Revisiting youth

I've enjoyed my last few years playing in orchestras but I really thought I'd left my run for the Canberra Youth Orchestra a little late. But no! Last night I played with CYO in Carmina Burana! I joked about that with someone and they commented on the interchangeability of orchestras in Canberra. Perhaps because we are a smallish community where people have common connections and are physically mobile and flexible. Also that we are pretty well endowed with classical opportunities. I hope this lasts. At least last night, the complete viola and bass sections were friends or alumni. And they often just drop in at the last minute. I only sat in Friday night and Saturday morning before the performance on Saturday night. But it's quite readable for bass and I'd played it before. Not sure the singing was so easy. Canberra Choral Society provided most of that and they performed a treat. There were less frequent kids voices from the Canberra Children's Choir and some accompanying aged voices from Seasoned Voices. That was fascinating: the two ends of a singer's life represented in these mediaeval words put, fairly recently, to music (Carl Orff wrote Carmina Burana in the 1930s using mediaeval texts). Plus there were solo singers, soprano Rachael Duncan, tenor Tobias Cole and baritone Andrew O'Connor. They impressed massively, not least Rachael's glorious and touching resolution with the endless (8 bar+) sustained high note and Tobias' black boa and matching theatricality. The choir had been prepared by Dan Walker and he sang amongst the tenors. Otherwise, there was the CYO itself with its friends and alumni. Great job by them and all. I sat by the percussion and they were wondrously varied and sharp. The winds did a great job with their features. The basses done good, too. I'm pleased to notice my own improvement over recent years. I played CB with NCO in July 2016 but I felt far more in command this time. That's a personal satisfaction. And again Lenny is passing a baton: this was his last concert with CYO before going off to study in Baltimore. And perhaps just one oddity to mention: a classical concert with no interval, just the uninterrupted Carmina. This was a great pleasure and a wonderfully evocative and successful rendition of this popular classic.

Carmina Burana was presented by Canberra Youth Orchestra, Canberra Choral Society, Canberra Children's Choir and Seasoned Voices with soloists Rachael Duncan (soprano), Tobias Cole (tenor) and Andrew O'Connor (baritone) under Leonard Weiss (conductor) and Dan Walker (chorus master). The bass section was Hayley Manning (principal), Kyle Daniel, Chelsea Kennett and Eric Pozza.

Uplifting and downcasting

It was a small space for a decent audience and even a smaller one for SCUNA and orchestra and soloists to perform three majestic Handel Coronation anthems and Mozart Requiem. It all deserved more. The Handel is irredeemably satisfying and grand and uplifting. The Requiem is hugely intriguing as well as touching and a little confusing. The confusion is around how much is original Mozart and I've been amused to find out how many people have tried to remedy this. The original completion was by Mozart's young student Sussmeyer and that's the one we generally hear; this completion was by extant US musicologist Richard Maunder; Wikipedia lists 13 others. Maunder removes a few Sussmeyer parts and adds a rediscovered Amen fugue and makes some other changes. The added fugue was obvious enough, but the removed sections weren't. There were also changes to Lacrymosa which were obvious enough. But the overall work was similar and the early movements appeared unchanged (including to the note level for the bass line that I mostly know). So, interesting and occasionally surprising but essentially familiar. This is a big program and choir, orchestra and soloists did a good job on it if there were some little discomforts. Sometimes, this was interpretation, like when I felt the pace was a bit slow, a function of the audience's recall of a piece. There were some glorious passages in the Mozart. I especially enjoyed the two soloist extremities - soprano and bass - on this outing, and the very neat and capable bottom end of the orchestra - cellos and basses. Again, my attention coming to bear. I also particularly enjoyed the brass, which had such a role in this outing, and the timpani which seemed particularly effective and prominent in this small space. But what a great night of truly great music with the intellectual rigour that Lenny brings to his craft. Wonderful outing.

The ANU Choral Society (SCUNA) with orchestra and soloists performed Handel and Mozart at Wesley Church under Leonard Weiss (conductor). Anthony Smith (organ) accompanied and soloists were Rachael Duncan (soprano), Janene Broere (alto), Charles Hudson (tenor) and Andrew Fysh (bass).

SCUNA as in Erewhon

It was Bob who said: “Thank god for undergraduate humour” and I had to agree. SCUNA, of course, is the ANU Choral Society spelt backwards, and we were at Llewellyn Hall for SCUNA performing Mozart’s Requiem with the National Capital Orchestra and various vocal soloists. The program was a big one. The first half started and ended with movements from Mozart’s Symphony no.25 in G minor with a few arias from Don Giovanni (oh, the cad!) and the Magic Flute (cute Papageno) in between. Megan knew the symphony, so found the structure a bit strange, but the music was attractive. For the first half, the singers were soprano Rachael Duncan and baritone Benjamin Connor. They presented interesting personalities on stage. Benjamin acted the part with operatic corniness that fitted the bill. Rachael was just herself, beaming throughout and so obviously enjoying the performance. Impressive singing on both parts, but I particularly liked Rachael’s strong and full voice although the vibrato was a little too much for my tastes. But this is not my culture.

The main part of the night was the Requiem. The orchestra reappeared, as did a choir of about 90 singers and the front line of soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and bass. And the sounds from the top were glorious. I’d been reading the discussion on who wrote what (Mozart died after writing very little and the work was finished by his student Süssmayr), and an interesting online discussion on playing the trombone parts in the Tuba mirum, and I’d had a good listen to a CD the previous week. So I found the work reasonably familiar, the repeating themes and the lines moving through the SATB chorus, and the occasional harmonies amongst the solo singers. Interesting also to hear Latin as a sung language, although it’s not surprising given it’s a mass.

Obviously, there were some weaknesses. I guess the soloists are paid, but the orchestra is a community orchestra and thus hobbyists, even if committed ones, and so is the choir. The NCO’s intonation was occasionally suss, and the instrumental balance was presumably subject to availability (poor Elizabeth Collier had a hard time as the one double bassist and I could seldom make her out). A bit more confidence all round would have served well and given a less reticent performance. But I admire the obvious work and the performance and the orchestra itself. We are blessed to have such institutions. I felt very comfortable with the four soloists, and particularly enjoyed the four intermingling lines later in the piece. They were capable and well voiced. SCUNA was also impressive. I felt their performance had a clarity and passion worthy of the piece. I wonder if they also suffer from a lack of balance. Lots of sopranos and altos, but fewer basses and even fewer tenors. They tell me that tenors are notoriously hard to find.

It was a wonderful night. The music was pleasant and popular in the first half and profound in the second. The musicians and singers were capable and committed. And the audience was on side. The ANU Choral Society (SCUNA) and National Capital Orchestra were conducted by Philip Hartstein at Llewellyn Hall in a program called the genius of Mozart, featuring Mozart’s Requiem. The soloists for the arias were Rachael Duncan (soprano) and Benjamin Connor (Baritone). The soloists for the Requiem were Pamela Andrews (soprano), Ellen Malone (mezzo-soprano), Robert Shearer (tenor) and Daniel Brinsmead (bass).