Salut

Salut can mean both hi and bye in French and it's a greeting between family and friends so it's apt for Salut! Baroque, partly for the intriguing invitations to the musics of composers or places or purposes that S!B explore in their programming and explain in their programs.  This concert was Bohemian Rhapsody.  We read of the first rhapsodies for piano composed by a Bohemian Vaclav Tomasek; of the relevant geographic area; of the manufacturing and trade links that associated with movement of arts and music through Prague, Vienna, Krakow, Leipzig, Venice and more; of the Defenestration of Prague and the Thirty Years War; of the Hapsburg Empire and the Peace of Westphalia; of the relationships of Bohemian, Venetian, Veronese and Viennese composers and the nature of the musician's life in court.  All fascinating, leading to a program of Biber and Vivaldi, and Zelenka, Bertali, Fox, Caldara, Schelzer, Fischer, Jiranek and Brentner.  There are many new  or lesser known names: a concert by S!B is nothing if not inquisitive.  And pretty, ordered, danceable, dignified, even suggestive and so well played by strings, harpsichord, recorders, theorbo and the like.  This is music that was new at the time, now played from the past, but very much a part of our musical development and so often just delightful and courtly.

Salut! Baroque performed at Wesley.  S!B comprised Sally Melhuish and Anitra Blackburn (recorders), Rachael Beesley and Julia Russoniello (violins), Marianne Yeomans and Brad Tham (violas), Tim Blomfeld (bass violin), Jude Hill (bass), George Wills (guitar, theorbo) and Monika Kornel (harpsichord).

Inversions

I'm pretty sure that the Romantic era came after the Classical era, but for the sake of a great initialism, I can fully understand the inversion.  The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO) came to Albert Hall and we were there.  They have been around ~10 years but only first visited Canberra late last year, so this is an early relationship.  What got me was how big this group was.  I'd expected perhaps a smaller group from the full ensemble, but no, they were ~40 players, all with their period instruments, for ARCO is a HIP group in the sense of Historically Informed Performance, meaning they seek to inform themselves of the styles and sounds and approaches of musicians of the era and play thus.  I guess they succeeded.  Certainly the music sounded more soft and mellow with gut strings and early winds and brass.  And the conductor was playing along with all, so there was a gentleness and consistency from all having to feel the rhythm that bit more personally.  But I was particularly interested in bassist Pippa Macmillan with her impressive history and some previous contacts and her residence now in Australia.  She was seriously impressive, all commitment and top-of-beat speed in fast passages and strong pizz from a Cremonese bass and that cream wood, strongly arched, underhanded period (baroque? viol?) bow.  But there were a string of friends and acquaintances and faces from other ensembles to follow and the 40-part whole to imbibe.  The program was named Midsummer dreams, with Mendelssohn Midsummer night's dream overture and Beethoven Symphony no.8 (Fmaj op.83)  and Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony (no.3 Amin op.56).  The Mendelssohn appealed to me most, despite Beethoven's pride in his no.8.  B8 was more varied and challenging but the Mendelssohn was just so lyrical and picturesque and lovely.  It seemed to fit this format of period instruments in a smallish hall with a smallish audience.  And what a pleasure that was!  It's not too often you can experience a seriously capable orchestra of so many players with period instruments in such close proximity.  Albert Hall is somewhat like the rectangular European concert halls but this is smaller and closer for all.  So, a great pleasure to hear such music so well played in such intimate surroundings.  Seriously lovely.

The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO) performed Mendelssohn and Beethoven at Albert Hall.  Rachael Beesley (violin) conducted and Pippa MacMillan and Chloe Ann Williamson (bass) provided the bottom end.

Salut chooks

Salut! Baroque had me thinking of a few things at their concert last night at Albert Hall. Firstly, about the history of music. This is music played with informed authenticity in the period tradition, all harpsichords and recorders and baroque instruments. They must have been an early incarnation of this practice in Australia. S!B are in their 22nd year. But what gets me is the olde sound against the dates of the composers: several were extant in the 1600s and one in the 1500s, but a good few only died in 1770 or thereabouts. JS Bach died before this, but he's somewhere in this ballpark for music and Mozart's short life was around this time, but Beethoven was born in 1770 and he's worlds away. For this, I read that various conceptions of music existed contemporaneously and change can be quick. It may not have looked like that at the time. Thinking of today, there's something pretty similar, with all manner of musics being played and even written. So it is in all art, I guess. The other thing I notice is the bowing and the approach to bass, but that's about me and my learning. But this was such a lovely concert, changing through varied combinations of players and associated sounds. The strings sounding fairly modern, the harpsichord spelling the gentler sounds of that era, the recorders sounding earlier again, but they all took similar roles at various times, with melodies passing to baroque cello or the three recorders taking melody and counterpoint roles, perhaps balancing against the strings. There was just one piece with three recorders alone, otherwise several with strings and harpsichord and with various combinations of recorders. And one with harpsichord and a conversing pair of violins. I noticed one violinist with a jazz in his background (jazz in not totally forgotten here!). Rachael Beesley was leading on violin and she was a great pleasure, committed, expressive, leading. I enjoyed the informal presence of Monika Kornel on harpsichord who would twist from the stool to be able to follow Rachael's or others' leads. Such a great little concert, close and intimate, fairly quiet but expressive and even musically humourous in the last piece with the final movement Pour la caille (=For the chook). For the chook seems a strange name for a movement after the allegros and prestos and adagios of most of the other pieces, but the recorders' squawks or clucks fitted the title. A lovely and entertaining period concert that passed so easily. BTW, the theme was how we know about musical performance in this period - partly through the treatises by various of the composers, Quantz, Avison and others.

Salut! Baroque performed Avison, Corrette, Quantz, Ortiz, Biber, Geminiani, Mattheson, Rameau and Fux at Albert Hall. Performers were Sally Melhuish, Hans-Dieter Michatz and Alicia Crossley (recorders), Rachael Beesley, Rafael Font, David Rabinovici and Meg Cohen (baroque violins), Valmai Coggins (baroque viola), Tim Blomfield (baroque cello) and Monika Kornel (harpsichord).

Thanks to our friends

The ANU put on a big free show last year when it was under the hammer and they returned with another this year. The intention is different, presumably to showcase the continued existence and success of the School, but the context of massive change at the School is the same. Head of School, Peter Tregear, introduced this year’s concert as a gift to the Canberra Community and friends and he plans to make this an annual free gig. Great. The School of Music clearly has many supporters in Canberra. Many were horribly disappointed by changes last year, but Peter and others have been working valiantly to rebuild the School and they need the support of friends.

This was another mix of styles and ensembles, if not the extended potpourri of last year’s event. First was DRUMatix with soloist Sean Connaughton performing David Mancini’s Suite for solo drumset and percussion ensemble. How can you not love this? Infectious grooves, intervallic rubatos, rich tapestries of tone and even harmony and melody from the vibes and marimbas. And tubular bells, various latin percussions and timpanis. This was all convincingly performed, joyous and infusive, and Sean’s drum solo was interesting and of a nice length and surprisingly rocky in this classical percussion context, but that’s the nature of a group like this. DRUMatix presents a catholic array of sounds and rhythms. I’m sold. Then a welcome to country. Then the Jazz Ensemble playing an arrangement of Stolen Moments by Miro and Miro’s For Woody. These are two great tunes. Stolen moments was a surprise with a few added bars which stretch and settle this already cool tune. It was good to hear John’s tenor again and El’s violin (which is ever more satisfying) and guitar hidden in the back row. For Woody is a burner and the solos were shared widely: tenor and violin again, then trumpet, alto, drums, percussion. I don’t find Llewellyn is a generous acoustic for jazz, but this was enlivened and harmonically sweet in the heads. Nice.

The fine music followed the interval. The ANU Chamber Orchestra played and the ANU Chamber Choir sang under Peter Tregear’s baton. Calvin Bowman joined them for sinfonia and chorus from Bach’s Wir danken dir, Gott, BWV29. This is classic Bach oratorio material. Peter Tregear introduced it as written for the inauguration of the Leipzig Town hall and lamented our current alternatives. It didn’t seem hugely complex but it’s totally satisfying. I found strings and organ a bit unbalanced and the instrumentals somewhat lost in this large space, but it grew as the voices joined in. Bach is nothing but a pleasure. Then Handel’s Ode to Saint Cecilia’s Day, HWV76. Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of music, so this was also an ode to music. It was performed by Chamber Orchestra and Choir with singers Rachael Thoms (soprano) and Paul McMahon (tenor) and instrumentalists Rachel Beesley (orchestra leader), Virginia Taylor (flute) and Julia Janiszewski (cello). Handel combined text from Dryden with his dignified and sometimes majestic orchestration. This is a larger piece with numerous movements, variously dance-like, expectant, undemonstrative, joyous, stately, majestic, in three and four. Nicely done and especially involving at the end.

It’s been a very demanding year for the staff of the School of Music, even if it was quiet one in public. I’m hoping for a more publicly visible school over coming years. Ode to Music was performed by staff and students of the ANU School of Music. Performers were DRUMatix, ANU Jazz Ensemble, ANU Chamber Orchestra, ANU Chamber Choir, Calvin Bowman (organ), Rachael Thoms (soprano), Paul McMahon (tenor), Rachael Beesley (orchestra leader), Virginia Taylor (flute) and Julia Janiszewski (cello) led by Peter Tregear.