, and Frank Bridge. Alina is here with the CSO in an inaugural Kingsland Residency. Both she and Ella are eminently well trained in Australia and OS so serious playing. The music was, too: nothing here for the fainthearted. This was technically challenging. I particularly noticed quick, breathing crescendos and de-cs, but there was plenty more for both instruments and they carried it off with ease and a serious level of concentration. Thanks to Alina and Ella for the concert but also for the introduction to some very satisfying works for the viola.

Alina Zamfir (viola) and Ella Luhtasaari (piano) performed Clarke, Bloch and Bridge at Wesley.

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.