Pleasures

It was telling how the chatter after the Marie Cull Studio concert at Wesley was just a little taken aback but very admiring.  Marie had introduced the students as aged 11-17, saying this is the first question she's always asked.  We heard 7 performers playing 8 pieces.  It turns out they will be presenting for exams next week, the likes of AmusA and LMusA.  Perhaps a few slips, but this is nerve-wracking stuff for young performers, but so well played.  Rachmaninov, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Ravel and publicly lesser knows Labunski, Bridge, Glinka; romantics and impressionists and more.  Marie herself speaks of developing love and knowledge of music.  It works.  This was a wonderful, inviting and satisfying concerts by a string of young players.  Much enjoyed.

Piano students of Marie Cull performed at Wesley.  The players were Alicia Fernando (Labunski), Mion Kirk (Bridge), Oreste Rollas (Rachmaninov), Nancy Xu (Glinka), Belle Andrewartha (Mendelssohn), Miani Kirk (Liszt) and Benjamin Francis (Rachmaninoff, Ravel).

Times of Hope

I think I don't look forward to seeing a series of students from a studio, but I should.  I do enjoy watching the range of skills, the clear development with time and age, the obviously growing awareness and maturity of the emotional responses in performance.  And this is as it should be, of course.  We get better, we understand more through life, we experience the new, until maybe we no longer do.  This is also part of life.  It surprises me that we can watch these developments over such a short time, through a series of performers, of varied but ordered ages, over just an hour or so.  I think they were all schoolies: short and young at one end;  teens at the other.  It goes to show how emotionally mature can be a teenager.  So, is this a duty, to record the several studio concerts?  I have thought so, but now I think differently. Rather, this is an education and an opportunity encouraging optimism.  In a dark time it's a thing of beauty and hope.  Nine players, playing all manner of musics through to Rachmaninov and Haydn and Katz Chernin and Handel and Chopin and Rameau and more.  This studio was Marie Cull's and it was a pleasure.

Students of the school of Marie Cull performed at Wesley.

A keyboard’s range

Some pianos are bigger, but the range of a standard grand piano is 88 keys, or about 7.5 octaves. But talking here or ranges, I mean something else. For the second time, I’ve heard a concert of the students of Marie Cull. She’s a renowned piano teacher here in Canberra and one who’s won AMEB awards. This concert had range: of age, of difficulty, of style. We heard pieces from young to old, boy to girl and a few duets. From etudes to Liszt and Chopin and on from Australian contemporary composer Ross Edwards. The young ones started with piano stool hiked high. I enjoyed all of this music: from the first etude, this was interesting. Marie must know her repertoire. Joshua Lee played first with an insistent, thriller-like 3/4 etude, Heller’s Study Op.46 no.3. Sarah Zhu followed with Bortkiewicz’ Butterfly which was flighty then heavy then dissonant then flighty again until a skewering pin brings its end. Vivienne Tran played a slower impressionistic piece, Night by Melartin, then teamed with Jerry Lu for more impressionism, Laideronette Imperatrice des Pagodes by Ravel. Bernice Chua and Sarah Zhu belted out a jazzy outspoken number with blues chords, The dancer by Dello Joio. Patrick Gu presented two Songs without words by Mendelssohn, a prettier, salon-style Op.102 no.5 then the a more driving 3/4 Op.102 no.3. Kirsten Leung played a twittering 3/4 called Forest Birds by Jensen. Then Jonathon Lee with Chopin’s well deserved, well known Nocturne Op.9 no.2. Bernice Chua played a Chopin waltz that I remember playing in my schooldays, but which I never played so well, the sometimes morose Op.34 no.2. I understood it better from this take with its distinct segments. Candice Lui played Prokofieff Prelude Op.12 no.7. This is also played on harp, and it’s a dead ringer, all rippling arpeggios and sweeps of notes. Then Fiona Backhouse with the slow, pensive, romantic Gluck Melodie, and to finish, Emily Buckley played emotional, varied, virtuosic piano from Liszt, Sonetta 47 del Petrarca, and a gentle, lyrical ¾ with big flourishes, Frangipani by Ross Edwards.

Very clever kids (some not quite so young)! Well done and much enjoyed. Marie Cull’s students performed at St Albans.

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.