Supplication

One last short day for CIMF2026.  I was sad to miss the final MOSSO gigs and a few others this final day, but so be it;  external conflicts.  But I was free for a solo concert of James Crabb, renowned classical accordion player on a chromatic button accordion.  This is a button accordion with its complex, geometric arrangements for each hand.  His touch could be light and flighty, strong and decisive, even making sound effects and accordion breathes.  Something quite unexpected and experimental to my ears, but I don't know the instrument int his context.  The theme was spiritual with a title Supplication to transcendence with water spirit songs from Ross Edwards, religious themes from JS Bach and Piazzola and Sofia Gubaidulina.  Then, unusually, a discussion with CIMF MD Eugene Ughetti on related themes, of Gardeners and architects, religious symbols, dissonance and resolutions, practice, breathe>spirit/divine>religion, his performance history and approach to the instrument and teaching and ritual of performance. And weight of the instrument: 16kg each and he may carry 2, front and back.  Thus some exercise, I guess.  And the mechanicality of it all, with one button stuck on this day!  A fascinating outing with a master of the art.

James Crabb (accordion) performed at ACCC for CIMF.  JC was interviewed by Eugene Ughetti.

Portraits

Between the two short sets of Lyrebird brass was a performance in the ARC Cinema of music of Fiona Hill, CIMF2026 composer-in-residence.  Why portraits?  Because the music accompanied visuals including a stunning dance work featuring ~14 performers from the Sydney Dance Company PPY (Pre-Professional Year), a sweeping drone footage of cliffs, seas, beaches, nature, and a final (live?) visual work with solo sax accompaniment.  Musicians included several of the several visiting featured groups and some local musicians making up the rank, in smaller and larger ensembles and that solo sax, as I remember all pitches, baritone, tenor, alto, soprano.

Music of Fiona Hill was performed by Ensemble Contrechamps and Australian String Quartet with Joshua Hyde (solo sax), Tim Wickham (violin), Samuel Payne (cello), Kyle Ramsey-Daniel (bass), Eugene Ughetti (percussion) and Fausto Brusamolino (artist).  The performed works were Circumstance, Sunyata and UnderOnBelow.  They performed in the ARC Cinema at NFSA for MOSSO during CIMF2026.

Movings

Recording the experimental can be a challenge, especially with a few minutes to peruse and setup.  But it's fascinating and fun and my stereo mic is decent so it works well enough.  This was a viola, centrally located, turning for movements played on various percussion instruments played in various locations in the space, with electronics on viola and perc driving other percussion.  Thus the performers in the gig included a named audio engineer.  All interesting and unusual...  But some simple viola lines, effective percussion at low volume and sometime explosive, rattling sheets of metal and more and viola echoes.  Quite fascinating and occasionally quite noisy.

Aaron Wyatt (viola, composition) and Eugene Ughetti (percussion, CIMF Artistic director) were effected by Rohan Goldsmith (audio engineer) at NFSA for MOSSO during CIMF2026.