Tallis to today

Prayers and lamentations was the title of the concert by Oriana Chorale with a range of Biblical and other quotes.  The obvious one and ever popular was Thomas Tallis lamentations of Jeremiah from the a capella first half.  Interestingly the two parts of Tallis sandwiched a modern work by Roxanna Panufnik.   It was a little confusing and I thought Tallis was mightily modern at one stage but it all resolved in the end and I loved both pieces although the Panufnik was my fave.  This is stunningly dissonant complex harmony apparently  minor against major tonalities but I guess all manner of flattened notes.  My admiration to the choir for handling this one!  Fascinating (listening now on Spotify: Deus, Deus Meus from her Westminster Mass).  The second half was Stravinsky and Lili Boulander , both modern.  I've played some Stravinsky and love it but never Boulanger, Lili or Nadia.  I jokingly compared notes with Megan at the end and she was not at all surprised that my choices were Panufnik and Stravinsky.  And how well this was done!  The choir was superbly strong, complex, reliable, and the Stravinsky required serious volume at times.  The accompaniment, just piano, clarinet and violin, was just as impressive and satisfying.  This was no walk in the park.  There was complexity and volume and challenging harmonies and odd time feels to navigate and all was wonderfully present.  The Boulanger also featured a high solo male voice and that worked a treat too.  So a great pleasure but more importantly a stunningly interesting and capable presentation.  Interesting, too were the arrangements: Stravinsky by Stefan Cassomenos; Boulanger by Dan Walker.  Quite an overwhelming outing and nice to be asked to record.

Oriana Chorale performed at All Saints Ainslie under Dan Walker (MD, conductor) with accompaniment by Helena Popovic (violin), Milan Kolundzija (clarinet) and Ronan Apcar (piano).  And a few mates, including Liz from Wesley and Imogene from my recent wedding band.

Revisiting a rethink

For me, this was a revisit for the soloist and for the work.  Canberra Sinfonia played the Max Richter classical uber-hit Vivaldi Four Seasons recomposed and Helena Popovic played the solo violin part.  They did it with precision and involvement and perhaps just a touch of humour.  It deserves a touch of humour.  Richter must have grinned all the way to the bank.  Not that I demean it.  I like this minimalist, post-modern, looping stuff, especially when they get into rhythmic plays, dropping beats and contrasting polyrhythms and the like.  I particularly liked the program, guiding us through the four seasons, each with three sections, so Winter I, II and  III.  All different, all quoting and playing with Hardel's original.  No conductor; this was performed as in chamber with Helena leading and the orchestra feeling its way.  Well done.  We occasionally lost Helena's solo part amongst and excited orchestra, but we were also excited so of little matter.  I walked out with various friends commenting positively, even ecstatically.  We'd enjoyed it no end.  So congratulations, Helena and Canberra Sinfonia.

Helena Popovic (violin) soloed and led Canberra Sinfonia in Max Richter Vivaldi Four Seasons recomposed at Wesley Church.

Double barrelled

I don't like weapon references, but this is too good to miss. Musica da Camera has just played one of its weekend concert pairs and the country segment was a Gunning. Thus double barrelled. Lenny chose the music, as musical director, and conducted. This was our last concert with Lenny before his further studies overseas. Katia Beaugeais, Selmer artist saxist and Sydney Con composition lecturer, provided our original for the day, first recorded by ACO Collective for ABC, none-the-less. Helena Popovich soloed on our recomposed Seasons. Tim Lamble recorded the Saturday (Cook) concert for ArtSound (expect that sometime in coming months). The music was delightful and varied and modern. First up was Arensky Variations on a theme by Tchaikovsky. Lovely and eminently doable. Variations are an interesting exercise in classical music. Then Katia's Like snowdrops you will shine. This was deceptively challenging with its odd syncopations over changing time signatures (mainly 5/4) and pentatonics with a gull-call finish of harmonic slides. This was quite a challenge on day 1 but reasonably settled on day 2. It's a glorious, soft, heart warming piece dedicated to hospital staff and celebrating their good work. Lovely. Then the long work, Max Richter Four seasons recomposed. This was a hit of the CIMF a few years back: all minimalism and drones with odd, changing times as features and the well-known melodies peeking through. An impressive and convincing and often mesmerising reworking of the standard. Helena did a great job on the most demanding of parts. Again, an artistic and intellectual pleasure to play with Lenny and Helena and the MdC crew, and to feature Katia and such interesting new music.

Musica da Camera performed Arensky, Beaugeais and Richter at Cook and Gunning. Leonard Weiss directed (conductor), Helena Popovic (violin) soloed. Katia Beaugeais (composer) attended both outings. Tim Gamble (recordings) recorded for ArtSound.

Hella good

Hella good? Showing my age. No Doubt is earlier than these players, but that just adds to the pleasure of hearing such a nice orchestra of such a young age. This is the Canberra Youth Orchestra and I've raved about them here before. Their latest performance was a dedication to Sibelius with his Symphony no.2. I noticed a plethora of tempo indications in the program, then some blistering playing from basses and cellos, extended walking bass, a noble final movement that follows directly from a lively-sorrowful-lively third movement, generous brass parts. The first half was Dvorak Slavonic dances and the enduring earworm Borodin Polovtsian Dances (not least through its reuse as Stranger in paradise in Kismet and by Paul Whiteman, Massive Attack, PS2/3, Sochi Winter Olympics, bond and more) and one movement of Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto D major played by Helena Popovic, who otherwise sits in the Concertmaster's seat. It's a big program and their dedication and application shows in some very impressive and mature playing. Not least from conductor Leonard who is so busy around town and includes CYO in his stable. He's a pleasure and great force for enthusiasm in rehearsal and it showed here again with his easy chatter with the audience to introduce the 2017 program featuring a more jazzy approach, with James Morrison, Idea of North and Claire Edwardes as guests and the music of Gershwin and Bernstein amongst others. This is a great training orchestra and it performs at an impressive level. But then I'd expect nothing less from Canberra's young players and we consistently get it.

Canberra Youth Orchestra performed Sibelius, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky and Borodin at Llewellyn Hall. Leonard Weiss (conductor) directed and Helena Popovic (violin) performed solo.

Chalk & cheese

BJ Gilby had a busy week: CSO on Wednesday and Thursday; practising with NCO on Friday then performing on Sat; finally performing again on Sunday. Maybe others had it so busy and maybe that's the life of a professional muso, but I understood the busyness of that program. Music like this takes preparation, it's not just a matter of turning up to the job on the day. Only Barbara knows the other work put in behind the scenes, to learn parts and to rehearse various groups. I just know because I attended four of these events: CSO Thurs; NCO practice Friday; NCO performance Saturday; Romance & Revolution Sunday. R&R was one of a series of concerts in the theatre at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre. This concert was two groups playing two works: Shostakovich Piano trio E minor Op.67 then Mendelssohn String octet Eb major Op.20. Chalk and cheese, really. The first was heavy, post-war, influenced by loss and tragedy; the second was lively, the work of a 16-year old (!), joyous, busy, alive with hopes for the future. It's not surprising that the first was played by young performers: Aaron Chew, Helena Popovic and Olivia Thorne; youth often takes on the big thorny issues. The second was performed by the seasoned professionals. It's sometimes thought that older generations have seen and digested loss and survive notwithstanding. Whatever, the older group played the lighter music, busy and complex as it was. I much enjoyed the 1944 Shostakovich for its Jewish folk themes and frenzied dances. This was a modern piece that came alive to me with this rendition, just three parts, clear and well spoken. The Mendelssohn presented as two string quartets arrayed side to side but this was far more complex than shared parts from mirrored quartets. There were lines that passed throughout, harmonies shared and played with, at one stage an endless line played in harmony throughout. This was youthful, joyous, energetic and the octet played it with charm and understanding. So this was two halves of an unmatched orange, but fascinating for that very thing. Great playing throughout, intimate and close (we were in the front row), diverse and inventive. Great little concert.

Romance & Revoluation was staged at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre. Aaron Chew (piano), Helena Popovic (violin) and Olivia Thorne (cello) performed Shostakovich. Barbara Jane GIlby (violin, leader), Pip Thompson, Jack Chenoweth and Isobel Ferrier (violins), Caroline Suthers and Lucy Carrigy-Ryan (violas) and Patrick Suthers and Matisha Panagoda (cellos) performed Mendelssohn.

The oft-neglected maturity of youth

This was the first concert of the Canberra Youth Orchestra's Icons series for 2016. The first icon was Tchaikovsky with his Symphony no.6 Pathetique. Maruki will be performing this in a few months so I was particularly interested. This is a youth orchestra, not professionals, aged up to 30 but mostly in their late teens or early 20s. The performance was stunning. Not without its weaknesses, but this is no walk in the park. At least to me, it appears a seriously difficult work, both for reasons of technique and interpretation. I laughed through the work, as they dealt with one difficult line after another. And being there, being in an audience, is so different from listening to recordings or playing within the ensemble. You hear different things with each interpretation, with each balance of instruments, with the time available while you're playing versus sitting listening. This was a mammoth task and a great result. I expected to notice the basses most, because that's the chart I know. Rather, I heard other parts, free from the task of reading and watching the conductor and getting the dots and keeping the count. This was exhilarating. Huge success. The program before the interval was vastly different. I trust that conductor and musical director Leonard Weiss will find somewhat different materials. First up was Ferdinand Herold Overture from Zampa. Nice starter and one needed to settle the ensemble. Then a series of arias with much loved local soprano Louise Page singing. Mozart, Puccini, Time to say goodbye and Sound of Music, no less. I sometimes strained to hear Louise in her quieter passages, but she would sing to fill Llewellyn for the crescendos. As for individual performers, I'll just highlight concertmaster Helena Popovic for the abandon and commitment applied to her obvious chops and Matthew Gambrill, a fellow Maruki bassist, for his easy skills as bass principal. In all, a great start to the year and the series. The CYO is a mighty orchestra in skills but also in size, now numbering 60 or so. And Leonard is a much respected and very energetic leader, pretty much as young as many of his performers. We enjoyed and admired this outing and can only look forward to the rest of the series.

The Canberra Youth Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky, Herold, Mozart, Puccini, Sartori and Oscar and Hammerstein. Leonard Weiss (conductor, musical director) led, Louise Page (soprano) sang and Helena Popovic (concertmaster) sat in an appropriate violin chair and Matthew Gambrill (bass) led the basses.

At Grad

It's all very exciting as son no. 1 Julian and girlfriend Deb graduate from ANU (Arts/Law Hons) but CJ must find an arty angle for a post. There was music inside. Rachael Thoms (soprano) and Calvin Bowman (organ) did the national anthem (dirge that it is) and Calvin played some other accompaniment. Sorry, no pics. Anthony Smith (piano) and Helena Popovic (violin) played Tchaikovsky Meditation. It was played nicely enough although I felt it was overly long and intrusive in this context. A trio provided post-ceremony jazz to accompany bubblies and beer. Our trio was Andrej Thomson (tenor), Brendan Keller-Tuborg (bass) and Alec Brinsmead (drums). I mostly caught solos from Brendan and they were impressive. He's a nice player. But otherwise, I was thinking of other things. A big day to mark years of work and a source of great pride for parent and visiting nanna. Excuse the indulgence of some family pics.  Congrats to Jules; Richard next.

Performers at the ANU College of Law graduation ceremony were Rachael Thoms (soprano), Calvin Bowman (organ), Anthony Smith (piano), Helena Popovic (vioiln), Andrej Thomson (tenor), Brendan Keller-Tuberg (bass) and Alec Brinsmead (drums).

New however

This concert was 12 pieces from 12 composers played by 15 performers. It's new music, but not all experimental. A few were. Some were more through composed, lyrical even, although tarred with minimalism. That's cool: I like minimalism. These were some of my favourite pieces. With the best intentions, I can find classically trained noise is often tiresome. I warm to it with evidence of skills and otherwise, sometimes, even when I just close my eyes. But my favourite pieces were through composed and performed with traditional skills and a conductor. Wings by Nahed Elrayes and Quartet no.1 by Ryan Sanderson appealed most. But others attracted me for various reasons. Piece 2 by Andrew Ryan was a composed jazz-rock with oboe lead (!). Hodge Podge by Yee Ning Ellen Chan and Themed variations by Lachlan McIntyre were interesting and featured some impressive violin from Helena Popovic. There was more too; my apologies for not mentioning each piece. Alexander Hunter performed by had also guided the students in the process of development and rehearsal over the last six months. New music, new in style or in date. Whatever, it's what's being made at ANU now.