Haydn's Canberra Seasons

The concert was on 1 April so our practice in the morning, somewhat stilted and desperate, must have been a trick played on us, because the 3pm concert was an absolute blast.  This was NCO's annual get-together in Llewellyn Hall with CCS and a few singers out front and the music was Haydn The Seasons.  Now, this is a big work (a CSO member suggested "massive") and the orchestra practiced it for perhaps 8 weeks and only met with two of the singers on the Monday before the Saturday, and the other singer and choir only on the Friday night.  The arias and choral pieces were pretty much all there, but the repetitives were mostly removed, I guess to relieve the singers of such a massive task in preparation, and in a nifty and local way, they were replaced by a series of Canberra-related spoken word introductions form no other than Laura Tingle, ABC TV journo but also a member of CCS (I've seen her singing before).  I couldn't hear Laura from my location, but the proxy was well received and a very clever local innovation talking of magpies and trips to the coast and possums the like.  As for the performance, I'm not the only believer in the "she'll be right on the night" line, and the performance just proved the proposition.  It was a blast.  The were some moments of indecision or missed lines (Haydn is full of explosive and hugely challenging phrases, not just for the winds and others, but even for the basses) but the performance was thrilling and the exhilaration from choir and orchestra and singers on song was ever present.  And there were several fugues (3?), one at truly breakneck speed, all thrilling and structurally complex.  I love these things. And the gloriously delicate start to, what, winter?  And plenty more of interest.  Talk of massive, it was 2 hours playing with the repetitives removed!  Massive indeed.  But we did it and, as is the way, we partied and chuckled about it all after.  Just a blast, again, from our NCO/CCS collaboration.

National Capital Orchestra and Canberra Choral Society gather for their annual performance at Llewellyn Hall to play Haydn The Seasons.  Sarahlouise Owens (soprano), Ryan O'Donnell (tenor) and Sitiveni Talei (bass) sang.   Laura Tingle (narrator) replaced the repetitives with a Canberra Seasons theme.  Louis Sharpe (conductor) conducted and Dan Walker (chorus master) prepared the choir.  Our bottom end comprised Juliet Flook, Jennifer Groom and Eric Pozza (basses).

This is CJBlog post no. 2,600

RN in the flesh

How can you not love a book launch in Canberra? This one was at Paperchain in Manuka for the book Glory daze : how a world-beating nation got so down on itself by Jim Chalmers. Laura Tingle interviewed Jim Chalmers. Jim was senior advisor to Wayne Swan during the GFC. These are major figures in the national political scene. They were not the only ones present. I was chatting to one bloke after and he turned out to be Hugh White. Someone joked about Steven Koukoulas and he was there. I’d been stunned by a blinker-shattering, fact-checking article by him that very morning. We ended up eating with a John Warhurst and Joan. I’d shared a school with John many years before. The place was teaming with staff from political offices. Their intelligence and youthful energy are obvious. That’s the environment. Radio National and Federal politics in the flesh. And you can chat.

Jim introduced the book. It’s in three parts: a proud story of Labor and the GFC; a discussion of the political system with its poisonous despite outcomes (viz, 22 years of continuous economic growth); thoughts on the way forward, aligned incentives and communication that works. His view is from inside government and he recognised a siege mentality. This was the time for emergency responses, to GFC and climate change. It’s an environment of tight-knit teams, huge work hours and deep camaraderie. He framed it in terms of Swan’s Bizarro speech, where he talked of the disconnect of Australia weathering the GFC and being the international economic darling while its people were pessimistic (more than Spain!) and angry. He gave examples of Glenn Stevens speaking on GFC success and Nobel prize-winner Steiglitz: “best designed, best deployed stimulus in the world”. He found reasons in a consistently negative opposition, shock jocks, a biased media and a small number of prominent businesses (he said 1%). He questioned whether a corner had been turned, noting that enough money will prevent reform and this reform is the reason for our recent success. He discussed PMs and personality-presidential politics. I’m still pondering his statement that PMs are now “bigger dogs on shorter leashes”. He touched on opposition that is addicted to quick hits, and that government learns what is possible. He noted governments shouldn’t overpromise and underdeliver (not just governments, of course). There was some discussion about the coming election: shock jocks will find their way (they do); the impact of personality and polls; the likelihood of a contest of ideas and how Rudd will pick them.

Much of this is interesting for the interjections and sidelines and jokes, so a write-up doesn’t do it justice. I felt some observations missed some context. Like the failure of the Mining tax had several progenitors, very obviously including Rudd’s backdown on climate change. A perfect world will have policy and no spin, but messages are important. Lots of Gillard legislation is no match for Keating’s three key issues that the public understands. Labor was running from Abbott under Gillard, but Rudd is now running rings around a meek Abbott. That’s his forte. Too bad for Gillard, who will be likely remembered as an achiever as well as our first female PM. But you’ve got to own the right seats in Parliament, so you need to win. No use being a sainted failure other than for the record books. In fact, I feel education and disability are shaping as those key, understood, accepted Keatingesque public issues and they are there now. We’ll see. This election is interesting again. I’ve started reading the book. I now understand the bigger dog reference (Our PMs are bigger dogs than US Presidents but they can be more easily rolled). As I read on, I realise the commitment of the political process, gather increasing respect for those who commit and recognise my limited, media-imposed understanding. Despite NSW Labor and Howard’s good-times handouts, I continue to respect Australia’s basically decent political process. Even if some mates find me naive.

Laura Tingle interviewed Jim Chalmers at Paperchain Bookshop for the launch of Glory daze : how a world-beating nation got so down on itself / Jim Chalmers.

It must be Christmas

Sally observed it wasn’t jazz, but Handel’s Messiah well deserves a post on CJ. The Canberra Choral Society performed it again this year at St Christopher’s Cathedral, the cream brick Catholic cathedral at Manuka. We went to the first of two performances and it was an immensely satisfying experience. The Cathedral is not my favourite building around town, the acoustics were heavy with reverb that made for a loud but somewhat mushy sound and there was frequent traffic noise and Harley splutter outside on Canberra Avenue, but nonetheless this was a treat. It was the long performance with the full 3 Acts, verging on 3 hours with the interval. I thought this was a daring choice and all praise is due. This was my first Messiah (a late starter) but I was glad to hear one where the three parts, dealing with the Birth, Passion and Aftermath, were present, and the familiar arias and the exultant Hallelujah Chorus were in their right places. It was long but the time passed like a breeze. I was impressed by the stamina of both performance and audience. Pews are not the most comfy places to spend three hours, and I noticed the audience stirring but it was uncomplaining and stood for the famed Hallelujah Chorus, as people apparently have since King George 2. I expected that we would be too casual for that these days, but no. It was a pleasant surprise. And the applause was deafening at the end, so the effort was much appreciated.

It was a small orchestra with a light presence that was sometimes overshadowed when the voices took flight. But it had a lovely courtly baroque tone that benefited from the reverb. Clear, fat trumpet ringing through (beautifully resonant and very different from a jazz trumpet tone), bassoon or oboe evident at other times, the strings fairly restrained with 7 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos and a double bass. Organ and a harpsichord that presumably played the original basso continuo part. The choir was 21 sopranos, 30 altos, 10 tenors, 14 basses and there were arias and recitatives for SATB - Rebecca Collins (soprano), Christina Wilson (mezzosoprano), Christopher Saunders (tenor) and Stephen Barnett (bass) - and the whole was directed and conducted by Peter Pocock.

What glorious, exultant, dignified, elegant, rational music it is! Lines echoed by passing between voices and on to instruments; big and joyous interval jumps, and shapely lines. Apparently Handel is famous for word-painting where the melody mimics the meaning of the lyrics, so lines rise to mountains and fall to valleys, and “crooked” alternates crookedly between B and C#. I heard a unison bass and bassoon line that surprised and amused me. But always the neat cadences to confirm dignity at the end of scenes. I enjoyed it immensely, and the final applause was long and enthusiastic, seemingly beyond the expectations by the performers. In the end, I felt the words were strangely other-worldly (no-one much chats about exalted valleys, easy yokes or feeding flocks these days or even walking in darkness) but the rational baroque music fits well enough with modern rationality in architecture and politics and economics. We left with high spirits and much joy to take on the Christmas season. Truly a fabulous outing, so thanks in spades to my neighbour Trish and the rest of the performers. BTW, ArtSound were recording the Saturday night performance, so keep you ears tuned for the replay.