Mellow tones

This was my second hearing of the Canberra Men's Choir and I recognised some of the faces.  It's a non-auditioned choir that meets weekly at the Harmony German Club.  Despite hearing them before and knowing they have very few sopranos (none), I was still surprised by the tone.  There are four sections, ATBB (alto, tenor, baritone, bass), but any song may be sung in 2,3 or 4 parts perhaps with solos, or almost unison on a sea shanty.   I was sitting admiring the rich, deeper, mellow tones and harmonies and counted 3 parts in one song but there can be more.  And sometimes there may be solo singers for a higher line, but mostly this is characterised by those lush, deeper tones.  They are directed by Leanne KcKean and accompanied by Vivian Zhu  which is somewhat amusing in a gender sense but perfectly effective.  Lovely to be in a time that feels this way.  They sang a range of style, from shanties to Appalachia to Cole Porter, Leonard Cohen and Benny/Bjorn and even a folk song form NZ, so this is of a style but eclectic in sources.  A lovely afternoon interlude with blissfully indulgent harmonies.

The Canberra Men's Choir performed at Wesley under Leanne McKean (musical director) and with accompaniment by Vivian Zhu (piano).

A different sounding song

I've sung in choirs and heard quite a few but they were always mixed choirs, usually with four parts, two male, two female, soprano, alto, tenor, bass (SATB) so it was somewhat a surprise to hear a male choir.  I asked about parts: still four parts, but tenor 1 /  2, baritone, bass, so closer in pitch but still wonderfully satisfying.  I was a little surprised by that.  I thought the choir might sound deep and stodgy but not at all.  There were still some relatively high pitches and they were lovely (one guy stood out to my ear) and the harmonies were lovely although not always so easy to hear.  But suffice to say, I really enjoyed the sound and the performance.  This is the Canberra Men's Choir, directed and accompanied by women in our modern world, Leanne McKean and Vivian Zhu.  The choir has been around since 1986, it's non-auditioned and invites new members.  They played a popular set of 13 songs.  They were mostly short and I might have enjoyed some more substantial numbers, but they were popular and attractive and some faves of mine: '70s/80s pop including Raindrops keep falling on my head, Here comes the sun, Moon river, Love is all around, Hallelujah; early standards like Blue moon, What a wonderful world; some more folky tunes, Wayfaring stranger, Shady grove, Hand me down my silver trumpet.  I liked it all: good harmonies, copious male voices.  I thought some more swing was called for occasionally, but that's something for the jazzers.  A wonderful and entertaining and satisfying concert.  Beats hanging out in the front bar, but they probably do that, too.

The Canberra Men's Choir was conducted by Leanne McKean (musical director) with Vivian Zhu (piano) accompanying.

Next gen

I caught a series of students of piano teacher, Marie Cull, at St Albans and it was varied and engaging. Ages from 6 to young adult. AMEB levels from grade 3 to LMUS. Varied composers and thus styles. I was intrigued by Bach’s varying takes on English and Italians: the English Suite was steady, even incessant, the Italian Concerto was interrupted, punctuated. Debussy presented another sense of tonality. Chopin was romantic and heavily pedalled. Frank Hutchens was romantic and perhaps bushy. Apparently he’s known to some locals. Plenty of triplet and waltz feels and some devilish sprays of notes and odd times bouncing between left and right hands. In all, it was a satisfying lunchtime outing from a new generation of pianists.

Here’s the program: Nicholas Shuttleworth, Big black spider by Mirrie Hill; Enling Liao, Contradanse by Hummel; Jerry Lu, Little bird by Grieg; Zoe Larsen-Cumming, Nocturne by Grieg; Bernice Chua, Mazurka Op.7 No.1 by Chopin; Bernice Chua and Jonathan Lee, Le jardin de Dolly by Faure; Jonathan Lee, Arabesque 1 by Debussy; Vivian Zhu, Italian Concerto (1st movt) by JSBach; Laura Pham, Weeping Mist by Frank Hutchens; Christopher Bottomley, Prelude from English Suite 3 by JS Bach; Emma Rayner, Nocturne Op.27 No.2 by Chopin; Emily Buckley, Sonata Op.31 No.2 (1st movt) by Beethoven.