We notice

Politics in the Pub is usually a weighty outing, but not every time. Cathy Wilcox wasn't a weighty one. Her topic is heavy enough, but as a favourite political cartoonist, her method is light. I particularly enjoy her view of the world and the simple pen and watercolour presentation. How much can you communicate with a few lines! Cathy started with a quick screed on political cartooning: hold up a mirror; shine true light; notice things; show them we notice; point out consequences and follow them; reassure the rest of us; poke fun; unspin the spin. There were more but I couldn't write quickly enough. Then a quick history of political cartooning (in one cartoon, of the King of France as a pear). Then an amusing romp through recent politics with a few tens of her cartoons as a guide. The audience at PitP knows the terrain, so this was fun. There were amusing quips: on Abbott "he had so much to give and gave and gave an gave"; on reality checks, that a large percentage of Australians supported Howard on Tampa; on DelCons (Deluded Conservatives) and their readiness to wreck the place to get their way; on Sovereign Borders and means justifying ends; on the gradual decline as once-offensive becomes normalised [think data retention and security legislation]. She responded to questions: about the "frisson" that indicates a successful cartoon; on materials (pencil, ink lines, watercolours, sometimes coloured pencils, and the pleasure of feeling paper); how the working day pans out; how she came to cartooning; on avoidance of topics and self-censorship; on cartoonists being sued and what's appropriately public or private. Amusing.

Cathy Wilcox (cartoonist) spoke at Politics in the Pub for the Australia Institute. Search images of "Cathy Wilcox cartoonist" or Cathy's website for a screed of her cartoons and a good laugh.

Cathy Wilcox website

Thanks to Cathy for permission to display my photos of her cartoons here

Two pianos, one deeply satisfying musician

It's not often you feel you are in the presence of a seriously capable musical personality. Doubly so, that you are there with few people in a small space with good acoustics. I've seen and heard Roland Peelman several times and he's always impressed me mightily but this was more intimate. He was playing a piano recital at Wesley as a foretaste to the Canberra International Music Festival, of which he is the musical director. The music was broad with a nod to the latins. Five composers, sandwiched by Granados and Ginastera, with a pair of locals who have recently deceased, Roger Smilley, mostly based in Perth, and Jack Body, mostly travelling but based in NZ, and Ravel. I was taken by the Ravel Pavane for a dead princess, described as traditional in the western piano sense, melody in right hand, accompaniment in left hand and held together with the right pedal (an interesting and true pianistic image). It was just gorgeous. The Smalley and Body were more modern than this although Roland explained that neither was a ardent exponent of a combative modernism. The Smalley was the third movement of his Black and white. I found the description of the piece amusing: the first movement was all black notes played with the left hand; the second movement was mostly white notes played with the right hand; the third movement was two handed matching white diatonics with black pentatonics). The Jack Body piece was Three melodies, presumably inspired by his travels. I heard the first and third pieces as minimalist with single lines of regular (and sometimes deadened) notes, moving easily through changing tonalities. You could call it continuity and change (if that slogan hadn't become an object of ridicule of late). The latins sounded of guitar, and Ginestera has been often arranged for that, claves, dance and parties. Attractive. A further interest of this concert was the use of two pianos: the normal large (7'?) modern Yamaha that's normally in this space, and a smaller Steinway of 1915, stored in an adjacent room and belonging to Colleen, an emeritus staffer of the School of Music. The tones were as you'd expect, the older one softer and mellifluous, the newer loud and stark and firm. But all this is technicalities next to Roland's wonderful musicality. Several pieces were played from memory; his body expresses every inch of the music; nothing is unwarranted or flashy, just as it should be. For this I mean capable and mature. It's pretty rare to feel this so intensely, but I did with this performance. One for the memory and as a reminder of the upcoming challenge and pleasure which is always the Canberra International Music Festival.

Roland Peelman (piano) played Granados, Smalley, Body, Ravel and Ginastera at Wesley.

The oft-neglected maturity of youth

This was the first concert of the Canberra Youth Orchestra's Icons series for 2016. The first icon was Tchaikovsky with his Symphony no.6 Pathetique. Maruki will be performing this in a few months so I was particularly interested. This is a youth orchestra, not professionals, aged up to 30 but mostly in their late teens or early 20s. The performance was stunning. Not without its weaknesses, but this is no walk in the park. At least to me, it appears a seriously difficult work, both for reasons of technique and interpretation. I laughed through the work, as they dealt with one difficult line after another. And being there, being in an audience, is so different from listening to recordings or playing within the ensemble. You hear different things with each interpretation, with each balance of instruments, with the time available while you're playing versus sitting listening. This was a mammoth task and a great result. I expected to notice the basses most, because that's the chart I know. Rather, I heard other parts, free from the task of reading and watching the conductor and getting the dots and keeping the count. This was exhilarating. Huge success. The program before the interval was vastly different. I trust that conductor and musical director Leonard Weiss will find somewhat different materials. First up was Ferdinand Herold Overture from Zampa. Nice starter and one needed to settle the ensemble. Then a series of arias with much loved local soprano Louise Page singing. Mozart, Puccini, Time to say goodbye and Sound of Music, no less. I sometimes strained to hear Louise in her quieter passages, but she would sing to fill Llewellyn for the crescendos. As for individual performers, I'll just highlight concertmaster Helena Popovic for the abandon and commitment applied to her obvious chops and Matthew Gambrill, a fellow Maruki bassist, for his easy skills as bass principal. In all, a great start to the year and the series. The CYO is a mighty orchestra in skills but also in size, now numbering 60 or so. And Leonard is a much respected and very energetic leader, pretty much as young as many of his performers. We enjoyed and admired this outing and can only look forward to the rest of the series.

The Canberra Youth Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky, Herold, Mozart, Puccini, Sartori and Oscar and Hammerstein. Leonard Weiss (conductor, musical director) led, Louise Page (soprano) sang and Helena Popovic (concertmaster) sat in an appropriate violin chair and Matthew Gambrill (bass) led the basses.

Flat fives

Blue Note Fix is not the only group of musos who love this music. Post-bop is cool, bluesy but inventive, insinuating and easy to love. Think Sidewinder or Moanin' or Killer Joe or Stolen moments. This was the first outing of some mates who play as Blue Note Fix. They do it well, Hammond sound, calm choppy guitar, drums that know the essence of the tune and hold it, James up front on tenor with a deeply imbibed love of the style. No bass, but the organ works well for that, at least with that cloudy bass line with soft and gentle tonality. The Hammond in jazz is a style of its own. Peter plays a contemporary two-manual electronic Hammond sounding all the world like the original B3. Easy, laid back, chordal, arpeggiated, glissed. We joked Glissando man, but how can a bass player raise up a laugh when his instrument is relegated! You recognise all these tunes, even if they are just blues and even when they are previously unheard. This music is like that: it all feels just so simple and right with the bewitching grooves and comely melodies. And the band carried it off with relaxed persuasion. That's Blue Note for you. Every hot tune is very cool. The tunes? Chicken shack, Mellow mood, Blues walk, Killer Joe, I remember Clifford. More absolute common markers like All blues, Song for my father, and the insistent groove machine Mercy mercy mercy. All great tunes in their inevitability and simplicity and I can only share the love of this era. Blue Note remains a label for the ages. I understand the craving.

Blue Note Fix are James Hoogstad (tenor), Tyson Jones (guitar), Peter Kirkup (organ) and Jamal Salem (drums).

One unwasted hour / 2

The National Portrait Gallery was just there and I had a few minutes so I dropped in. Lucky. The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2016 (NPPP 2016) was on. I've caught the last three. It interests me given my background in photography as a minor hobby (much influenced by Ansell Adams). This one was worth the visit, as always. I consider photography a minor art (to the indignation of at least one photographer friend) but there are real skills technical, as in printing and presentation; technical, as in geometry, framing, use of light and the rest). I was disappointed with some works, variously pretentious, bland, routine, artificial. I enjoy pics that catch some time or action, that don't make unreasonably pretentious claims, that say something mildly that we could have seen ourselves if we'd just stopped to look. I guess I like snaps. There were some that annoyed me, like some posing subjects, or some poses that said nothing, or some references to other arts. I was offended by a few that drew you in but ridiculed the subjects (two boys in one; two girls in another). I liked a few formally structured pics for their rareness despite the requisite posing. I liked a few that told stories, like the immensely touching one of a holocaust survivor with the blanket of human hair that she'd worn leaving Auschwitz, or one of an Aboriginal querying his identity. I liked one of four people who shared a house in Canberra and had made a "family" together (although the whole discussion of definition of family is obvious here). I enjoyed the geometry of several, one of an LGBTIQ crew outside the Imperial Hotel in Sydney and another of an African black at his 18th birthday party in Newcastle. I liked the two boys playing with toy cars because my kids had done exactly the same thing, and the Free range cousins who acted as kids do when they get their photos taken in bulk. These are true to life. I guess this means I like a snap, and I do. In the end, I think my fave was Fostin outside his mum's, Kings Park, Melbourne, 2015 by Nicola Dracoulis. Just a simple portrait, unpretentious and with a great backstory. But that's just me.

The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2016 finalists were displayed at the National Portrait Gallery.

The pic above is detail of Fostin outside his mum's, Kings Park, Melbourne, 2015 by Nicola Dracoulis

NPPP2016 website

One unwasted hour / 1

Just an hour, but an hour near the national institutions. Firstly, I caught the mini exhibition at NGA Contemporary. Of course, you need a cool name for contemporary art. It's a little space, just a few connected rooms, down by the Lake. Not sure why I was intrigued, but I'd decided to attend. There were two (perhaps three) little exhibitions by a an Australian/Japanese artist pair, Ken + Julia Yonetani, presumable a couple. One display was a table heaped with food, all made of salt. This followed time with scientists investigating salination of the Murray/Darling basin. It was called the Last Supper, with reference to Leonardo's mural in Milano. I checked that paining online and we definitely live a richer life than Jesus and his mates. Maybe that's the message. Then a dark room with glowing chandeliers made of period frames, uranium glass and UV lights to make them glow. Neat! A comment on nuclear stuff and the Fukushima nuclear accident. Then a final display that you could just not notice. Five picture frames mounted on the wall, again made of salt but with nothing inside, called Five senses and a reference to Rubens and abundance (Ruben's referenced work had abundant content: this had nothing). I enjoyed the glowing chandeliers, somewhat enjoyed the salt table but was annoyed at the blank frames. Modern art seems so much ideas and so little skills these days (although the accompanying plaques spoke of great difficulties of working with salt due to solubility). Pretty colours in glass and flat, bubbly white otherwise.

Ken Jonetani and Julia Yonetani presented at the NGA Contemporary gallery.

Various frim fram

They are all (I guess) from the RMC band and I've heard them mostly doing more fusion-styled music before, but this was standards. Melody said it almost apologetically, but that's never necessary. This is the Great American Songbook (capitalised for a reason) and some of the best and cleverest popular music ever written and a great pleasure. And this done with a trio (vocals, guitar, bass) expanded to a 7-piece band with drums and a horn section. And with some clever arrangements and varied formats. The trio is Dial M and so was the septet. They were playing with a sound man and considerable reverb on vocals and a heavily effected sound on guitar (reverb and echo and drive, I guess) and mixed with the background of harmonised horns and varied solo sounds and Melody's very nicely controlled, experienced voice, perhaps somewhere in alto but comfortably managing some higher notes too, this was a great pleasure. Too bad there weren't more to enjoy it at Smiths, but so be it. The songs were a wide range, from Days of wine and rose as and Comes love and Alone together and Yesterdays and Love for sale through to some less common ones like Sinatra's Small hotel and If I only had a brain from Wizard of Oz and a strange one from Nat King Cole about what he eats, Frim Fram sauce (something local and remembered from childhood, I guess) and a few '90s swingers from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (jokey 12-bar dance throwbacks to '50s swing dancing). And two unexpected choices: a nice take on Jimi Hendrix Wind cries Mary and a love-struck ballad from Barney called All I am. Now I didn't know he could sing, but he did a very decent job with a touch of Elvis and others (see YouTube for Al Jarreau and George Benson doing this). And to top it off, some interesting arrangements, especially on the stock standards: Alone together was a syncopated 8-feel; Yesterdays had starts and stops and various time changes; Love for sale was just vocals and bass; Small hotel was not much bigger with just vocals, guitar and bass. So nicely trained players with some interesting, sometimes challenging arrangements playing a string of great songs. Well done.

Dial M are Melody Neilsen (vocals), Luke Greenhalgh (guitar) and Barnaby Briggs (bass). For this gig at Smiths, they added Julian Fung (alto, tenor), Ben Bonney (trumpet), Steve Davison (trombone) and Blair Fairbairn (drums).

Be there or be square

Wayne, Ben and Mark have got a great little gig going at the Old Canberra Inn: mid-week, very good beers and food, a comfortable early evening timeslot, a great first set by the trio, some of the best players in town, and the chance for sit-ins. It's a jazz jam in the long-serving tradition. This night was surprisingly busy in the garden outside but fairly quiet inside. Not that this is passing judgement on the music for I felt it was still well appreciated and, although the general public may not follow jazz, they can recognise commitment and chops when they see and hear it. I got there this week but I've been there too infrequently. Brendan O'Loghlin was there but didn't play this time; Julian Fung was there and did; I had a play. This week, Mark was replaced by Aidan Lowe, visiting from Berlin and playing a storm. It was great to listen and a pleasure and challenge to play with these cats. As I remember, my tunes were Alone together, a blues, Have you met Miss Jones and Stella, the last with Julian sitting in. Julian carried on with Beatrice and Out of nowhere and others. The trio had blown Rhythm changes early on, in the form of Dizzy's Salt peanuts, Afternoon in Paris (?), others. Wayne was wonderfully free all round, not least in adding twists and substitutions and vamps and endings. Ben was so firmly toned and inventive in walks, nicely crossing the neck at high positions, often bowing some lovely melodic inventions for solos and just generally sounding fat and solid and newly amplified. Aidan is showing his considerable time in Berlin: more busy, coloured and intense than ever. We're busy these days but support is needed to maintain gigs like this and this is a special one. Thanks to Wayne, Ben, Mark and the OCI for staging this gig and jam and let's hope we can maintain it, despite the depleted jazz scene.

Wayne Kelly (piano), Ben O'Loghlin (bass) and Aidan Lowe (drums) were the host band at the OCI jam. Jammers were Julian Fung (alto) and Eric Pozza (bass).

Songs sung

Louise Keast got together a few friends for this Wednesday lunchtime gig at Wesley. I know Louise as a capable cellist in Maruki. I hadn't heard her as a singer. She started the gig singing a duet with fellow (but quite differently-sounding) soprano Karyn Tisdell with piano accompaniment by Emily Leong. This was a dream. The piece was Delibes Sous le dome epais (Flower duet) from Lakme. Everyone knows this and it's a gloriously beautiful melody. I could only melt, from the song itself and the singing, especially when paired. Fabulous. Then tenor Lachlan McIntyre supported by a string quartet singing Vaughan Williams Silent noon and baritone Jared Lopez with piano and string quartet singing the longest work of the day, Faure La bonne chanson, with many parts and lasting perhaps 25 minutes. The final one was obviously the major work and, I understand, arranged by Jared. The Faure was long and complex and impressive and the VW was a stately period piece, but I must say the beauty of the Delibes was the winner for me. But nice work all around.

Louise Keast (soprano, cello) collected singers and instrumentalists for a performance at Wesley: Karyn Tisdell (soprano), Lachlan McIntyre (tenor), Jared Lopez (baritone), Emily Leong (piano), Clara Barrs and Elisha Adams (violins) and Anne Bicknell (viola).

New for Easter

Great to see the emergence of a new local ensemble, and with a great name: Adhoc Baroque. A light-hearted take on some deadly serious music for Easter. They performed at Canberra's strangely out-of-place heritage church, St John the Baptist (which predates Canberra's establishment by ~80 years), taking advantage of the stony presence and a nice loft organ for one piece. We heard Pergolesi Stabat Mater and Salve Regina and some excerpts from Vivaldi's take on Stabat Mater and Pescetti Sonata in C minor for organ. This ensemble presents with one voice per part, variously organ, two female voices (alto and soprano), viola da gamba, viola and two recorders or two violins. The voices were very satisfying alone but richly evocative and harmonically thrilling together. Two recorders are truly a sound of another era, rounded and evenly toned as they are. They viola and violins were played with modern bows (and presumably metal strings) so were strong and decisive. It's different from gut, but still perfectly satisfying to my ears. Interestingly, Rachel commented that her viola da gamba (with gut and period bow) had the sound of open strings for all notes because of the frets (they have strange moving frets that require tuning). I'd admired her firm and wonderfully steady playing and even string crossing and maybe this fretted sound helped it to match neatly with the modern instruments. The organ for the vocal pieces was sampled electronic and sounded perfectly well for the style. The major work was Pergolesi Stabat Mater which tells the story of Mary under the cross, variously deeply sad and bouncingly triumphant at the religious outcome. The Vivaldi was an interesting comparison, being on the same topic. The organ was a delightful interlude. Great concert. Welcome to a capable new group.

Adhoc Baroque was led by Peter Young (director, organ continuo) with Greta Claringbould (soprano), Maartje Sevenster (mezzo-soprano), Robyn Mellor and Olivia Gossip (recorders), Pip Thompson and Elysia Fisher (violins), Lucy Carrigy-Ryan (viola) and Rachel Walker (viola da gamba).

Hairpins

Another fun outing. I am enjoying this orchestral lark. This was National Capital Orchestra with Matt Withers and Leonard Weiss performing Westlake Antarctica Suite, Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez and Cesar Franck Symphony in D minor. The Westlake is an arrangement of a work originally accompanying a documentary movie of Antarctica. The music is sparse and expansive, sometimes dramatic, sometimes shimmering, with some odd times and difficult counts, and a lovely interlude for the Penguin Ballet. I loved this piece although I have to admit to missing some cues (not alone?). Then Rodrigo. Everyone knows this one, not least Miles fans. Attractive and lively and again with some challenging counting. We strings are not used to sitting out and counting (that's the job of brass and percussion). Then an interval and Cesar Franck Symphony in D minor. This is not a numbered symphony: he only wrote one. It's big, dynamic, lyrical, oddly repetitive in different keys (D minor sounds OK, and 4xb or 5x# but 7x#?). There's big dynamics, too. Leonard did a great job on that: we were variously almost indistinct, then blaring with brass (I didn't miss this, it being just over my shoulder). TheQ had a wonderful clarity after our rehearsal venue, the lights and sound (the JBL foldback for guitar was a winner) were great and the seats were virtually sold out. So, a great outing. Next NCO is Koehne, Boieldieu and Dvorak at TheQ with Alice Giles in May, sandwiched by Sunday concerts from Brindabella and Maruki. Hard work but great fun and immensely satisfying.

The reference to hairpins is oblique. I have never seen so many hairpins scattered as in the loading bay at TheQ. I guess they remain in heavy use in theatre.

National Capital Orchestra performed Westlake Antarctica Suite, Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez and Cesar Franck Symphony in D minor at TheQ with Matt Withers (guitar) under Leonard Weiss (conductor) and Therese McMahon (concertmster). The bass section was Jo Guthridge, Juliet Flook and Eric Pozza.

Knowing Tom better

Recently, Tom Roberts at the National Gallery. Before that, Celestial Empires at the National Library and Encounters at the National Museum. It's a busy time. Tom Roberts was busy but not so busy we couldn't go straight in. I didn't expect too much but was well impressed by the end. His works are ubiquitous in the Australian imagination. I'd seen many or the best works in Ballarat and Adelaide and Sydney and Melbourne, but seeing them together was informative. There's Australian light and dust, some impressive portraits, an uncommon interest in Aborigines of the time (despite the proud images of [white Anglo] "Australian natives" - this was the decade before Federation), working men and presentable women, gums and grass and beaches around Melbourne and Sydney with heavily dressed people (other than three skint male painters going for a swim). There was even a country road that Megan knew well, between stately, tall gums (Tom Roberts Road, no less). I was surprised to find it so satisfying; maybe I shouldn't have been. Seeing these works up close you can see the paint dabbled and the brush strokes and the animate effects of the impressionists. Then, his big painting, Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, which I'd otherwise seen in a relatively skimpy space in Parliament House. It's a great historical record with awkward teaming layers of notables. He was a handsome man, too, from a bust in the exhibition. I was amused by an Australian Pastoral, delighted by pastels with their glowing colours, admiring of a range of very effective portraits (they were dignified in those days, despite heat and flies) and surprised at how many were such common images in my consciousness. Much enjoyed.

The Tom Roberts exhibition was at the National Gallery of Australia.

Exhibition website

Live Babe

It's Canberra Day long weekend, so everyone goes to Commonwealth Park and Stage 88 for whatever. This year it was was Nigel Westlake leading the Canberra Symphony Orchestra accompanying the film, Babe. The film's a classic, I guess, made locally (Sydney) and winner of numerous awards. It's a joyous tale of a pig that learns to heard sheep on a farm that looks mysteriously more cute English than Australian with its stone walls and verdant countryside. All fantasy and talking animals and charming and quite touching for a kids' story. And vivid colours and eccentric human characters. NW wrote most of the music (a few tracks were provided by another composer) and famously borrowed a Saint-Saens organ concerto and has recently revisited and enhanced the score. I understand we heard the new score, but I don't know the earlier one anyway. Not that the new score will be installed in the released film, given cost. But a very satisfying piece of music, grand, scary, fearful, joyous, variously emotional as called for and lots of it. This film has a significant and lengthy musical accompaniment. I was impressed by the music and by the CSO which had considerable work to do and did it with aplomb. I was intrigued by the screen in front of NW with its flashing circles and moving bars and various other indicators over the film. Apparently, this is how film conductors are guided in conducting. Otherwise, performers just had their standard scores. It's a family event, so lots of kids, lots of camp chairs and blankets and hors d'oevres and champers. And the weather held out: it was a glorious night. But I didn't stay. I wasn't particularly there for the film, although it was both impressive and entertaining, and I found the music was otherwise secondary, however well it was performed and however interesting it was. So I caught the first half then off. But I remain impressed. Easy going, entertaining and capable all round.




Nigel Westlake (conductor, composer) led the Canberra Symphony Orchestra in accompanying the film, Babe, at Stage 88 for the Canberra Day holiday weekend.