Flinders and mates

It's a different Canberra International Music Festival for us this year.  No driving or hosting which I will miss somewhat as an opportunity to chat with some performers.  This time Megan is out of town and I am recording a series of smaller concerts. Thus a string of concerts and tons of background processing.  Thus my excuse for short CJ posts: time is limited.  First up was the Flinders String Quartet at Albert Hall.  They played Beethoven (no.11 op.95 'Serioso'), Brahms (no.14 op.105), thus 2 out of 3 Bs, and an impressive if shorter modern Australian composition, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon Bungaree telling the story of the Aboriginal man who accompanied Flinders on his circumnavigation of Australia.  I enjoyed the welcoming presence of the group, the friendly stories from cellist presumably spokeswoman cellist Zoe and some lively, mobile, committed playing.  Much enjoyed by both performers and audience.

Flinders String Quartet performed at Albert Hall.  FSQ comprises Elizabeth Sellars and Wilma Smith (violins), Helen Ireland (viola) and Zoe Knighton (cello).

Returns

This one was a gentle return to the earlier, more sedate, dignified music of Mozart and Bach, except, due to sickness, a group version of the Goldberg Variation selections was replaced by a new viola player and several pleasant but relatively light quartets by Cimarosa. The other work was Mozart Quintet for Flute, harp and string trio KV299. I followed the second movement well enough (I’d played it with NCO). The other movements were less known but identifiable, but then all Mozart seems like that. His melodies just fall off the pen with immense inevitability. How could they be otherwise? The Cimarosi were played by a quartet of flute, violin, viola and cello. I wondered if the flute part is switched from or easily transposable to another violin. The Mozart added a harp and I wondered similarly about its role relative to piano, but the chords and accompaniment were sparser and the melodies less accompanied by another hand. Probably fairly different, although I remember NCO harpist Elizabeth once playing the harp part on piano in rehearsal. Interesting. Some nice playing, too. I particularly enjoyed the sit-in Helen Ireland and violin Natasha Conrau. Also flautist Andrea Dainese, although wind is an unknown quantity to me. Lovely

The Trio Leonardo performed Mozart and Cimarosa with visitors. Trio Leonardo are Andrea Dainese (flute), Elisabetta Ghebbioni (harp) and Giancarlo Di Vacri (viola). This night Helen Ireland (viola) replaced GdV. Guests were Natasha Conrau (violin) and Miriam Kriss (cello).