Just how good

Best composition?  I wondered about that but it's a stupid question, especially given my limited knowledge, but my favourite work?  I think so.  I've listed every classical piece I've performed in concert (now 506 with some repeats) and it includes Beethoven 3,4,5,6,7 and plenty more, but my faves are choral and this seems my most memorable of all.  Sitting through Brahms German Requiem by Igitur nos tends to confirm it.  Gloriously rich and attractive, emotionally dense, wonderfully informed bass lines, extensive chromatic and substituting lines, beautiful harmonies in voices to drool over, high sopranos, inventive harmonies and challenging fugues.  I closed my eyes and fell into this density, knowing it well after having played it myself.  I find when I've practised and performed a work, it stays with me, so I know upcoming phasings and predict every line.  Strange that practice, or perhaps performance, can be so permanent.  I can't play from memory but I can revisit and predict a listen.  Hayley did a great job on so many lines, slow or busy as they were.  Otherwise, just a small accompaniment of piano, single strings and woodwinds, 8 players in all in the arrangements, rather than a full orchestra.  And the choir and two soloists, bass and soprano.  Very nice soloists, but I preferred the massed parts, the power and precision and movements of lines in harmony.  My German was nil, so the words were of nothing, but still power remained and glorious, emotional music.  Brahms German Requiem: a work of beauty and huge emotional density.

Igitur Nos performed Brahms German Requiem at Wesley.  Matthew Stuckings (conductor) led a choir of 22 with two vocal soloists, Elsa Huber (soprano) and Colin Milner (baritone) and an octet comprising Rowan Harvey-Martin (violin), Elizabeth Chalker (viola), Alex Voorhoeve (cello), Hayley Manning (bass), Jodie Petrov (flute), Yu-Lan Chan (oboe), Lis Hoorweg (clarinet) and Emily Leong (piano).

Hits of 1875

How could you not love a concert with this title, the Hits of 1875.  I was looking forward to this one.  It was the Aeolus Wind Quartet.  I've played with them all, in NCO and MdCC.  They all feature in the woodwinds of the National Capital Orchestra (and, FYI, the woodwinds are held in high regard by the strings).  Aeolus comprises flute, clarinet and bassoon and they've been around for 40 years.  They played some Quantz and Berlioz and Verdi and Milhaud, so there was a modern and playful edge to the classical, but they also played Londonberry air (=Danny Boy) and Campdown races and a touch of jazz with Swingin' Molly (Cockles and mussels...) and even Bach goes to sea which is a take on the Popeye theme, otherwise known as the Sailors' hornpipe.  So it was a mixed bag, as is necessary for a performing band  and with some very informative intros from Dave.  So what of the sound?  It's so different.  The pitches and tones are varied so they remain quite distinct.  The bassoon with its confident blurt at the bottom and the flute with its flightly firmness at top were super distinct.  Just perhaps the midrangy clarinet in the middle could more easily get lost.  But the competence and the interplay were fabulous, all the harmonies and repetitions at diverse pitches and counterpoints, all done with wonderful skill and awareness of the nature of otherwise simple tunes.  For this didn't end up simple, even if the folk originals were.  This was rich: a composite work of three parts in playful interaction.  So, this one was no let down.  Loved this one.  PS. Wikipedia states Aeolus was the name of three characters  in Greek mythology, but you'll probably find him on the Net blowing wind as the Keeper of the winds.

The Aeolus Wind Trio comprise Jodie Petrov (flute), Lis Hoorweg (clarinet) and David Whitbread (bassoon).  They played at Wesley.

Staying home

Perhaps my first concert with Musica da Camera featured Bach Brandenburg Concerto no.3.  Now that's a fabulous piece and a challenge but also very mainstream and established.  Sally Greenaway led MdCC for its latest concert and it was anything but BBB.  Sally is a capable and renowned Australian/Canberran composer and she obviously knows the composer community so we got a fabulous collection of Australian and Canberra-based compositions to play.  Now these were not unapproachable or experimental as new works are something thought to be.  These were attractive, lyrical, expressive, rhythmic, providing pictures of footprints or trees or animals or more.  Sally's was the fascinating response to post-WW1 poplar tree plantings around country towns.  Plus Lachlan Skipworth with a fanfare called Fanfara; Leanne Bear with a pastorale and a (purple possum) dance; Marian Budos with three of seven gifts, a religious dedication; Brenda Gifford with Bardju (footprints), a jazzy groove with an offbeat fills; Tristan Coehlo with Rustic dances, all nature in varied feels and some really challenging timings; Ann Carr-Boyd with an arrangement of a popular tune by Peter Sculthorpe, his Left Bank waltz.  As you can imagine, this was a varied collection and a demanding learning process, some pieces not even being available for a listen.  We were lucky to have five of the composers at the concert and a decent audience who clearly enjoyed the new music, attractive and expressive as it was.  It was a pleasure to play our contemporary Australian music and hopefully a pleasure for the composers to hear our takes on it.

Sally Greenaway (musical director) selected and conducted Musica da Camera in Australian music by Skipworth, Bear, Budos, Gifford, Greenaway, Coehlo and Sculthorpe arr. Carr-Boyd.  Featured soloists were Gabriel Fromyhr (cello), Shane Campbell (guitar), Jodie Petrov (flute) and Elizabeth Alford (harp).

A sparse musical year but a packed weekend

It's been a busy musical weekend with Mike's oratorio sandwiched by a pair of Musica da Camera concerts.  It's my last concert of the year.  MdaC always plays a local concert, in our rehearsal venue, a church in Cook, then we tour to a local town for a gig on the Sunday.  It's fun.  This time it was again at Gunning.  They have a decent music import system from Canberra and maybe Sydney.  We play in a hall that's awash with reverb.  I don't always like that, but did this time.  The group seemed so large and loud and sweet and mercifully resistant to highlighting mistakes.  This was a program that's been in preparation for yonks.  Originally for September with Lizzy Collier as director.   That was kyboshed by Covid, then Lizzy was to take this December concert but had an operation and is in moonboots for Christmas.  So, we got a new conductor, Craig Woodland, head of music at CGS and very expert.  Not many mistakes passed his ears!  The program was not an easy one but not too long.  Plenty of tricky early C20th complexities.  Penderecki, FS Kelly, Holst, Foote and Dvorak.  Not an immediate favourite, but I did warm to it.  Preparation, even after this extended time, was interrupted.  So a few slipups Saturday and a few others on Sunday, but pretty well covered.  We had some guests form NCO, Angela Liu and Elizabeth Alford, but especially Jodie Petrov playing excellent flute as the soloist.  The horn and harp also added new colourings.  So busy: Friday night final practice, gigs on Saturday and Sunday.  It's a busy weekend but you can only love it with such a capable ensemble and exciting visitors.  And the touring: I've done hardly any so I can still enjoy it. For the sights and more.

Musica da Camera performed Penderecki, FS Kelly, Holst, Foote and Dvorak under Craig Woodland (director) with soloist Jodie Petrov (flute) and guests Angela Liu (horn) and Elizabeth Alford (harp).

Two up

Two days, two concerts, one program, one tour. Well, We played Cook on Saturday and Gunning on Sunday. It's a tradition in Musica da Camera to play local and regional concerts for each program (presumably a well established tradition as MdC dates back to 1979). So two up. It's an interesting experience. I felt the Gunning concert was more relaxed, but also slightly less sharp. The experience from the day before showed, but also the edge for the first concert dissipated a little. And the sound was hugely different: quite precise and controlled in Cook; loud and awash with reverb in Gunning. Such is a shire hall, outside looking every bit like the local shearing shed. Perhaps it has been. The theme was Old and new: moderns Rautavaara Fiddlers and Chesky Psalm no.1 for strings, all odd counts and dissonant intervals. Then some stately classics, Fuchs Serenade no.2 and Mercadante Flute concerto no.2 Emin. Then Britten Simple symphony, apparently quite well known but new to this neophyte. There were some fast, challenging lines (I like them), some hugely challenging counts (interesting and difficult) and then the whole challenge of making it all sit together well, intonation, feel, time and the rest. This is a capable little string orchestra, for this concert, under a capable director, Leonard Weiss. There were some little errors, some quibbles about placing the beat (it's especially an issue playing pizz), perhaps sometimes a little slow thus heavy because it's a new program and not repetitively performed repertoire, but it was seriously good and well done. Musos are always questioning of their own performances, anyway: they hear every little quirk, every little slip. As it should be. Listening back to audio and viewing video, I'm surprised some remembered slips were trivial and largely invisible. That's the band. For this program, there was also a soloist, Jodie Petrov, playing the Mercadante flute concerto. Apparently it's a standard of the flute repertoire. Variously jaunty, pretty and delicate, driving and bouncy. Nice tune and Jodie did a great job. So, two takes on one program, one local and one regional, one clean and one wet, both eminently presentable. Congratulations to my mates in this one. Proud to be a part of it all and somewhat humbled by some seriously good playing around me.

Musica da Camera performed Britten, Chesky, Fuchs, Mercandante and Rautavaara at Cook and Gunning under Leonard Weiss (conductor) with soloist, Jodie Petrov (flute).