And now to party

After the period-piece Albert Hall, the final CIMF concert at Llewellyn seemed so big. It was. It was also a big social event. It’s the end of a fabulously successful and challenging festival. Volunteers and attendees and musos were tired but elated. Everyone was invited back for drinks after, but I imagine it’s the musos who are colleagues at a distance who particularly enjoy the knees up. They have done 10 days of many performances with limited rehearsals. It’s a hard slog, but a worthy one.

The final event visited UK and US and linked their democratic institutions to the nascent Canberra. Marion appeared again. Walter appeared to read the words of Lincoln later in the night. We were reminded of Britain’s parliamentary traditions and the US’s federation and written constitution, and how both are represented in our Washminster mix. Perhaps we could say that Australia is an early postmodern democracy, being as mixed as it is.

First music was Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to music, written mid-Century. This was an orchestra with numerous voices singing an ode to music but with the common sadness of the period of post Great War and Depression and end of Empire and the intellectual Communist challenge and incipient fascism and the rest. Some great singing here, although only snippets. The comparison of ~10 singers as solo voices was interesting, even if each singer just got a phrase of two. Then Elgar’s Cello Concerto. Pieter Wispelway returned with Roland Peelman conducting. There was some impressive playing here: virtuoso solo cello passages leading to explosive responses by the full orchestra, then back to the quieter solo instrument. Wispelway is all passion and character. There’s obvious huge technique but to my ears he privileged expression. So he should. Quite wonderful.

The second half, the US half, was my preference. First was Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait with our fantasy Walter Burley Griffin reading quotes from Lincoln. Everyone knows some of these; I didn’t know all. They were embedded with introductory lines about his place of birth and similar. What a glorious piece of clear democratic rhapsody. “Fellow, citizens, we cannot escape history” or “That government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish for the Earth”. Lofty thinking. I was wondering how comfortable he would be with the modern US. As they say of history, this is a different world. To finish, John Adams’ Dharma at Big Sur. It’s quite the antithesis to the romanticism of Elgar. This is mysterious and environmental and rambling with the cello like a character in the bush as night. All expressive virtuoso playing against clicks and squeals and pizzicato and swells and occasional dissonance. Pieter seemed to lighten up after this, speaking to the audience, and replaying the 2nd movement. He admitted being uncomfortable with the first take (although impressive). This second take was much stronger and was a pleasing end to the concert and the festival.

Then a few speeches to finish it all off, and all that’s left is to party.

What to say of perfection?

What is there to say about someone like Pieter Wispelway performing Bach cello suites? Just a single guy on stage flanked by a couple of reflective panels. He’s an international recording artist who’s known for these very works. The works themselves are profoundly satisfying. Wispelway must have played them a zillion times. They say he knows them so well that every time is a new interpretation. His skills are easy and immense. From the point of view of a bassist, I could admire his thumb positions and his firm fingers and purposeful and changing hand shape and his intonation and some rabidly quick playing and some nicely purposeful vibrato and his memory. I don’t do bow, but that seemed glorious, so the deep notes powered through and any note could be pure and resonant or biting and edgy. We are watching a master and they make it look easy. I was learning of the structure of these works. He played Bach Cello suites no.4,5,6 in Ebmaj, Cmin and Dmaj. He had earlier played no.1,2,3 at another concert. Each lasted about 30mins. Each was structured with a prelude followed by various dance movements: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Bouree 1 & 2 and Gigue. Suffice to say the tunes all become inevitable and the interpretation becomes like conversation when played by someone like this, and like conversation it changes. It’s not that his interpretation was without question. He played with time, played with virtuosity. I‘ll give it to him: I don't really know the works well enough to be distressed. But others didn’t come at his irreverence so easily. On stage, he was short and sweet. He appeared, played one suite, bowed, left the stage, returned, played another… finally bowed, left the stage, returned for an encore of the most famous prelude from No.1 in G major then bowed and left. So it was rather business-like as an entertainer/performer, but brazenly virtuosic as a musician. Great to see a master at work.

Pieter Wispelway (cello) performed the Bach Cello Suites no.4 in Eb major, no.5 in C minor and no.6 in D major at the Albert Hall for the Canberra international Music Festival.