Havana to Buenos Aires

The concert was called Dancing through the seasons. The dancing was Habanera (meaning from Havana, Cuba) and tango, a double time with dotted first beat, developed from the European Contradanse and the local black African influences. Tango was a further development, and Piazzolla is probably its greatest exponent. So, various combinations of piano, flute and cello playing Habaneras and Tangos, and so nicely played. The music was infectious from the first notes. Emily opened with two piano solo pieces, and I could feel the incipient thrills from the very first note, followed by those understated but necessarily precise followers. First up, Bizet with his Habanera form Carmen. Everyone knows it. I loved how she played with a wonderful stolidity. Stolid is a frequent pejorative, but not here. This stolid wrung passion and dignified despair in firm and determined emotions. Lovely. Then Albeniz Tango in D. Another pop tango hit: relatively playful and pensive rather than emotive. Fiona came for Ravel Piece en forme de Habanera, a more complex piece with a modernist lilt and pastoral reflection. Then the major work, Piazzolla Four seasons of Buenos Aires. These are four pieces brought together as one wokr by arranger and friend Jose Bragato. I'm seldom clear in matching the outside world to music and this is not much different, but nonetheless this music is a huge pleasure. Four seasons, starting with Summer, all sudden changes and clearly repeating chords and enigmatic melodies and dense passion and that underlying tango groove (even if the frequent changes make dancing implausible). I've heard Buenos Aires' Maria and seasons and various other Piazzolla and I can only hear it as a massive seduction for the city. Seduction: that seems right for the tango and habanera. This concert was that, in performance and surely in the music. A great pleasure.

Fiona Dickson (flute), Katherine Wilkinson (cello) and Emily Buckley (piano) performed habaneras and tangos of Bizet, Albeniz, Ravel and Piazzolla at Wesley.

A keyboard’s range

Some pianos are bigger, but the range of a standard grand piano is 88 keys, or about 7.5 octaves. But talking here or ranges, I mean something else. For the second time, I’ve heard a concert of the students of Marie Cull. She’s a renowned piano teacher here in Canberra and one who’s won AMEB awards. This concert had range: of age, of difficulty, of style. We heard pieces from young to old, boy to girl and a few duets. From etudes to Liszt and Chopin and on from Australian contemporary composer Ross Edwards. The young ones started with piano stool hiked high. I enjoyed all of this music: from the first etude, this was interesting. Marie must know her repertoire. Joshua Lee played first with an insistent, thriller-like 3/4 etude, Heller’s Study Op.46 no.3. Sarah Zhu followed with Bortkiewicz’ Butterfly which was flighty then heavy then dissonant then flighty again until a skewering pin brings its end. Vivienne Tran played a slower impressionistic piece, Night by Melartin, then teamed with Jerry Lu for more impressionism, Laideronette Imperatrice des Pagodes by Ravel. Bernice Chua and Sarah Zhu belted out a jazzy outspoken number with blues chords, The dancer by Dello Joio. Patrick Gu presented two Songs without words by Mendelssohn, a prettier, salon-style Op.102 no.5 then the a more driving 3/4 Op.102 no.3. Kirsten Leung played a twittering 3/4 called Forest Birds by Jensen. Then Jonathon Lee with Chopin’s well deserved, well known Nocturne Op.9 no.2. Bernice Chua played a Chopin waltz that I remember playing in my schooldays, but which I never played so well, the sometimes morose Op.34 no.2. I understood it better from this take with its distinct segments. Candice Lui played Prokofieff Prelude Op.12 no.7. This is also played on harp, and it’s a dead ringer, all rippling arpeggios and sweeps of notes. Then Fiona Backhouse with the slow, pensive, romantic Gluck Melodie, and to finish, Emily Buckley played emotional, varied, virtuosic piano from Liszt, Sonetta 47 del Petrarca, and a gentle, lyrical ¾ with big flourishes, Frangipani by Ross Edwards.

Very clever kids (some not quite so young)! Well done and much enjoyed. Marie Cull’s students performed at St Albans.

Next gen

I caught a series of students of piano teacher, Marie Cull, at St Albans and it was varied and engaging. Ages from 6 to young adult. AMEB levels from grade 3 to LMUS. Varied composers and thus styles. I was intrigued by Bach’s varying takes on English and Italians: the English Suite was steady, even incessant, the Italian Concerto was interrupted, punctuated. Debussy presented another sense of tonality. Chopin was romantic and heavily pedalled. Frank Hutchens was romantic and perhaps bushy. Apparently he’s known to some locals. Plenty of triplet and waltz feels and some devilish sprays of notes and odd times bouncing between left and right hands. In all, it was a satisfying lunchtime outing from a new generation of pianists.

Here’s the program: Nicholas Shuttleworth, Big black spider by Mirrie Hill; Enling Liao, Contradanse by Hummel; Jerry Lu, Little bird by Grieg; Zoe Larsen-Cumming, Nocturne by Grieg; Bernice Chua, Mazurka Op.7 No.1 by Chopin; Bernice Chua and Jonathan Lee, Le jardin de Dolly by Faure; Jonathan Lee, Arabesque 1 by Debussy; Vivian Zhu, Italian Concerto (1st movt) by JSBach; Laura Pham, Weeping Mist by Frank Hutchens; Christopher Bottomley, Prelude from English Suite 3 by JS Bach; Emma Rayner, Nocturne Op.27 No.2 by Chopin; Emily Buckley, Sonata Op.31 No.2 (1st movt) by Beethoven.