Never enough

Lauren Davis convenes the Limestone Consort. They play Bach and other composers of the period but also, if less frequently, from other periods. This concert featured Telemann, Albinoni and two works by JS Bach. Someone had said they can never have too much Bach. I feel it too. Obviously it's a function of Bach's brilliance, but I wonder if it's also a musical style that suits our times. After all, he was lost at one time to be revived by Mendelssohn, his son JC was more popular in his time and his cellos suites, now considered great masterworks, were also little known before being repopularised by Pablo Casals in the 1936. So Bach has had his forgotten times. But for us and our time, he's a sublime genius. The two works here were his double violin concerto and his Brandenburg concerto no.3. Both are instantly recognisable for several themes even if you can't name them. I'd played Brandenburg 3 so wanted to hear it again, and I was again amused by that diminutive second movement, but this day I was most taken by the double violin concerto. It was a thing of sublime beauty so I could have had more Bach. But the other two were interesting. Lauren had likened Telemann/JS Bach to Art Deco/Nouveau. I guess in that order, even if it's out of precedential order. I think Bach would be the mellifluous one (Nouveau) but then the dignity and order (Deco) might also be with him. The Telemann was his Burlesque de Quixote, a suite of 8 movements telling the Don Quixote story which seemed pretty ordered and simple against the Bach. You could hear amorous breathing and horse galloping and otherwise but it didn't cut to either intellect or heart like the Bach. But then I also have respect for quantity as well as quality and Telemann is apparently the most prolific composer in history: 1,043 church cantatas and 43 passions amongst the rest. Albinoni was no slouch either, penning about 50 operas alone, although many are lost. All interesting and all worthy enough, but Bach remains supreme. The playing was great. I thoroughly enjoyed the pairing of violins in the concerto; Kyle laid down some outstanding bass lines and quick, quippy fills; we were sitting right next to Lauren and could enjoy her lead and phrasing and bowing and the rest. That intimacy is a thing I also greatly love. Give me a decent player in an intimate setting anytime. So, a lovely concert with some outstanding music from one of my favourite ensembles around town.

Limestone Consort performed Telemann, Albinoni and JSBach at All Saints Ainslie. LC comprised Lauren Davis, Michelle Higgs, Claire Phillip and Matthew Witney (violins), Iska Sampson and Elysia Fisher (violas), Clara Teniswood and Nicole Wang (cellos), Kyle Ramsay-Daniel (bass) and James Porteus (organ).

New for Easter

Great to see the emergence of a new local ensemble, and with a great name: Adhoc Baroque. A light-hearted take on some deadly serious music for Easter. They performed at Canberra's strangely out-of-place heritage church, St John the Baptist (which predates Canberra's establishment by ~80 years), taking advantage of the stony presence and a nice loft organ for one piece. We heard Pergolesi Stabat Mater and Salve Regina and some excerpts from Vivaldi's take on Stabat Mater and Pescetti Sonata in C minor for organ. This ensemble presents with one voice per part, variously organ, two female voices (alto and soprano), viola da gamba, viola and two recorders or two violins. The voices were very satisfying alone but richly evocative and harmonically thrilling together. Two recorders are truly a sound of another era, rounded and evenly toned as they are. They viola and violins were played with modern bows (and presumably metal strings) so were strong and decisive. It's different from gut, but still perfectly satisfying to my ears. Interestingly, Rachel commented that her viola da gamba (with gut and period bow) had the sound of open strings for all notes because of the frets (they have strange moving frets that require tuning). I'd admired her firm and wonderfully steady playing and even string crossing and maybe this fretted sound helped it to match neatly with the modern instruments. The organ for the vocal pieces was sampled electronic and sounded perfectly well for the style. The major work was Pergolesi Stabat Mater which tells the story of Mary under the cross, variously deeply sad and bouncingly triumphant at the religious outcome. The Vivaldi was an interesting comparison, being on the same topic. The organ was a delightful interlude. Great concert. Welcome to a capable new group.

Adhoc Baroque was led by Peter Young (director, organ continuo) with Greta Claringbould (soprano), Maartje Sevenster (mezzo-soprano), Robyn Mellor and Olivia Gossip (recorders), Pip Thompson and Elysia Fisher (violins), Lucy Carrigy-Ryan (viola) and Rachel Walker (viola da gamba).

The joy of visitors

It's fun to have visitors. We've just had Chicago and Somerset and Norway for dinner. Limestone Consort had Pennsylvania and CSO (local, but again a visitor) for their last concert. It's intriguing how the differences are so minor these days; the discussion and experiences so shared. For Limestone, it was JS Bach Cantata 51. So beautiful and so international and even so perfect. They did it justice, too. Limestone were the best ever. This was a stunner. The Bach sang of "Jauchzet gott in allen landen" (Praise ye God in all land). The rolling phrases and the glorying joy that is Bach. Anne Gross is a friend of LC leader and one-time fellow student, Lauren Davis. She sang the soprano part with smiles and blissful joy. How could you not? The other visitor was from closer at hand, the Canberra Symphony, but Justin Lingard's piccolo trumpet sang with majestic glory and surprisingly controlled volume. This was a rewarding program, with a lovely string serenade from Kalinnikov (G minor), an Avison Concerto grosso (D minor) and Mendelssohn String symphony no.10 (B minor). All impressive and satisfying. But the work that particularly surprised me was Heinrich Biber's Battaglia à 10 (composed 1673) that used paper under strings to simulate a snare drum rattle, snapped strings for cannon fusillades and a fascinating movement that layered numerous songs to represent soldiers singing before battle. Lauren spoke of modern composers revisiting early periods but this was a composer, 350 years back, predicting the most modern conceits of today's music. Breathtaking! This was a particularly satisfying and challenging concert from Limestone Consort and I can only look forward to more.

Limestone Consort comprised Lauren Davis (leader, violin), Alison Giles, Michelle Higgs, Michael Horsley (violins), Hannah Keese, Elysia Fisher (violas), Poppea Dorsam, Clara Teniswood (cellos), Kyle Daniel (bass), James Porteus (chamber organ) with guests Anne Gross (soprano) and Justin Lingard (trumpet). They performed at All Saints Church, Ainslie.

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).

Bottesini bass

I have the idea that I don’t like unaccompanied strings – strings en masse can strike my ear as shrill - but I thoroughly enjoyed the Limestone Consort the other day. They are just strings; one cello, two basses with violins and violas. There were a few times I found them a little edgy but mostly this was comfortable, nicely intoned, lyrical, and despite a few very popular pieces in the program, I didn’t find it uninteresting. I actually thought it was a really good mix of popular with less common and it was all attractive. Maybe it was the chatty introductions that turned tunes into historical expressions. The Mendelssohn sinfonia (no.7, Dmin) was a pretty straightforward work, but it gets a place in time when you realise he wrote it aged 12 or 13 and doubly so given that he died so young, in his late thirties. But I was really there for the Bottesini. Kyle Daniel was performing a double bass concerto (no.2, Bmin). It’s a starring piece for a bassist. The bass doesn’t get too much chance to feature, but it does here. Kyle played on a bass with solo tuning where the strings are one tone higher than standard. I wonder if it changes the fingering, of if the work is transposed to a different key with standard tuning. I’d heard fellow ANU student, Rohan Dasica, playing this piece several months before. Kyle thought Rohan’s was performed on standard tuning. I guess that means it’s transposed, so played in Amin. If not, fingering and harmonics would be mightily changed. Kyle mentioned Bel Canto in his introduction and this is certainly lyrical playing. It’s also high on the neck, to the harmonics two octaves up. It’s clearly challenging in performance but not at all in listening. This is pretty, nicely phrased, Italian music. Sweet and tuneful and quite unexpected from a double bass. The Consort also played some short works: Andante festivo from Sibelius, Faure’s Pavane and Grieg’s Death of Ase. Also a longer work from Holst, St Paul’s suite. I also noticed the fitting acoustics in All Saints: open and direct, nicely sized for a chamber ensemble and with a gentle but definite reverb. This was a lovely concert with a range of interesting material and that unusual Bottesini double bass piece.

The Limestone Consort were Lauren Davis (violin, leader), Toby Aan, Claire Phillips, Jacqueline Smith, Mia Stanton, Alison Giles (violins), Mitzy Pepper, Elysia Fisher (violas), Clara Teniswood (cello) and Kyle Daniel, Kinga Janiszewski (double basses). Kyle performed the Bottesini concerto.