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.

Rustic folk

Of faeries and fools was the title of this concert and I could see the reference clearly in at least 3 pieces.  The sounds were different as the musical combinations were different and to some degree as the styles were different, but the performances were consistently impressive.  The works dated from after Grimm's Fairy tales (1812) and carried on some of the influences.  First up as Schumann with a clarinet trio (Oliver Shermacher, James Wannan nad Roland Peelman on clarinet, viola and piano) just stunningly sharply played all round.  Then piano (Roland again)and two vocals (sopranos Susannah Lawergren and Anna Fraser ) for Dvorak Moravian duets.  Now this reminded me of Schubert songs and that's a strange style to my ears, dated both in musical form and lyrical themes.  The lyrics were translated to English and projected behind.  I could only chuckle at the dated love songs.  But that's that style.  The singing and piano were great though.  Perhaps better without the meanings?  Then an interval and a ridiculously funny Janacek Nursery rhymes in Czech language.  Again lyrics translated and projected and and the absurdity was a delight.  Luminescence played this with James Wannan and Ronan Apcar.  Then to finish, a much larger ensemble playing Katz-Chernin Village idiot, a work in 5/4 variously 3-2 and 2-3 and a collapse of time at the end.  This was a much larger group with a Alma Moodie string quartet and Jacques Emery on bass and others including e-pno and e-guitar and piano accordion and percussion.  So a very different , more modern and humourous take.  A great finish.

Schumann, Dvořák, Janáček and Kats-Chernin were performed at the Fitters Workshop variously by James Wannan (viola), Oliver Shermacher (clarinet), Susannah Lawergren and Anna Fraser (soprano), Roland Peelman and Ronan Apcar (pianos), Theo Carbo (electric guitar), Fletcher Cox (trumpet), Jackson Bankovic (trombone), Aidan Gabriels (horn), Veronica Bailey (percussion), Alister Price (accordion), Jacques Emery (double bass), Luminescence Chamber Choir and Alma Moodie Quartet.

9 into 3 does go

There are 9 current Wesley music scholars and they were to perform at the final Wednesday lunchtime concert for the year but Covid intervened. The revised program had 3 performers!  Not sure it was all from Covid.  Nonetheless, the result was satisfying and really very interesting.  First up was Jess Hill playing a movement of a Haydn trumpet concerto.  That was interesting as a solo trumpet performance and lovely for the classical tone.  Then some inventive stuff from Yona Su playing two contemporary Australian solo viola pieces, strangely similar in technicalities, I thought.  The second was accompanied by a digital drone as a brush with electronica.  Then Ronan Apcar performed perhaps his last gig before he goes to Melbourne and ANAM (congratulations).  Ronan played two of eight etudes from Nikolai Kapustin, hugely busy with jazz chords and extrapolations and fully transcribed but to all intents jazz.  Apparently NK used to import US jazz records into Russia pre-WW2.  Then, interestingly, a take on Brad Mehldau When it rains, partly a reading of a transcription from the Net of the solo components and partly a transcription by Ronan of the strings and other accompaniments.  Fascinating and extravagant for the extensions and substitutions and the like.  So an end to the Wesley lunchtime concerts for this year with a small but effective concert.

Jess Hill (trumpet), Yona Su (viola) and Ronan Apcar (piano) performed at Wesley.

Thanks, Nugget

Andrea Keller was in Canberra for her ANU HC Coombes Fellowship and she presented a gig at the Drill Hall Gallery.  Her generosity was evident with its structure, featuring her trio with John and Miro but also with short features from three ANU student pianists, each displaying their skills and works.  The title of her concert says it all: New collaborations.  Andrea's trio played two sets including several new compositions from the Flicker series, Flickers no.2,3,4,5 and Carefree daze, Cobourg  and Hope in the thing with feathers (Andrea) and Peace please (a masterpiece by Miro). These were virtuosic presentations, clear pianistic accompaniments or intros and with clarity in solos truly to die for.  This was lucid with no bass or drums filling space, just master musicians speaking to open and live air.  The Drill Hall reverb worked a treat in this format.  I was taken aback by the beauty of some passages, clear and open as they were.  To hear how John could investigate a tune, calm and searching and occasionally explosive, was a thing of wonder and so evident in this format; the clarity of expression and harmony of Miro and John as a pairing showed their long history; Andrea leading, introducing, accompanying, ever clear and evocative, ever decisive and gently stated.  Then the three younger pianists, students or recently so, from a mix of classical and jazz backgrounds but essentially in a jazz idiom, if more latin than bebop.  Elliot Kozary played Estate and Blue in green.  Caleb Campbell played a his Spinning wheel, an improv on recurrent motion, and a major work, originally written in 11 parts and here reduced to solo piano, somewhat biographical, called Drift.  Ronan Apcar claimed a more classical background, playing an improv on folk Armenian tones, dark and deep, and a take on Brad Mehldau When it rains.  Truly a stunning concert and a thing of great beauty.

Andrea Keller (piano) led a trio with John Mackey (tenor) and Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, flugelhorn) at the Drill Hall Gallery.  Elliot Kozary, Caleb Campbell and Ronan Apcar (piano) presented solo pieces.

End meets beginnings

It was the last Wednesday lunchtime concert of the year at Wesley and the Scholars were out.  I hadn't realised how large is the group.  This concert featured 10 players of various instruments (including one voice).  They played in various combinations, Bach, Holst, Rachmaninoff and Halvorsen but also Jimmy van Heusen and even an original by one of the performers.  Pianist Ronan had written a rhythmically exploratory piece called Cogs as a study of machinery to be played by him on piano with flautist Emma.  That was impressive and quite unusual in the classical field.  As for the jazz, it was still done in a classical style, but I noticed a change of presence for that number after a Schubert-like song from vocalist Elsa.  Maybe to be expected; she was singing in English about love.  And plenty of long arpeggiated flourishes in accompaniment.  I spoke to pianist Martin after and it turns out he's a jazz student; so was trumpeter Jess.  Interesting crossovers here but no longer at all unusual.  Jess had also played some Bach cantatas with oboist Zoe.  Who had also played with... And so it went on.  They were an impressive and capable bunch.  I noticed specially on a rendition of Holst St Pauls suite mvt 1, which I am sure I've played slower.  This take was lively and rollicking and quick.  Then there's the violinist pair of Anika and Brad who displayed  wonderful communication on the Halvorsen, then joining with cellist James and violist Yona for that Holst then again Zoe and Elsa for another Bach.  And then at least one performer doubled up, violinist Brad taking to piano to accompany James.  Sound confusing?  Lots of names and lots of changes but also lots of very capable playing.  I was mightily impressed.  Not sure what their training is, or what they get from the Wesley Scholars program, but our music future is looking to be in very able hands.  At year's end we hear our future.

This year's Wesley Music Scholars performed a Wednesday lunchtime concert at the Music Centre.  The scholars were Anika Chan (violin), Brad Tham (violin), James Munro (cello), Yona Su (viola), Zoe Loxley Slump (oboe), Elsa Huber (voice), Jess Hill (trumpet), Martin Magill (piano), Emma Warburton (flute, piccolo), Ronan Apcar (piano, composition).

Cups runneth over

There was a bounteous plenitude of performers at Wesley when the Scholars presented.  Not all Scholars, but 6 is lots in 40 minutes, and they were a capable lot.  Core was possibly Bernice Chua who was accompanist for both Zoe Loxley Slump and Yona Su, oboe and viola.  They swapped a little with Zoe playing two shortish Saint Saens movements, then Yona a longer Alfred Hill movement, then Zoe returning for a short Oboe tango.  Then a change of all, with Emma Warburton playing a flute on Reinecke with accompaniment by Ronan Apcar.  So a mix of performers and styles and very well received.  Bernice is now studying performance in Salzburg but I think the others are all advanced students at the School of Music.  Whatever, it was a fascinating mix of tones and composers and exposure to some seriously upcoming artists.  Two are to join the winter academy at the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra; another was performing for Megan and CIMF that very night at Ainslie Arts Centre.  That was Ronan, but he might just be a Scholar ring-in pm the day.  Either way, busy all round and impressive and it all bodes well.  Much enjoyed.

Zoe Loxley Slump (oboe), Yona Su (viola), Emma Warburton (flute), Bernice Chua and Ronan Apcar (piano) performed as Wesley Scholars at Wesley.

Vintage

Electronic music synthesizers have a fairly short history even if they are now omnipresent. I still remember first seeing a MiniMoog and an Arp Odyssey but they were from the '70s. The earliest synths were from shortly after WW1. The theremin is perhaps best remembered. It was a weirdly bending sine curvy instrument used in scifi films of the time. Didn't it feature in Forbidden Planet with Robbie the Robot? Also of that era were some veritable electronic synths, the French Onde Martenot and the German Trautonium. I drove an onde martenot with its performer, Nadia Ratsimandresy, after one CIMF but never heard the instrument. I didn't miss the Trautonium played by Peter Pichler at the School of Music. Peter was touring Australia from Europe. The event was a lecture recital, so we learnt of the instrument, strange and otherworldy as it is, were introduced to the developers and composers and heard solo and accompanied performance. Peter is classically trained; this was not pop (Radiohead has used the Trautonium) although it was varied and he touched on techno. Mostly he played classically-composed music, not least Hindemith Concerto for Trautonium and strings (1931) and Genzmer Sonata for Trautonium and piano (1949), but he also added some live soundtrack accompaniment to Hitchcock The Birds and Metropolis and Dr Caligari. I bought the CD (limited edition 80/100 copies for the Australian tour) and it includes some truly incredibly authentic kookaburras. It's an unusual instrument but not excessively strange these days, given the commonness of electronic sounds. In its days, on German radio, with its own performance shows, it must have been revolutionary. Certainly, it sounded big and full and fat, although this was with modern amplification. Even speakers were different then: their history is not so different. We were informed of the sawtooth waveforms, the non-tempered chords and individual controls of notes, the unique keyboard (a wire touched to a metal plate); the immense dynamics that were possible with a technology he couldn't travel with; the displaced speakers and noise generator and fat orchestral octave sounds. It was used for 300 film scores. Perhaps my favourite were the piano-accompanied pieces, where the trautonium took on a string-like solo role but with massively divergent tonalities. Peter was very well accompanied by local student Ronan Apfer. The trautonium is a rare instrument and a thing of history, but it's huge-toned and fascinating in its ability to slide notes, portamento, and manage noise and has those odd chordal sounds that clash but intrigue and can change tones within and during notes. And more. Synths have come a long way and are immeasurably cheaper but this was fascinating and a great, unexpected pleasure.

Peter Pichler (trautonium) gave a public lecture-recital at the ANU School of Music. Accompaniment was by Ronan Apcar (piano).