Awe

Whenever I mentioned Stravinsky or Firebird suite to someone they were awed. I was certainly challenged by Firebird, but nothing like its accompaniment, Prokofiev Violin concerto no.2. That was a doozy. All manner of changing counts and tempos and key signatures (6 sharps anyone?) and chromatics and maybe diminisheds. The associated naturals went down well. But NCO is a capable orchestra and we had energetic and supportive Musical director Louis Sharpe, and a wonderful and joyous soloist, Mia Stanton, and we had two warm-up pieces that were much more relaxed and shorter but still profound to warm up on. They were local compositions, by one of our horns, Thomas, and an arrangement by Sally of a lovely and quite profound short piece by Scriabin. There were some tricky bits and minor slip-ups and unsure timing in the bigger works but on the other side were the wonderfully expressive winds and the unflinching strings and percussion to drum the grooves into us. The orchestral layout was different, basses stage left (for the audience) and much bigger (recently grown to ~70 players including new ANUSOM students) and we got an unusually unimpeded view of the stunning lines from flutes and clarinets and the rest. It was a pleasure and a huge achievement when it was all over. We'd survived, even enjoyed, the rigours of the Prokofiev and pretty much laughed off the fears of Firebird. Thus are memories created. And as for memories, Louis and Alina have created their own memory recently. Congrats from CJ.

National Capital Orchestra performed Stravinski, Prokofiev, Thomas McConachie and Sally Greenaway / Scriabin at TheQ. Louis Sharpe (conductor), Mia Stanton (solo violin) performed.

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).

Two eyes, two ears

The Earshift Festival started tonight with Reuben Lewis.  Strangely it conflicted, to the minute, with Sally Greenaway's launch for her latest classical composition/single.  I did manage to catch both, just.  Neither had masses of music, which was an advantage.  I'd caught Sally's tune a few hours earlier on YouTube and it's up for more uninterrupted consideration for 72 hours, so that's to come.  As I write this, it seems that Reuben is still available to replay, so that will definitely be a revisit.  And the Earshift Fest will be around for the next 10 days and I hope to catch it all, or maybe just most.  Sally's was a composition for a chamber group comprising CSO players with spectacular technique playing an exploding latin-styled piece sounding all the world of Piazzola.  It was inspired by the Rio Olympics and explores human achievement, complete with a "mad dash to the finish line".  Drivingly rhythmic, latin melodicism and some great playing.  Loved this one.  Reuben was a huge treat too, but in a massively different way.  I must admit I was taken by the jazz chops and the tech presence of it all.  He played three parts, improvised, with his two doppelgangers appearing behind him: laying down pads on a Prophet 6 synth, on a laptop with Ableton toying with recorded snippets of drums and bass from his band, I hold the lion's paw (this last/second album has just won huge plaudits and national awards), and up front on trumpet with a deskful of effects as the third layer.  He played some startling licks on trumpet, so despite his clear love of the electonics, his more traditional skills were hugely satisfying.  But overall, a triumph.  I can have a personal preference, but that's just a measure of my current interests.  These were two very different streams of two very different musics and cultural awarenesses and I'll happily download a copy of each.  So that's my judgement.  A difficult but hugely satisfying half hour or so with demands for a revisit.

Sally Greenaway presented her latest single composition, Don’t Forget Your Music!  Reuben Lewis appeared as the opening concert of the streamed Earshift Festival, held in association with SIMA.

Doing the job, very satisfying

Professionalism is something I particularly notice and value. It's a response from musos who try hard at this stuff and realise how difficult it can be. Whatever, I see it in Steve Richard's bands and I enjoy it immensely. Steve was back with his quartet at Smiths with Steve's arrangements and just two practices under their belts and a sharp, neat presentation of some entertaining and varied materials. That's what professionalism is. His offsiders were Sally and Barney and Lauren. Lauren on tenor was new to me: jokingly, Steve called her his secret. Apparently, she's recently back from hotter climes. I particularly liked her on some cool Miles but she was consistently accurate and satisfying, spelling out charted melodies neatly and laying out some intriguing solos. I think of Sally primarily as a composer but she's a jazz pianist of note enriched by her composition training which is evident in her playing. It's a different conception: big and wide. She told me she thinks of parts, of a big band or orchestra. I could hear that complexity and fullness, in melodic and improvisational concept, but also in richness of expression. Truly a fascinating and rich picture. Barney on bass was just his professional best at reading and interpreting, but he let go in ways I haven't heard from him before, with chromatics and hammerons at speed that were thrilling but also harmonically intricate. And Steve. I've played with him and can only admire that calm visage that hides training and skills that express themselves in sharp and intelligently varied exploration of time, splitting beats into parts, then parts further, the neatest rudiments with tone and that joyful cowbell that he enjoyed so much on this gig. Apparently it's a new acquisition. We got a few laughs there; very much with not at him. And a great collection of tunes, from Bird through pop arranged in jazz ways, like Bad Plus-ish Everybody wants to rule the world and Sting and Mark Knoffler, through locals including tunes by Sally and Miro and a few drummers, Manu Katche and Bernard Purdy, into touches of contemporary and free from Stefon Harris. A fascinating collection but also entertaining and contemporary. Did I say I liked this outing? I did, very much.

Steve Richards (drums) led a quartet at Smiths with Lauren Thurlow (tenor), Sally Greenaway (piano) and Barnaby Briggs (bass).

As written

It was gloriously satisfying to hear Louse Page and Sally Greenaway in the cabaret act, direct from the Adelaide Fringe. It was a presentation of about a dozen songs called Louise and Sally do Tin Pan Alley, dedicated to the wondrous tunes that came from that street in NYC, 28th St between 5th and 6th Avenues. I strolled down there once but there's nothing much there now but memories. But what fabulous memories are the great tunes from theatre and film that spread to the world and formed much of the infrastructure of jazz over the decades. The Gershwins, Ellington, Arlen, Kern, Porter. I enjoyed this deeply for the tunes and their outwardly innocent but wickedly playful and aware lyrics but also for the performances. Louise presented with clarity and trained voice as only her training can muster and portrayed every word with clarity and insight. Sally was a dream. She's a composer so she knows alternatives better than most, picks them with wisdom and portrays them with training. I love the bebop turn-it-on-its-head approach too, but Sally could portray the tunes in their original voice then play with them in a clever but empathetic way that floored me, even down to the collapsed dissonances of one tune or the quotes from James Bond or Rhapsody in Blue or a string of tunes built on Rhythm changes, not least the Flintstones theme. I noticed that once before with another jazz gig she did. To some degree, all improvisers compose but not like a composer improvises. Huge pleasure. Then there was the story of the songs, the insertions of a few further inventions of Sally, a take on a Bach Two part invention (no.8, Fmaj) as rag time and an original from her Seven inventions show telling the story of the emergence of movies which works a treat. These are two wonderfully trained and experience musicians doing cabaret with real, deep class. Suffice to say, I was both floored and touched.

Louise Page (soprano) and Sally Greenaway (piano) presented their ode to the great American Songbook and its place of origin, Tin Pan Alley.

To Anaheim and places in between

Steve and his mates started in true jazz tradition with Moment's notice, a Coltrane standard, but this was a much more diverse performance: Sting and Scofield, Lyle Mays and Crowded House, Bobby Timmons and Jamiroquai, Todd Gustavsen and King Crimson. Steve noted the contrary derision between prog rock and jazz as overblown or pretentious ("they can't both be wrong") but played it anyway. Good. It gets in my history somewhere amongst the clarion call of Music to Midnight. I know Steve and Barney well from performing with them and hearing them around often so I had full expectation of great skills and sharpness and got it. I was floored at times with Barney's clever runs and some stupendous fills, and Steve's slick and deceptively easy rudiments and the rest. I didn't know Adam on alto and he was a pleasant discovery. Alto can be relatively shrill to the deeper tenor but, especially as he warmed up, I was taken by his quick chops, his clarity and precision, and his increasing softness of tone and phrasing. But it was Sally who was such a find on the night. We all know Sally well, of course, but I hadn't heard her play too often and especially not recently, and she's reputed as a composer and I think of her that way. But her playing was a revelation. Maybe it was the composer's vision, but her solos were glorious melodic displays, playful harmonic interludes, self-evidently structured, capably sequenced, richly vibrant and coloured. And then to spell her invention, Steve and Sally played an improvised duet, latterly named, at the gig, as Nigel's song. There was softness and tinkling start and finish, rolling handfulls of notes, cowboy grooves, Chinese snippets, funky stabs, C20th atonality, a quote from Caravan, this and more against toms and a snare without wires. Lots of possibilities; a composer's mind. Then a jazzer, You and the night and the music, the only American songbook excerpt despite a few jazz tunes, Moanin' and that Coltrane hit. And to finish it all, a Disney tune. Steve explained he'd got a 3-year old around the house so is aware of Disney songs. I don't so can't identify it but it was cute and cheerful as a final tune and just highlighting just how diverse this program was. Nice band, nice gig!

Steve Richards (drums) led his quartet with Adam Matthews (alto), Sally Greenaway (piano) and Barnaby Briggs (bass) at Smiths.

Inventions change us

It was a theatre piece about 7 great inventions of the modern industrial age and it finished by musing on the next seven, which has me wondering how they chose this seven. They were telecommunications, aviation & space frontier, advent of convenience (esp household appliances), the mechanical brain, massed world warfare, biomechanics and medical marvels and the advent of film. It's an interesting collection. I'm not a film buff, but they had me thinking there was justification in its inclusion. The performance featured one host, Dene Kermond as Harry Hawkins, with music written by Sally Greenaway and performed by the Syzygy Ensemble. Harry's a genial period person, dressed in fineries and arriving by Zeppelin, leading us through various inventions and implications and provoking both laughs and thoughts. I liked this. He reponded to a mate, Ziggy, , presumably in the Zeppelin, through Morse, and sometimes interacted with the largely mute musicians on stage. Mute ohter than for their performances, which were both musically satisfying and very nicely performed. So, a melange of ideas and text and music with real-world relevance. I liked it immensely with its steampunk presence and vivid filmic musical presence. And I was convinced: "great inventions change us ... what we do and how we think". Even for film, real but fanciful but serving to bring people and cultures together, to promote understanding. There was awareness of good and bad in all this, "horror and hope", as in the best of inventions from war, through being cruel to eachother. And of convenience that saves time, questioned when Harry quizzed on how much spare time the audience has. And I was fascinated that both spyglasses and cyborgs could be associated in that they both extend our abilities. Otherwise, the music. Syzygy comprised a sextet, piano, violin, cello, clarinet, flute, percussion. Largely inert on stage, other than playing, but sometimes reacting. The percussionist played the Morse-coding Ziggy. I have always mused that my grandfather saw the birth of flight to the landing on the Moon, and what a change that was. Now the moon landing is 50-years old (I remember gathering in a hall at school to watch it, ~2.30pm local time). Time passes. The technological goods and bads. Now we fear for the future and climate. So it goes on, until perhaps it doesn't. Entertaining and interesting show - it got me thinking.

7 Great Inventions of the Modern Industrial Age was performed at the Street Theatre. It was composed by Sally Greenaway, written by Magenius (Paul Bissett and Catherine Prosser), performed by Dene Kermond (Harry Hawkins) with music by Syzygy Ensemble.

Mike's history of music

Mike Dooley played me a take on Mozart a few years back at the Moruya Festival. It was mightily authentic to my ears and I guess a start on what turned into a composer's journey though music. We heard the full panoply the other night at All Saints. Mike had written pieces in various styles - baroque, early classical, late classical, romantic, modern - and gathered a string of excellent local players to perform and it was a stunning achievement. A Suite in A minor in 4 movements for the baroque, a Sonata in C major in 3 movements for early classical and so on through time. You get the idea. A folly, perhaps; a training exercise, probably; a tour de force, certainly. These were all works written for piano. The players were amongst the best in town: James Huntingford, Emily Leong, Aaron Chew, Andrew Rumsey, Sally Greenaway, Mike himself. I see my tastes changing as I'm playing and learning this music. I may have preferred baroque in the past but my faves for the night were late classical (Emily Leong) and Russian romantic Pilgrim fantasia (Aaron Chew). But the others were all well constructed and well played. I have a recording from the night but I wasn't alone: the conglomeration of mics and video was amusing. We can look forward to a video or clips, an ArtSound broadcast, a CD and perhaps more. Don't miss it. A stunning achievement of composition matched with admirable performances all round. All this at All Saints one Saturday evening late in November. Mmm, that suggests CDs under the Christmas tree.

Mike Dooley (composer) presented his original compositions in various "fine music" styles as Anachronisms : a composer's journey through time. Compostions were performed by James Huntingford, Emily Leong, Aaron Chew, Andrew Rumsey, Sally Greenaway and Mike Dooley (piano).

Tin Pan Sally

This was cool: a meeting of jazz and opera. Sally Greenaway on piano and Louise Page on soprano voice. It had a nifty title, too: Tin Pan Sally. They had performed at Merimbula Jazz Festival and Louise commented on the good time and the chance to be cool. It's a crossover; a different world. Louise also observed that the backing changes every time, but she dealt with it perfectly well. Jazz is like that. Sally displayed a chart and explained it's reharmonised and then improvised with substitutions and the like on the day. This was maybe new for a Wesley audience, but it all went down a treat. I loved the songs - Gershwin, Kern and the like - but I usually hear them as instrumentals. The words can be twee, but they can take on a strange romantic authenticity with the music and Sally and Louise got this. I particularly loved their takes on The man I love and Over the rainbow. Such attractive melodies, such trivial lyrics, but what a joy combined! Sally did a 5/4 instrumental take on Charlie Chaplin's fabulous Smile. I enjoyed hearing the seldom performed verses for several of these tunes (jazzers usually just play the AABA-or-other refrain). Even the term Verse as the introductory material was new to me. Thanks for that, Sally. Then Sally talked of merging two songs and proceeded to demonstrate with an enhanced My funny valentine as encore ("It's think it's quite fun ... hold on"). I guess this mix would have discombobulated both Merimbula and Wesley but they probably all enjoyed it immensely, just like I did. What a wonderful little romantic musical mutiny!

Sally Greenaway (piano) accompanied Louise Page (soprano vocals) at Wesley singing songs from Tin Pan Alley.

Two Salls

Sally Whitwell and Sally Greenaway performed for a special concert at the High Court. As Sally G said at the end, this is new music, composed by the two Sallys and performed with an array of very capable local performers.

First up was Sally Whitwell. She started with a solo piano piece, Reels, that floated then grew into heavy chords and rolling arpeggios then a call and answer between right and left hand, heavily spelt then lighter and quicker and responsive. Then Waltzing alone, pensive, and Road trip, recounting a trip along the coast north of Sydney, both duos of piano and violin. Winter love was Sally's first attempt at writing for string quartet, this time with piano; just gentle and lovely. Wicked Strings performed. Ad astra was performed with spoken and sung voice with cello and piano. It a lament to JS Bach recounting that three of his tunes were included on the sound recording with the Voyager spacecraft ( http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html ). (Sally quoted Carl Sagan: "We could have just had Bach but that would have been showing off"). Then Some world far from ours, responding to a poem by Shelley. Then two with the surprisingly impressive and young Luminescence Chamber Choir, Echo and To your shore.

Second was Sally Greenaway. First up was Stay awhile for piano and choir, here Luminescence in 8 parts (they are 8 singers), on responding to adversity, and Katrimba, written in three for marimba but arranged for piano, cello and violin. Then three musical poems on solo piano and a commission sung by bass baritone Richard Baker to the theme of a poem by Pierre Louys. Summer beckons was a lyrical pastoral piece with Barbara Jane Gilby on violin. Interesting that both Sallys performed a piece referencing seasons: Winter love and Summer beckons. The Feud was written to poetry by Tanya Kiermaier with seven short movements separated by little poems. Then a piece of real emotion, San luiz, telling a story of a difficult time - I found it the most touching - and a final Encore de lirico. Sally G shows her filmic training in her music: moody, emotional, fittingly accompanying other performance.

This concert was labelled as Australian Women Composers and it was that, but more. Both are Canberra bred; both have ABC label CDs, Sally W has several; this was new music, so composed now; not least, the accompaniment was great, from Wicked-Strings!Quartet, Luminescence Chamber Choir and several friends. This was a quality local concert in a lively space and always well attended. And with any luck, you will be able to hear it again: it was professionally recorded by Infidel Studios.

New films ACT

I must mark the release of two local films - The Competition and Locks of Love - because they are local, but mainly because some mates did the music for them. I'm not a film-goer but I caught one and will keep an eye out for the other.

Firstly, Locks of Love. This is the one I missed. I understand it will appear on TV for Valentine's Day and perhaps other times. It's a compilation of "11 tales by 11 storytellers linked by 1 gate", gathered around that romantic (but destructive and annoying) habit of putting padlocks on bridges to represent eternal love. See local scenery and places and hear musicians including Aron Lyon and Sally Greenaway. Also hear the gloriously poignant theme, Edge of time, in the film's trailer sung by Rachel Thorne and composed and accompanied by Mike Dooley. Mike and Rachel had to turn down a gig to attend the red carpet launch a few weeks back. Very cool. And congrats to Sally Greenaway as Musical Director for another labour of love.

Secondly, The Competition. This one I saw. It's described as "a warm-hearted story about following dreams" and it's true. It's gentle and touching and has an earthy truth about it. Nice. It's also been accepted for Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals so has some recognition. Steffie Waters is a singer living in the musically-endowed country town, Orgella Creek. Two ageing judges come to town and Steffie has to decide her future. Greg Stott is musical director and has several feature tunes and appears occasionally. As do a series of others that I recognise (James Luke, John Mackey, Dan McLean...) and quite a few Indie types that I recognise only by name. How's this as a feature list of the local indie scene: Dubba Rukki, Julia & The Deep Sea Sirens, Fire On The Hill, Casual Projects, Fuelers, Steve & Ray Amosa, Chanel Cole, Owen Campbell. Not great or deep, annoying for one period of hand-held camera, entrancing for a view of talented locals, challenging to determine the location (Gunning?), cute and nicely done and heartwarming but not totally syrupy. Just drop me off at the Sydney Con, because entry seems surprisingly easy.

Congrats to the teams who made the films, to the various musical performers, directors, composers and the rest, and to the ACT Government for ScreenACT which supports this current flourishing of local film.

Edge of time / Rachel Thorne, Mike Dooley - Listen & buy 99c

Locks of love website

The Competition website

Rehabilitating the agreeable

I was refreshed by the attractive music that Sally Greenaway presented at the AYO National Music Camp some months back. It was melodic, I might say "musical" if I didn't accept a whole range of musics and argue for all manner of dissonance. This day, Sally spoke of her own music in context of "Swoon", the ABC FM meme and radio show but, at the same time, she argued for all composers. She highlighted Australian composers, saying that they may write with texture or atmosphere or even uneasiness as an intent, but it all deserves the listen. Good on Sally for presenting the argument. Her preference is easy and melodious and very attractive. This performance was mainly of works composed by Sally (I think one wasn't) and performed by Sally with a few friends in various combinations. Firstly, Dawn of evening, a "reflective nocturne" that was eminently filmic, as is lots of Sally's music, and dedicated variously to her new grand piano and to Sally Whitwell. The cellist Emma Rayner joined Sally for three poems by Pierre Louys put to music by Sally; a short first movement; a very identifiable second movement (I don't think I've heard it; has Sally mastered the art of the perfect melody?); then the last movement. Then bass/baritone Patrick Baker joined for two songs: The exquisite hour, by poet Reynaldo Hahn, again put to music by Sally, and Look to the day, a poem by Kalidasa, again to Sally's music. Then Sally solo again for At the start of the day, a tango-cum-jazz piece, Elizabeth Biggs, solo harp, playing Sally's Liena and then a duo with Sally on a Rhumba by Salzedo, and an end with Sally playing a pair of compositions written for guitar, Sin luz and De la luz. She explained they were written for guitar but played piano style, and it was obvious when you were aware of the nature of the composition, or at least the arrangement, with limited chords, scalar runs and intervals that sit under a hand on a fretboard. There's more to composition/arrangement than just the chords and melody. This was consistently pleasant and attractive music, but never mawkish or bathetic. You can hear the film in it, setting scenes and emotions but never brash or presumptuous. Words like lovely or nice are denigrated but there's a just place for being delightful, agreeable, pleasant. We need more of it. Congratulations to Sally and looking forward to hearing this very music on her new CD. Sally Greenaway (compositions, piano) performed at the Wesley Music Centre with three friends, Patrick Barber (bass/baritone), Emma Rayner (cello) and Elizabeth Biggs (harp)

AYO2014/5 (Comp)

This was a short one, the AYO Composers Concert performance. AYO includes a range of music roles - management, staging, writing, composition, as well as performance. The composition performance featured four young composers and their work is performed by the older tutors, so this is quite a different beast. The first work was Henry Sdraulig's Beyond viridescence : four scenes for chamber orchestra. This was the only piece with separate movements although I'm not sure I noticed four. Starting with bass drums and oboe melody, this is tonal, impressionistic, spare, mystical with crescendos and snare and tuba climax. About 10 minutes. Second was Lachlan Hughes' Diaphony. The title suggests the sounds: contemporary, violin squeaks and short tones spattered against woodwind colours and crescendos. Introduced by the composer as textures and variations in density. The conductor was marking time in 3 but not obvious to my ear. I was interested in the title of the third piece, Samuel Smith's "his calm is made of resignation" for I feel that at the moment for the state of the world and Australia, but this was more inner-facing than so obviously socio-political. Introduced as responding to a book that was "anxious almost delirious", of opposing sound worlds in conflict. The conductor was marking 4 but again I struggled for a beat amongst slides and crescendoes and palettes of sound. Fourth was CJ's mate, Sally Greenaway and I found this a relief after soundscapes and colours. Sally introduced the work as from a poem, featuring Elk antlers. Well, I'll be! Not in my experience, but the music was. She'd sought four notes that supported an interesting dissonance and found D7 (b9 #5). It started pensive with ineluctably rich harmonies, an obvious feeling of time, some lovely development that your could build a story on. This was cinematic, broadminded and with a view to the world, more traditional but not untesting, rich with harmonies and querying with development. Nice one, Sally. I found this concert was a raft of three impressionistic, personal, inner-facing compositions with one outgoing one. Four wonderful works, all worthy and interesting. Sally's was obviously my favourite, but that's me, on the day. Congrats to all. And thanks to the two chamber orchestras of professionals who performed the works under Nicholas Vines (conductor).

Marion’s very many children

The theme of this year’s Canberra International Music Festival is Canberra, in its 100th birthday year, and the renowned Walter Burley Griffin and wife and partner is planning, Marion Mahoney Griffin. Marion, or her dramatic alter-ego, introduced he concert, Marion’s child by explaining that, although she had no children, she’s proud of their creation, Canberra, and she thinks of all its inhabitants as her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren… I’ve now seen Walter once and Marion twice, and it’s obviously fabulous (as in fables) but also a delightful pretense. For today, there were very many of her great,great grandchildren on stage doing a wonderful job of singing the song of Canberra, for virtually all the compositions had a Canberra theme.

Firstly, Sally Greenaway’s Auróra Musis Amica: fanfare for Canberra. It’s hard for a fanfare not to stir the emotions and the senses and this one did it with aplomb. I was smiling at the beauty of the dawn soundscape to start then lifted by the fanfare and let down gently by the final bars of colour. A wonderful, short piece of considerable success performed by the Combined Grammar Schools Orchestra. Next was Earth song by Frank Ticheli performed by the choirs of Canberra combined Grammar schools and Burgmann School. These are young voices: not powerful but sweet and pure and high, with just the start of male depth. Lovely sounds. Then Canberra by Stephen Leek sung by the Woden Valley Youth Choir (all girls) accompanied by piano. This comprised two pieces: Where to build a city and Canberra Anthem. This was story-telling in music. Amusing chatter led to discussion of Where to build the city (this was an issue just over 100 years back). They ended with the decision “Canberra / the meeting place of ancient times / Where, where where, where / There”. An effective piece of story telling. Then another by Stephen Leek called Landmarks. This sang of Murrumbidgee flows, Lake Ginninderra and The Brindabellas in three movements that was ancient and expansive and spoke to Aboriginal awareness with glockenspiel providing structure, bass drums providing thunder, congas providing rhythm interspersed with harmonised vocal lines in eight note melodies.

Then the big forces were arrayed for two works by Karl Jenkins. I’d arrived earlier to find many schoolkids in uniform on Sunday, mostly eating sausage sandwiches, not expecting a massed kids performance. This is a wonderful little music hall with a large stage and it was packed. About 200 players, including Canberra Camerata and Song Company for the professional guidance, and a raft of school choirs and orchestral players. Chris Latham introduced Karl Jenkins as a Mozart of music for youth”. I could only concur. These were not massively difficult pieces, but they were serious and interesting. Chris had also added words about Canberra in place of most of the nonsense phonemes of the original, so ti was also historically educative. I wondered what the Sydney-siders of the Song Company thought as they sang of Canberra as the Shimmering City, and I felt uncomfortable with the “great city” reference later, but these were very satisfying and even engrossing works done with surprising maturity. The first was The Shimmering city, a major work in 100-or-so movements including the fabulous voices of Susannah Lawergren, Anna Fraser (sopranos) and Tobias Cole (counter-tenor) with Riley Lee (Shakuhachi) and Ji Won Kim (solo violin) with Woden Valley Youth Choir, Canberra Girls Grammar and Canberra Grammar School Combined Choirs and Orchestra and Radford College Choir and Orchestra, and Burgmann College Choir conducted by Chris Latham. The second was shorter, the Song of the Limestone Plains, with introductory voices then claps for the birthday of Canberra the choir then shakuhachi and brass and more, all against what seemed to me to be a cut-time outback groove. Very nice stuff.

Under pollarded planes

Pollarding is a type of heavy pruning used in Europe to limit tree size in urban environments. I ran across jazz under the pollarded Planes last night in Manuka. Caleb Wearne, Sally Greenaway and Natalie Magee were playing Jazz on the Manuka Lawns at the Urban Pantry. It was nice, relaxed jazz on a calm and warm evening: very pleasant given a decent beer. All three are old friends of CJ, of course, capable and well-trained performers. Caleb’s hands and solos were finely wrought; Sally’s solos were broad and cinematic; Natalie’s singing was intially uncomplicated but I thought she’d dropped into a more detailed style when we passed by later in the evening after dinner. We were only at the Lawns for pre-dinner drinks, but I expect the musical style would have continued into the night. They played standards and latins including some of the more interesting melodies: All of me, April in Paris, Bye bye blackbird, Dancing cheek to cheek, Dindi, East of the Sun west of the Moon. Natalie’s repertoire starting at A, I guess.

You learn something new every day, like pollarding. I knew they were Plane trees at Manuka with their mottled trunks but I’d always wondered about the heavy pruning they underwent. Also new to me was Jazz on the Manuka Lawns, outside Urban Pantry. It’s in its second year with light jazz 6-9pm each Friday evening through Spring and Summer.

Knowing smile

Smile is a delightfully touching song. Charlie Chaplin must have been a polymath genius to have written such a tune as an aside to the rest of his oeuvre. It was a great way to start Sally Greenaway’s concert at the Gods. Sally was playing with Eric Ajaye and Gary France, so we have a cross section of styles and that’s how I heard the night. A travel through a wide repertoire of styles and sources performed in a pure and correct style, perhaps a classical-jazz fusion. This was more the jazz of MJQ - classic, correct, distilled - than the abandon of individualism and bebop and soloists. Sally’s solos betrayed her compositional bent. They were often chordal, with chromatic movements or substitutions that spoke of compositional options, although I did catch quite a few bluesy, growling lines betraying an earthy jazz sensibility. Eric was his classic lyrical self, with solo statements that conversed their way through pieces with deep, slurring lines and passing flourishes. I hadn’t heard much of Gary France. He’s of the classical percussion school, so the skills were prodigious and his sense of time was less swung. [I have since played with Gary and I can confirm he swings perfectly nicely. See my post of 25 Jan 2015 / Eric] He swapped between vibes and drum kit. I particularly enjoyed his vibes playing and his great ease of four-mallet melody.

This was formal tune-smithing. I particularly noticed the detailed dynamics that would swell or fade at the bar level and the quiet volume of the performance. Chamber music of the jazz repertoire and with a wide expanse of tunes: Chaplin to Tod Gustavsen and Keith Jarrett to Piazzolla and Pat Metheny and Maria Schneider to Bag’s groove and My romance. Sally presented this as trip through jazz geography and history. She’s a capable composer so I’d expected more originals, but it was not to be. This was more a gentle, composed, chamber view of favourite jazz tunes. It’s no surprise that I left Sally’s gig with a knowing smile rather than a lively step. The music was like that: distilled.

Sally Greenaway (piano) led a trio with Eric Ajaye (bass) and Gary France (vibraphone, drums) at the Gods.

Cyberhalides Jazz Photos by Brian Stewart

Sally’s evolution

Sally Greenaway held her London Evolution concert at the Street Theatre the other night. I missed it for family reasons, and it seems like I missed a beauty. Over 100 musos played for a full house, in various formats and bands and styles. Thankfully, ArtSound recorded the night, and we’ll be hearing it sometime soon on Friday Night Live. Till then, I have to be satisfied with pics and a blog post (with the full program). Sally is evolving to study film composition at the Royal College of Music in London. She’s got a great history already, composing and arranging for numerous bands and styles, and even winning the inaugural National Big Band Composition Competition (what a title!) with the JazzGroove Mothership Orchestra and our Canberra International Music Festival’s Young Composer Competition. This girl’s got talent! Best of luck, Sally, and keep in touch.

Sally's website

Blog post on Sally's Evolution concert

Pics of the Sally's Evolution concert