Her music

Shilong presented a wonderful overview of Australian women composers with his program called Her music speaks for Musica da Camera.  I've played lots of music by women composers recently and lots of Australian composers, but not a full program (the closest was one by Sally Greenaway with MdCC a year or two ago).  Some of the composers were on this program, too.  They were Sally Greenaway, Corrina Bonshek, Helen Gifford, Margaret Sutherland, Betty Beath, Maria Grenfell and Elena Katz-Chernin.  And the music was delightfully varied and nothing disappointed.  Sally's homage to the Balkans and Batik was culturally influenced, bouncy and melodic.  Then through a slow pensive Dream, a free-like atonal and a-rhythmic piece that came together for me as  watched Shilong's conducting, all changing time signatures, sparse odd harmonies, varied techniques, even thumbs on bass.  I loved it.  Then a Margaret Sutherland concerto in three movements, an sad adagio lament for Kosovo, a homage to knitting unicorns to bring solace and optimism in hospital settings and a final jaunty and challenging piece in 5/4 and various divisions thereof by Elena Katz-Chernin Fast Blue Village 5.  For this concert, I was in the audience recording so it was a new vision of MdCC but also missing playing such an imaginative program.  Well done all round.

Shilong Ye (musical director) conducted Her Music Speaks for Musica da Camera Canberra.

Accademics

Brad Tham led our latest Musica da Camera outing.  It was his first outing as a conductor and he did a great job, as conductor and also as an inspirational soloist in a Vaughan Williams concerto.  It's his Concerto Accademico.  I've been thinking it's an etude for students, given the odd twists and timings throughout, but apparently it's a homage to a Bach concerto.  I don't hear that at all, but so be it.  Suffice to say it's tricky.  The other works were a lovely pavane by John Dowland , all drenched melancholy and obvious renaissance origins, and two other longer works for string orchestra by Dag Wirren and John Rutter.  Neither looked particularly challenging, at least in the bass scores, but they too proved tricky at speed.  Fast counts do that.  But the outcome was capable and satisfying given some late concentration on my part.  It's such a pleasure to play with this group.  I will miss it given a break for a few months.  Thanks and cheers to all.  Impressive.

Brad Tham (conductor, violin) directed and soloed for Musica da Camera at Cook.

Darkness and light

It's amusing that this was the second gig with Chris Latham as MD where we sat in darkness.  The darkness was for the projected images of modern art that we were accompanying.  OK as long as your batteries on your music stand lights were fresh!  (They were).  Batteries for tuners, too, because the basses had to tune down E>Eb for the final tune.  Otherwise, this was reverent, as Chris' concert are.  We were located at the Chapel at the ACCC (Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture) near the huge cross on the lake.  The space is cement and thus has its own acoustic.  The music was a string of short pieces, from Bach and Rach through a string of lesser-known Europeans and others, Weinberg, Klein, Weiner and Kattenberg as well Simon, Walton, Koicki and Dreyfus and a segment of lovely FS Kelly songs.  I so love the gentle and touching music of FS Kelly, deceased young in WW1.  Chris had gathered and often arranged the tunes. Our singer was Christina Wilson with her soprano of power and obvious invention that showed when she sang a complex but wordless segment.  Fumiyo Yamamoto also featured on one violin solo.  Let it not be thought that short and predominantly slow means easy.  There's difficulty in delicate bowing and in unexpected counts.  It's nothing like fast incessant Beethoven parts with their own difficulties.  So another successful and purposeful performance with Chris Latham.  Thanks again Chris.

Chris Latham (conductor, musical director, arranger. violin) led Musica da Camera in a string of tunes at the Chapel at ACCC.  Christina Wilson (soprano) sang and Fumiyo Yamamoto (violin) and Margaret Kahn (cello) soloed.

Staying home

Perhaps my first concert with Musica da Camera featured Bach Brandenburg Concerto no.3.  Now that's a fabulous piece and a challenge but also very mainstream and established.  Sally Greenaway led MdCC for its latest concert and it was anything but BBB.  Sally is a capable and renowned Australian/Canberran composer and she obviously knows the composer community so we got a fabulous collection of Australian and Canberra-based compositions to play.  Now these were not unapproachable or experimental as new works are something thought to be.  These were attractive, lyrical, expressive, rhythmic, providing pictures of footprints or trees or animals or more.  Sally's was the fascinating response to post-WW1 poplar tree plantings around country towns.  Plus Lachlan Skipworth with a fanfare called Fanfara; Leanne Bear with a pastorale and a (purple possum) dance; Marian Budos with three of seven gifts, a religious dedication; Brenda Gifford with Bardju (footprints), a jazzy groove with an offbeat fills; Tristan Coehlo with Rustic dances, all nature in varied feels and some really challenging timings; Ann Carr-Boyd with an arrangement of a popular tune by Peter Sculthorpe, his Left Bank waltz.  As you can imagine, this was a varied collection and a demanding learning process, some pieces not even being available for a listen.  We were lucky to have five of the composers at the concert and a decent audience who clearly enjoyed the new music, attractive and expressive as it was.  It was a pleasure to play our contemporary Australian music and hopefully a pleasure for the composers to hear our takes on it.

Sally Greenaway (musical director) selected and conducted Musica da Camera in Australian music by Skipworth, Bear, Budos, Gifford, Greenaway, Coehlo and Sculthorpe arr. Carr-Boyd.  Featured soloists were Gabriel Fromyhr (cello), Shane Campbell (guitar), Jodie Petrov (flute) and Elizabeth Alford (harp).

Weekend 1

These were two profound outings this weekend.  The first was Musica da Camera's latest outing with Chris Latham.  Chris is currently artist in residence at the Australian War Memorial.  He uses this time to develop a series of musical performances on war-related themes.  This is always touching, emotional, profound even.  This one was on Australia and its role in peacekeeping.  We've done pretty well in the past but not so well in the last decade or so.  No surprise if you are following our politics.  Money wins, for some, not pride in country.  Whatever, this was advertised for adults and near-to.  There was an accompanying slide show with troubling scenes: scenes of conflict and its outcomes.  I was playing so watching the visuals was a distraction, although I did catch bits.  But for me, the satisfaction was playing FS Kelly, touching on Beethoven 9 (Ode to Joy, of course), a string of original compositions by Chris himself and attendant composer Cyrus Meurant, others by Elena Katz-Chernin and Graeme Koehne, even John Lennon, Cat Stevens and ABBA.  Who would expect it?  Nice to feel that stylistic crossover.  Actually, the ABBA tune was quite challenging, with a time signature that moved precariously through 4/4 and 6/8.  Counting was essential.  And of course B9: what could be better?  It may be the closest I get to this pinnacle of the art.  At least I've played this snippet if not the whole, challenging work.  Then there's the wonderful musicians that featured : Susannah Lowergren, Riley Lee on shakuhachi, Matthew O'Keefe and that strongest of pianists, Edward Neeman.  It's a privilege to play with people like this.  So thanks to Chris.

Chris Latham (musical director) led Musica da Camera String Orchestra with soloists Susannah Lowergren (soprano), Riley Lee (shakuhachi), Matthew O'Keefe (clarinet) and Edward Neeman (piano) at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.

Potholing

Musica da Camera had its performance weekend.  This one was under Shilong Ye and with an obscure but interesting list of compositions.  Bartok and Delius, and Volkmann, Glazunov and Nielsen.  The last three are pretty obscure even if the names somewhat ring a bell.  Not impossible stuff, but with its own challenges: some odd counts, an occasional 5/4 variation, some solo bass parts that were important, requiring some conscious counting.   We played the standard local outing in Cook, then our Sunday drive was to Gundaroo.  Our recent country performances have been in Gunning, but given the potholes, the closer town was a gift to the suspension.  There were a few last minute swerves from some very scary water-filled potholes along the way.  And the Soldiers' Memorial Hall is a lovely, dark thing with a cathedral ceiling in wood, so lovely direct reverberations.  Warm in temp (given the gas heaters) and warm in reverb.  We played the Saturday well so the step up for the replay was not so large; both were decent outings.  So a satisfying weekend with some decent, lesser known music.

Musica da Camera performed Bartok, Delius, Volkmann, Glazunov and Nielsen at Cook and Gundaroo under Shilong Ye (director).

Finally Lizzy

Lizzy Collier is a really nice local bassist and music teacher and she was to direct Musica da Camera last year but came down with an injury and her concert and program was covered.  Finally, we got to play with her, just last Saturday, more than 6-months late.  The main work on the program with Suk Serenade, a work of 30 mins and four movements and some demanding passages, quiet and evocative and just seat of pants stuff.  We got through it, if not at release level.  The other works were quite meditative, FS Kelly with a WW1 elegy, Finzi with a romance, Schoenberg with a Notturno from early in his career and a more bouncy take on Greensleeves by Vaughan Williams.  We were joined by harp for a few tunes.   I love this fascinating process of discovering directors / conductors, learning their personalities and preferences and modes of musical and other communication.  Lizzy was wonderfully direct and clear, not always a feature of a conductor.  So, a touching and well led outing from Lizzy with MdCC.

Musica da Camera Canberra performed Suk, FS Kelly, Finzi, Schoenberg and Vaughan Williams under Lizzy Collier (director) with guest Elizabeth Alford (harp).

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Anothery

We remember this concert with much reverence.  It's not a recent concert.  It was from 4 years ago at one of our favourite venues, St Peter and Paul, the heavy bluestone Catholic cathedral in Goulburn with the wonderful acoustics.  The group was Musica da Camera and our guests were Louise Page and Lenny Weiss.  As I am wont to say, at different stages of their musical careers.  MdaC was around its 40th anniversary.  Louise was on her final year before retirement, performing with various groups around town.  Lenny was yet to take up studies at the Peabody Conservatorium in USA.  Both Louise and Lenny were much admired and much loved.   We also had some horns and clarinets sitting in from NCO.  We played a Mozart symphony, too, but that didn't appear in the recording that is now released as Sorrowful song on Spotify and YouTube and Bandcamp and all the other streaming services.  The songs are arias from various operas, from Handel, Purcell, Gluck and Mozart, and the performances are deeply touching.  It was such a pleasure to support Louise in this most tragic of music.  Whatever, it's now released so have a listen and if you wish to support MdC (now Musica da Camera Canberra to support our international presence!), go to Bandcamp and purchase a download.  But do listen.  It's nothing like a joyous pop song, but it's intense and truly felt.  Sorrowful song is our second album and a source of much pride.

Musica da Camera Canberra (string orchestra) released an album of arias performed with Louise Page (soprano) and led by Leonard Weiss (director).

• https://musicadacameracanberra.bandcamp.com/

Triumphs

This as a new experience, performing in the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, on behalf of the Australian War Memorial, through Chris Latham, currently (musical) artist in residence, doing early work towards a later recording, playing virtually all new arrangements, with soloists from the Army Band and the School of Music.  Some of those things we, as Musica da Camera, have done before but not all together like this.  The program was called Triumph of the Imaginationn and it recalled the experiences of POWs in war, especially WW2.  It was profound at times, telling of fellow support, with one piece from a Jewish internee shipped to Australia and several tunes by FS Kelly, our renowned composer (and Olympian) who survived Gallipoli but was lost, still young, on the Somme.   Our soloists were Edward and Stephanie Neeman on piano and Jaime Grech on soprano sax and Chris himself on violin.  We invited several males to chant for the first piece, a movement of a symphony by Schulhoff, all march-time and bass drone.  This was not a concert to take lightly.  The fast stuff can be relatively easy, but the delicacy required for such quiet or pensive works is a challenge, if satisfying to perform.  So a deep, thoughtful concert helping Chris in his work towards another musical memorial and musical recovery project.

Chris Latham (director, violin, arranger) led Musica da Camera (string orchestra) in a POW memeorial concert, Triumph of the Imagination, at ACCC, with soloists Edward and Stephanie Neeman (piano) and Jaime Grech (soprano sax).  PS. Obviously not my best pic!

A sparse musical year but a packed weekend

It's been a busy musical weekend with Mike's oratorio sandwiched by a pair of Musica da Camera concerts.  It's my last concert of the year.  MdaC always plays a local concert, in our rehearsal venue, a church in Cook, then we tour to a local town for a gig on the Sunday.  It's fun.  This time it was again at Gunning.  They have a decent music import system from Canberra and maybe Sydney.  We play in a hall that's awash with reverb.  I don't always like that, but did this time.  The group seemed so large and loud and sweet and mercifully resistant to highlighting mistakes.  This was a program that's been in preparation for yonks.  Originally for September with Lizzy Collier as director.   That was kyboshed by Covid, then Lizzy was to take this December concert but had an operation and is in moonboots for Christmas.  So, we got a new conductor, Craig Woodland, head of music at CGS and very expert.  Not many mistakes passed his ears!  The program was not an easy one but not too long.  Plenty of tricky early C20th complexities.  Penderecki, FS Kelly, Holst, Foote and Dvorak.  Not an immediate favourite, but I did warm to it.  Preparation, even after this extended time, was interrupted.  So a few slipups Saturday and a few others on Sunday, but pretty well covered.  We had some guests form NCO, Angela Liu and Elizabeth Alford, but especially Jodie Petrov playing excellent flute as the soloist.  The horn and harp also added new colourings.  So busy: Friday night final practice, gigs on Saturday and Sunday.  It's a busy weekend but you can only love it with such a capable ensemble and exciting visitors.  And the touring: I've done hardly any so I can still enjoy it. For the sights and more.

Musica da Camera performed Penderecki, FS Kelly, Holst, Foote and Dvorak under Craig Woodland (director) with soloist Jodie Petrov (flute) and guests Angela Liu (horn) and Elizabeth Alford (harp).

Music for the people

Music for the people was the theme of the concert but I'm not sure I felt quite so secure leading up to it.  Not for the Vivaldi Autumn, which is obvious and pretty and well known, even if it is demanding in its own way.  Not for the few Scandinavian folk tunes that our leader for the event, Dan Russell of the Phoenix Collective, had discovered in recordings of the Danish String Quartet.  They were pretty and challenging in their own ways.  Initially it was for the Shostakovich.  Mention his name and it brings instant respect from fellow players ("You're playing Shosta?").  It was his Chamber Symphony and it was deliriously quick in the second movement and everyone was wary of that.  We didn't play it at full speed, but in the end we got away with it.  Fear is a great motivator for practice!  But strangely the Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso was a sleeper challenge.  It looked simple enough but the bending of time was a big issue and we ended up with Gill conducting.  That helped.  Even so, I still misplaced the final note, but hopefully it was missed.  Maybe not: Dan had good ears.  He was an impressive player, too: nimble, playful, quick and nicely emotive in note formation.  But in the end, it worked.  This group is a capable one, and as Graham McDonald said in his concert review in City News, we are " “amateur” as someone who pursues an activity for pleasure ... while non-professional, produc[-ing] entirely credible performances of interesting music".  Wow, that's one to be proud of.  Thanks to Dan and a great pleasure to be blooded by Shosta.

Musica da Camera performed Vivaldi, Scandinavian folk, Shostakovich and Saint-Saens under musical director and soloist Dan Russell (violin) at Cook.

Another weekend

This weekend it was a concert with Musica da Camera, my string orchestra.  You may expect Bach and Mozart from a string orchestra and that's great (I love playing them) but this was a rather different outing for players and for audience.  The most comfortable (in musical, if not in social terms) was La Calinda, a song sung by slaves at the wedding of Koanga and Palmyra in Florida in Delius' opera Koanga.  This was informed by Delius' time in 1884/5 in an orange plantation where he was much influenced by African American music.  Next was Bridge Suite for string orchestra, a neo-classical piece in four movements.  This was written in 1908 before the pacifist Bridge's trauma from WW1.  Third up was by Yasushi Akutagawa Triptyque for string orchestra.  YA was Japanese, strongly influenced by the Russians, especially Prokofiev, and was involved the then musical exchange between then USSR and Japan.  And to end, a driving minimalist piece Wojciech Kilar Orawa.  Orawa is a river and region between Poland and Slovakia.  The piece pictures the river flowing over rocks and through landscapes.  This one was fun, with four-to-the-floor 8s against 7s in two movements and a final "Hey" shouted by the orchestra.  Hip and modern.  Now this was a challenge for various ears, not least Rosemary who arranged at least one piece from a piano score.  There were some tricky spots and lines that were quite perverse and unexpected (counting is de rigeur in this world) but great fun and well received from a fairly limited Covid audience.  Thanks to Rosemary and all for an intriguing program and some satisfying playing.

 Musica da Camera performed Delius, Bridge, Akutagawa and Kilar in Cook.  Rosemary McPhail (conductor) directed and Jocelyn James (violin) led the firsts.

Tourism

There's a big push for local tourism with the waning of Covid in Australia but I'm not sure this can be called tourism.  Not sure it can even be called "on tour" because we just drove out for the day but it sounds cool.  Not that being on tour is such a comfy existence in the real world, but Musica da Camera's Sunday concert jaunt after each Saturday Cook concert is a pleasure.  And this was our 10th anniversary in Gunning; in the richly reverberant Shire Hall.  These out-of-town gigs are fun and, given it's a rehash of the program, they tends to be our best performances.  With Covid, the programs are shorter and we are doing two iterations in Canberra, so this was particularly satisfying as the third try.  Those missed repeats and poor counts and the like were fixed, and Rosemary took it slower and the works seemed to grow in intensity.  That surprised me.  So a pleasure it was.  The program was quite obscure, at least to me.  Rossini Viva Rossini was cute. Then Respighi Ancient arias and dances suite 3, the major ensemble work of the day, was somewhat odd and quite challenging.  Then Vivaldi Winter featuring a 15-yo violin powerhouse, a student of Rosemary, Fumiyo Yamamoto.  She also played the drastic dynamics of Sarasate Zigeunerweisen to finish up, with Alex Rowley Christmas suite for strings interspersed with its disguised carol quotes as a reminder that this unfortunate year of fires and hail and pandemics and Trump and more is coming to an end.  Good riddance.  But nice to do our little tour and to play with Fumiyo and just to neaten things up for this, the third and final iteration of this concert.  Until next year...

Musica da Camera performed Rossini, Reshigi, Vivaldi, Rowley and Sarasate under Rosemary Macphail (director) with soloist Fumiyo Yamamoto (violin) in two concerts at Cook and one in Gunning.

This is CJBlog post no. 2,300.

Concert in the time of Covid

It's a strange experience.  This was my first concert since the Covid close-down six months ago.  The group was much the same - twenty or so string players in Musica da Camera with guest guitar soloist and director.  The location was the same, but instead of 100+ audience, there were just 30 seats sparsely strewn in front of us.  Better than nothing.  Someone mentioned the sound was different but I didn't particularly notice, being too busy trying to play the parts.  Because that's another thing: the parts were not too challenging, but my practice hasn't been so established for several months.  Covid has done strange things to our mental states.  And another thing, I couldn't play the Sunday concert.  I have to confirm 14-days staying in the ACT in a bit less than 2 weeks and the Sunday concert was close, but in NSW.  Strange, really, given that ACT is so small, and so many NSW residents come to Canberra for work or pleasure anyway.  But they have to set some rules and this is a little oddity.  So I thought we were just a little rusty but the music was surprisingly satisfying - Grieg, Vivaldi, Whitacre, Boccherini and Piazzolla Libertango.  The soloist was Canberra-trained guitarist Andrew Blanch and the conductor was local music educator and bassist Lizzie Collier.  Both were impressive.  I expected it would be too much guitar, too Spanish, but I came to enjoy the performance immensely: the passionate, driving rhythms and growling bass parts.  Lizzy advised that tango should be played virtually 100% with down-bows on bass and cello.  Interesting and strange but it gave a drive and growl that I loved. The Grieg was lovely folk song as Nordic melody; the Whitacre was colours of autumn interpreted with all manner of time signatures (3/4,5/4,4/4,6/4) and harmonic colour.  The Vivaldi and Boccherini were with guitar, one a guitar concerto and the other including a fandango.  Libertango is just a fabulous, hugely covered passionate tango (from Grace Jones on).  So, I'm sorry I'm not playing the Sunday concert (it's being played as I write this) because the rehash is always more comfortable and committed, but I enjoyed that which I could and I remain Covid-correct.  Thanks to all and hope it's going well right now.

Musica da Camera string orchestra performed Vivaldi, Whitacre, Boccherini and Piazzolla under Lizzy Collier (director) with soloist Andrew Blanch (guitar).

Discoveries

Our travelling circus reformed for the last of this year's concert weekends and again it was a great pleasure. And, I trust the audience considered it a musical success. This time, we featured visiting soloist Rowan Phemister on harp for a Handel concerto and a Debussy pair of dances. Yes, a varied pair, with the order of Handel and the C20th impressionism of Debussy. The Debussy was a pair of dances, Danse sacrée & Danse profane, so not obviously danceable in any contemporary sense. The other works were for the string orchestra, more Debussy and a Sibelius and one work that is another unusual find, perhaps not otherwise on the Net, that had one of our members converting the score in Sibelius from the hand-written part: Castrucci Concerto grosso op.3 no.4. Castrucci is largely unknown today, but Hogarth caricatured him and he studied with Corelli and played with Handel. He was a Roman violin virtuoso living in London. It surprises me that these discoveries remain, but they are not particularly rare given lots of hand-written music in store. The more obscure are in various libraries; ours was just a scanned handwritten score on IMSLP. So, another successful and satisfying Musica da Camera concert series, first up in Cook then reprised in Cooma for a small audience.

Musica da Camera performed Handel, Castrucci, Sibelius and Debussy in Cook and Cooma under under Rosemary Macphail (conductor) with soloist Rohan Phemister (harp).

Double barrelled

I don't like weapon references, but this is too good to miss. Musica da Camera has just played one of its weekend concert pairs and the country segment was a Gunning. Thus double barrelled. Lenny chose the music, as musical director, and conducted. This was our last concert with Lenny before his further studies overseas. Katia Beaugeais, Selmer artist saxist and Sydney Con composition lecturer, provided our original for the day, first recorded by ACO Collective for ABC, none-the-less. Helena Popovich soloed on our recomposed Seasons. Tim Lamble recorded the Saturday (Cook) concert for ArtSound (expect that sometime in coming months). The music was delightful and varied and modern. First up was Arensky Variations on a theme by Tchaikovsky. Lovely and eminently doable. Variations are an interesting exercise in classical music. Then Katia's Like snowdrops you will shine. This was deceptively challenging with its odd syncopations over changing time signatures (mainly 5/4) and pentatonics with a gull-call finish of harmonic slides. This was quite a challenge on day 1 but reasonably settled on day 2. It's a glorious, soft, heart warming piece dedicated to hospital staff and celebrating their good work. Lovely. Then the long work, Max Richter Four seasons recomposed. This was a hit of the CIMF a few years back: all minimalism and drones with odd, changing times as features and the well-known melodies peeking through. An impressive and convincing and often mesmerising reworking of the standard. Helena did a great job on the most demanding of parts. Again, an artistic and intellectual pleasure to play with Lenny and Helena and the MdC crew, and to feature Katia and such interesting new music.

Musica da Camera performed Arensky, Beaugeais and Richter at Cook and Gunning. Leonard Weiss directed (conductor), Helena Popovic (violin) soloed. Katia Beaugeais (composer) attended both outings. Tim Gamble (recordings) recorded for ArtSound.

Courting

High courting. It was the second recent performance of Musica da Camera in the High Court Foyer and it was a great success. Barbara J Gilby led us and I had Hayley Manning next to me in the bass end. It's strange how a musician can be non-committal about a performance. It's a hard judge. You judge by your own performance on the day and how you felt you fitted with others. I was reasonably happy but not ecstatic. But the comments were overwhelmingly supportive and the attendance was massive. Perhaps the killer test is the donation bowl on the way out and that was overflowing. And it was recorded by ArtSound and me: an undeniable test for the performers. Suffice to say that on listening back, we were very happy with the result. My guess is that within the bubble (to use the current misleading vernacular) we are intimately involved, deeply committed, immensely aware. On the outside, the slight imprecisions meld together in the multiplicity of a group, and with a bit of reverb and visual presence, it becomes a thing of beauty and music. That's certainly what it sounded like to me in the recording: intense, intelligent, deliberate; even tuneful, musical. That's enough for me. That's one to be proud of. A beautie!

Musica da Camera string orchestra performed under the directorship of BJ Gilby (violin) at the High Court. Bottom end was Hayley Manning and Eric Pozza (basses).

See a video on YouTube

A different experience

This was a concert by my string orchestra, Musica da Camera, and I was in the audience. It was a strange and lesser experience but inevitable. We went off to Europe, arriving back just the day before, so no time for preparation and Roger replaced sat in. The program was of "favourites", a term that has been used before for concerts led by a member. Not that the tunes are insignificant. This program included concerti by Vivaldi and Corelli and various shorter works by Elgar, Massenet, Sibelius, Delibes, Dvorak, Monti and Strauss. There were some serious faves here, though, with visiting young student Chantelle Bennett soloing on Massenet Mediation from Thais, a tune which is ridiculously well known, and everyone sitting in (read, clapping) for Strauss Radetsky March. It's interesting to see how involving is some activity, in this case, clapping along. The Strauss ended the program and had everyone livid with joy by the end. Obviously, it's another that everyone knows and it's an earworm. Elgar Salut d'amour was like that, too, although made no call for audience participation. This is a great little string orchestra and no less this day. There were a string of soloists (the Vivaldi concert was for four violins) and even an arrangement by leader Gillian. Some great, popular, memorable music and some committed playing, not least by Rosemary who sweated through a series of solos and features in the concert master's chair (standing). So, much enjoyed although I must admit I would have preferred to be playing.

Musica da Camera performed a concert of string orchestra favourites at Cook. Gillian Bailey-Graham (conductor) led the group with a string of soloists including Rosemary Macphail, Jocelyn James, John Dobson, Heng Lin Yeap and Chantelle Bennett (violins). Roger Grime (bass) sat in at the low end.

Again

Day 2 was Goulburn. The cathedral was cold but ended up pleasantly well attended. The acoustics were rich and full even if the space was large and hearing Louise out front was not so easy. It was presumably different for the audience, under a cathedral roof with timber and stone and a replete reverb. The first notes we played were lovely but the temperature played havoc with bows and rosin. It wasn't just me: one long-experienced player mentioned a similar thing, that her instrument didn't perform so well in the cold. But it all went well and by the end I was glowing with smiles. I felt we were a little tentative for the arias, given we couldn't hear so easily, but later more unrestrained for the louder Mozart symphony no.40. Again, the program was bliss to play. Again, it was a massive privilege and pleasure to accompany Louise and always satisfying to be led by Lenny. By the end, the reception by the audience was great and we left contented after a very busy but pleasing weekend. The music was great and its reception was satisfying but there was an element of sadness: to see such a grand building in such disrepair. It's a common refrain that the Church has money, in Australia or otherwise. Yes, it has property and the Vatican Museums are bulging, but I'm not sure how much direct income, and despite failings, it does worthy work. Here are a few pics to show just that, along with our amusing Stonehenge just outside Canberra. But now a break from my own playing for a while and let's see what I can find to report for CJ in other places.

Musica da Camera performed Mozart and a series of opera arias at the St Peter & Paul Catholic Cathedral in Goulburn. Leonard Weiss (conductor) directed and Louise Page (soprano) sang.

Falling in love

I'm not the first to fall in love with Mozart and I'm sure I've enjoyed him immensely before, but playing his Symphony no.40 with Musica da Camera was an emotional high. It's such a fabulous work, with such intrigue and unexpected variation and sometimes surprisingly modern phrasing and outlandish energy and the rest. I was stunned. And this was just the second half. Before interval was a series of opera arias with our Canberra diva, Louise Page, out front with the orchestra often hanging off Lenny's baton when the time goes vocal-led rubato. Louise is such a convincing performer and her voice so intimate and apt, but you don't appreciate all the art as you accompany. You have other things to do; your listening in accompaniment is different from the listening of a concert goer. But this was a hugely satisfying concert and we get to do it all again, this time in Goulburn, as is the way with the paired concerts of MdC. A deeply satisfying Saturday outing despite smelly flowers and the rest.

Musica da Camera performed Mozart and a series of opera arias at Cook. Leonard Weiss (conductor) directed and Louise Page (soprano) sang.