2x4

Two string quartets, one steamroller.  This was a lunchtime concert in the Juliet Room at Verity Lane and it was a great space with a responsive audience and a nice clean sound.  Other than the steamroller, but that's for later.  First up was Quatuor va Kuijk playing Mozart String Quartet K458 ‘The Hunt’.  It was mightily different from the French music we'd heard a few days before at the winery.  Mozart is just perfect of course, but so was the quartet: immense delicacy, huge dynamics, lots of eyes for effective communication, just the most correct intonations and passages passed with endless simplicity and aptness.  It was in this space with this music that I could feel this group.  Then something different, even if Haydn String Quartet op.76 no 5 apparently was written in response to 'the Hunt'.  Haydn was not so much a thing of Mozartian delicacy but of power and attack and strength.  It was such a different presence for the alternative quartet. But then that steamroller.  Verity Lane is in town and work is ongoing in the old Sydney and Melbourne buildings and sadly some was scheduled for this day.  Ya gotta laugh or otherwise you'd cry.  I'm sure AM didn't find it so funny but they carried on bravely and effectively and I can only admire their perseverence.  Still, a powerful and driven performance.  I was recording and expected to drop out the bottom end, but with a close mic it wasn't nearly so evident.  So the comparison of two quartets was fascinating and informative but not as reliable as it might have been.  But fabulous none the less.

Quatuor van Kuijk and Alma Moodie Quartet performed at Verity Lane for CIMF2023.  QvK comprise Nicolas Van Kuijk and Sylvain Favre-Bulle (violons), Emmanuel François (viola) and Anthony Kondo (cello).  Alma Moodie Quartet comprise Kristian Winther and Anna da Silva Chen (violin), Dana Lee (viola) and Thomas Marlin (cello).

Instructive

It was a busy day so I only managed two of three groups in the masterclass, but what I saw was instructive. This was a masterclass arranged by the Canberra Chamber Music Players, the Canberra branch of the ACMS, at the ANU School of Music, with violinist Kristian Winther as the instructor. First up was a string quartet of Joy, Kathryn, Marilyn and Justine playing an arrangement from Playel's op.48 no.2. Next was Thea and Hang playing Franck violin sonata mvt.4. I missed the Faure piano quartet Cmin movt.1 by Thea, Suzanna, Terry and Heng. This is somewhat like family. I've played with virtually every player here, in various incarnations. Thus is the classical music scene in Canberra. Masterclasses are for players who already play, so the guidance tends to interpretation rather than technique. So we heard of ideas like "who's the boss" meaning who is the leader at any time (it moves); how to express notes and lengths and melding and joining phrases; sharing ideas and interpretations; how notes are bowed and formed and attacked. Nerves were mentioned and one suggestion was to squeeze toes to avoid tension in the hand when playing soft (mostly a joke!). There were stories of famed musos and descriptions of composers' "schtick". And further, of telling a story and having to make the journey to earn the end; creating, even exaggerating, each twist and turn; of coordinating phrasing between different instruments (here, piano and violin, very different). The comments are a thing of the moment and of the performance, so it sounds vague here but is relevant in context. There's still stuff to learn even at this level. Revealing and informative.

Kristian Winther (violin) instructed a masterclass for the Canberra Chamber Music Players. Instructees were Joy Searle, Kathryn Collins (violins), Marilyn Moir (viola) and Justine Gibbings (cello) and Thea Lau (violin) and Heng Lin Yeap (piano). I missed Suzanna Powell (viola) and Terry Neeman (cello).

Home towner

This is the time of virtuosity the time of CIMF. My first concert was Kristian Winther. Kristian is Canberra-bred and sounds of the world. He played violin, solo, Bach Sei solo a violino senza basso accampagnato. I heard the first concert, so the first 3 works of six. Sonata no.1 Gmin, Partita no.1 Bmin, Sonata no.2 Amin. He was playing the other three that afternoon. Each was a work of four movements. I lucked out with a front row seat that was left otherwise vacant so I could watch his bowings and fingers and face. The best was just to close my eyes and take in the subtly of bowing tones - light or gritty - and the nifty fingering and luxuriate in the glorious harmonic inventions of Bach himself. The first movements were not quite so comfy but then, settled in, his presentation was a thing of immensity and intelligence and beauty. A blast from a Canberra boy returned for our own festival.

Kristian Winther (violin) played Bach at Canberra International Music Festival.