Two views around two wars

This was the first Wednesday Lunchtime concert for the year at Wesley, a series I record for the performers.  The performers were a duo of piano and clarinet, Kimberley Steele and Milan Kolundzija, both locals, but playing music themed for the relationship and connection of French and Hungarian composers.  Kimberley noted how distant they are, or at least were in times of slower transport, about 1,500km, distant in European terms.  But the pieces they played displayed the relationships and influences.  Lili Boulanger, Kodaly, Debussy, Weiner and Poulenc.  I'm not sure I could list the influences, but there were similar forms, tiny pieces from Kodaly and Debussy, some as etudes or the like, a Hungarian dance, a nocturne from Lili Boulanger and a longer sonata from Poulenc.  Whatever, the music was well played, clearly interpreted, relaxed in presentation and a worthy start to the year with its clear theme.

Kimberly Steele (piano) and Milan Kolundzija (clarinet) performed French and Hungarian music composed before and after the World Wars.

Tallis to today

Prayers and lamentations was the title of the concert by Oriana Chorale with a range of Biblical and other quotes.  The obvious one and ever popular was Thomas Tallis lamentations of Jeremiah from the a capella first half.  Interestingly the two parts of Tallis sandwiched a modern work by Roxanna Panufnik.   It was a little confusing and I thought Tallis was mightily modern at one stage but it all resolved in the end and I loved both pieces although the Panufnik was my fave.  This is stunningly dissonant complex harmony apparently  minor against major tonalities but I guess all manner of flattened notes.  My admiration to the choir for handling this one!  Fascinating (listening now on Spotify: Deus, Deus Meus from her Westminster Mass).  The second half was Stravinsky and Lili Boulander , both modern.  I've played some Stravinsky and love it but never Boulanger, Lili or Nadia.  I jokingly compared notes with Megan at the end and she was not at all surprised that my choices were Panufnik and Stravinsky.  And how well this was done!  The choir was superbly strong, complex, reliable, and the Stravinsky required serious volume at times.  The accompaniment, just piano, clarinet and violin, was just as impressive and satisfying.  This was no walk in the park.  There was complexity and volume and challenging harmonies and odd time feels to navigate and all was wonderfully present.  The Boulanger also featured a high solo male voice and that worked a treat too.  So a great pleasure but more importantly a stunningly interesting and capable presentation.  Interesting, too were the arrangements: Stravinsky by Stefan Cassomenos; Boulanger by Dan Walker.  Quite an overwhelming outing and nice to be asked to record.

Oriana Chorale performed at All Saints Ainslie under Dan Walker (MD, conductor) with accompaniment by Helena Popovic (violin), Milan Kolundzija (clarinet) and Ronan Apcar (piano).  And a few mates, including Liz from Wesley and Imogene from my recent wedding band.