Backs

Organs are different things. The organ player's back is usually facing you; the music is variously grand or delicate and variously toned. It's different from other keyboard instruments, too. Sustain is achieved by holding down notes; notes are on/off rather than with a natural decay; volume is not controlled by the playing hands but by the foot pedal; there are several keyboards (=manuals) for hands and one for the feet. It must be confounding for pianists or harpsichordists, although obviously some aspects carry over. The ACT Organ School at Wesley Music Centre presented a student concert comprising 10 players over an hour-or-so. Again, they were varied: several school kids and some advanced students and ANU SOM students. The music was mostly Bach and Buxtehude, but the advanced performers branched out, into Hindemith, Messaien, Widor and Franck. I love baroque (we all do), but I particularly enjoyed the modern takes with the differing harmonies, the demanding dynamics and the rest. Wesley provides the organ and manages the Organ School. The teachers come in from interstate: tiring but obviously enjoyed. Brisbane organist Christopher Wrench is the senior tutor and he emceed for this event. A great pleasure from all players and an inspiration from several.

Christopher Wrench (organ tutor) compered a student concert for the ACT Organ School at Wesley Music Centre. Performers were Christopher Taylor, Ariana Odermatt, Kate Cole, Jacob Wu, Timothy Kelly, Rebecca Anderson, Jayden Lohe, Jonathan Lee, James Porteous and Linus Lee.

Futures

It was Anzac Day and Jonathan's program was entitled "From anguish to hope...". By that hour, it was an alternative to Two-Up which is interesting for once in a year but hardly cerebral. The anguish was for lost friends and relatives in wars: virtually all the performed composers lived through WW1. Then through a French heroic chant and an elegy and a prayer. But there was also redemption or joy, the hope of the title, from Messiaen and a final prelude by JS Bach. All performed on the organ at Wesley Church. Organ music can be delicate or overwhelming; it's stolid with those deep pipes but also playful, birdlike with the high pitches. The tones are stable given notes don't change once played: just on or off. But the interplay of tones and of emotions is profound. It's also the biggest and loudest of the pre-electronic instruments so fills big spaces and must have amazed its early listeners. This was further informed here with cameras linked to TV screens so we could view the manuals and fool pedals. An interesting innovation! Great news that Jonathan has obtained the 2019/20 organ scholarship to study at Hereford Cathedral, England, so as to fill far larger spaces with more popes and with the added amusement of watching Brexit close up. This was lovely playing, variously fresh and lithe or heavy and ponderous, and a satisfying program. We'll be hearing from Jonathan over coming months (he leaves in August), but best of luck with the bigger pipes of Hereford.

Jonathan Lee (organ) gave a recital for Anzac Day at Wesley Church.

Concert for Cancer Council

It was the day of the big morning tea, supporting the Cancer Council, and the concert was attached to the morning tea at Wesley and it was also big and varied. I guess it was brought together from those who were available for the gig. Horn player Chris Griffiths was in town from the UK (he plays with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and studied under Barry Tuckwell at the Royal Academy of Music) but then I discovered his sister is here so a family visit. Stuart Long supported Chris on piano, and both Stuart and Chris played with Louise Keast, and Louise also played with pianist Colleen Rae Gerrard. And Jonathan Lee sat in on organ to play a surprisingly jazz-inspired piece. Not a long concert but rabidly mixed. First up was JS Bach Ave Maria on horn and piano. The some songs from Brahms, Wolf and Bellini and notably Gounot's Le soir from Meditations poetiques. Then Ravel Pavane pour une infante defunte and Jonathan's performance of Ad Wammes Miroir with its distinct jazz-like melody and chordal movements. And to finish, two movements of Mozart Horn concerto Eb. Some tunes were distinctly well-known and popular but always a pleasure. Chris played a good bit from memory. So, mixed an d popular but also interesting and well played. A pleasure, unlike cancer.

Chris Griffiths (horn), Stuart Long (piano), Jonathan Lee (organ), Louise Keast (soprano) and Colleen Rae Gerrard (piano) performed at Wesley.

This is CJBlog post no. 1800

Youth

They're coming younger, or I'm getting older, but it's been ever that way - think Mozart. This was Jonathan Lee, playing piano, still in Year 11 but with organ and cello under his belt, awards and prizes and double AMusA almost in place and a Licentiate on organ. Nice program, too: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy. And not a sheet of music on stage. The Bach was from Partita no.4 Dmaj, melody moving between hands, nicely elucidated; the Beethoven was Sonata in Cmin Op,19 no.1, played with conviction and nicely slow second movement; the Brahms was Rhapsody in Gmin Op.79 no.2, heavy, morbid, Jonathan suggested an eerie graveyard before playing; the Debussy more French, Passapied from Suite Bergamasque, relatively flighty, light, a courtly French dance. Nicely done.

Jonathan Lee (piano) played Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Debussy at Wesley.

Passapied (dance)

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.