No music

This was my day with no music. I'd allocated it to the local art gallery, the Städel. It's not overwhelmingly huge but it boasts some impressive feature works and otherwise a history of European art from C13th. I especially remembered a Botticelli from a previous visit, forgetting there were two, but van Eyck's Lucca Madonna was a favourite this time and I revelled in a string of mediaeval works then through Perugino and Raphael and Bronzino and the like and right up to the modern period ending here at 1945. This is the town of Goethe and I was pleased to see the famed Tischbein portrait of Goethe reclining in the Roman campagna. I'd forgotten it was here. Lots more too. The Rembrandt wing is undergoing restoration so I missed that, as was contemporary art, but this was more than enough for one day. A huge pleasure.

The Städel gallery is in Frankfurt.

Reruns

I'm just in Frankfurt in passing and my options for jazz were limited but still I was surprised to revisit a band leader at the Jazzkeller. It's a venerable European jazz club complete with signed photographs on the walls of jazz masters who have played there over the decades. The band leader was Peter Klohman, tenorist, who had played a string of gigs with different bands in August. All based on a style or performer, Eddie Harris or Rolling Stones or 90s pop or hip hop or Paul Desmond. I caught his band, Hard Bock, playing bebop but the music was far more contemporary. Billie's bounce turned into heavy funk pared to a few chords. Moanin' was more recognisable throughout despite harmonic and time shifts and straight rock drums. We all sang the Salt peanuts response as a communal sing-along that then dissolved into continuous breathing on sax and the deepest groove and that recognisable syncopation throughout on drums. Yardbird suite lost its turnarounds to become a three chord syncopated funk. Ornithology was all harmonic excursions on sax and piano and driving distorted guitar with the most delicious echo pedal losing time in the middle. Just four players with pianist playing keyboard bass. It was convincing. Obviously the reharmonization was written to support the convincing, contemporary improvs over the top. Very impressive. Strange to see the same leader in the same club on my return like my organ concert.

Peter Klohman (tenor) led his band Hard Bock with Yiriy Sych (piano, synth bass), Heiko Duffner (guitar) and Leo Asal (drums).

3508 and counting

Organ concerts in churches are a common tourist pleasure in Europe. I know I've been to a few. One was St Katharinen here in Frankfurt where Martin Lücker played a few years ago. That was his concert no.3424. It's a few years on now and Martin was playing his concert no.3508 of Bach Fantasie C Major and Reger Symphonic fantasy and fugue and I was back. Along with about 150 others. These weren't tourists. This is obviously a regular outing for many frankfurters. The Bach was attractive but the Reger was overwhelming. The organ is big and loud and fills the bare, rebuilt space. Reger takes full advantage with ever rising lines of varying degrees of mania. Mvt.2 was some relief with perhaps occasional descending lines but then the climbs returned, excessive and fabulous on deep, loud organ pipes. An organist is frequently obscured or unseen up back in the loft. In this case he's even hidden behind another set of pipes. I thought it was loud so I tested with my phone. I was surprised to find loud passages measured just 75db , much the same as the background noise on the Boeing I'd just flying over on. If the app is accurate. I prefer the organ. But my other thought is Martin Lücker 's music reading. He's virtually played 2 concerts a week since 1985 and the music is not trivial and he plays the music capably and confidently. This is a seriously admirable skill. I am in awe.


Martin Lücker (organ) performed at St Katharinen in Frankfurt.

No names

It's Frankfurt and it's a summer day. I know Frankfurt well from visits in the past so this was just a reacquaintance with an old friend. It's a financial hub, there's even a giant euro to confirm it, but there's also an undercurrent of history through the messy mediaeval streets and the survivals from massive ww2 bombing. Walking through the heart there are frequent buskers, violins, piano accordions, and a street drummer wearing a horse mask. He was popular and entertaining. I like these improvised kits and the deeply felt hip hop grooves the best of these players pull from them. Then on to the cathedral which mostly survived the bombing famously acting as orientation for the bombers. The organ was in parts undergoing restoration but the pipes are massive. I'd love to hear it. Then a visit through the sparse interior decorated by mediaeval triptyches which were stored during the bombing. The religious conviction is obvious and touching. Then various other mediaeval rebuilds and tourists and Roman ruins and buskers in various costumes doing various acts. I'm checking out concert posters and SIM cards. Then a church I've never visited before that promised a short carillon recital to follow the bells of St Paul's at noon. I returned to the square on time, tourist Central, to hear both. Then more buskers, this time three piano accordions and a tuba playing mostly Bach. Amusing but also effective. I bought their CD as my first souvenir expecting to get the names of the group and the performers. But no luck, no names for either. The CD was entitled Music of the baroque. Just that. So a lovely morning in the unlikely warmth of this European summer but no names. German discretion, I guess.

Various buskers performed and sites impressed on the streets of Central Frankfurt a warm summer's day.

We all age

Canberra is ageing and it surprises me. It was only founded in 1913; Parliament only moved here in 1927; its development stalled due to depression and WW2 then restarted under Menzies in the '50s; it became self-governing in 1988 (although still poorly served with Commonwealth MPs). So I'm surprised that we had the 50th anniversary of Woden Valley Youth Choir just the other day, and my own Musica da Camera is aged 41 years and the Weston Winds are now 30. They had their 30th anniversary concert the other day and it was a blast. I like a concert band and here there was not a string in sight - just winds and some percussion - and the resulting sound is of its own and massively pleasurable. Deep, fat, consistent bass tones from bassoons and tubas; sharp soprano notes from the flutes; various raspy reedy tones from clarinets and saxes and the brassy declaratory clarity of the troms and trumpets. Just lovely. They played a large range of music. Just one JS Bach - his "Little" fugue in Gminor - and a string of modern tunes variously written for the orchestration or arranged for them. There were a string of film themes (Star Trek, Dr Who, How to train your dragon, Pirates of the Caribbean, Chicago) that had me wondering if the hoi-poloi only hears such music in films (it probably does). There was Percy Grainger with what we know as Danny Boy, and Eric Whitacre with his star Internet piece, Lux aurumque, and a few pensive themes, Hazo Southern hymn and one that touched deeply when you hear the story, of 5 kids lost in short time in one school, Swearingen Let the spirit soar. You could think of it as sentimental, but the melodicism was anything but in the context. Another fave for me was Sheldon Choreography, which musically presents the various dance movements in contemporary theatre and ballet. The group sounded a treat and was led clearly and capably by Peter up front. A huge pleasure. Congrats on the last 30, and looking forward to the next.

Weston Winds presented its 30th anniversary concert under Peter Shaw (conductor, musical director).

Berklee comes to town

Sheryl Bailey, NYC guitarist and professor at Berklee College in Boston, came to Canberra. She was playing with some Australian mates, Andrew Dickeson and Ashley Turner. It was a stunner of a concert, but not just that: there was a workshop, too. All open to the public and free. First up, the workshop. We had two student groups up to play a few tunes and get comments from all three performers. I certainly got lots from this session. Communication and dynamics; comping and listening; some generous commentary on drum matters, eg, on the swing inherent in traditional versus matched grip; two-feels and four; knowing the language / familiarity with the genre, playing along to recordings and learning how key players have dealt with tunes and grooves and chords; comping for guitar; groove as key ("no-one ever lost a gig from grooving too hard"); the importance of 3rds and 7ths while bass provides the root ("if you don't know the 3rds and 7ths you don't know the song". Sheryl displayed this brilliantly with a melody of phrasings leading to 3rds and 7ths); laying out, even sometimes on drums and, alternatively, keeping energy when playing quietly; transcribing rhythms, even if not voicings ("be provocative rhythmically"); 8th notes and the power of accents and learning by singing; a suggestion to get the Omnibook (referring to Charlie Parker) and learn Monk and Wayne Shorter; learn tunes; solos as melodies on harmonic form, not just chords and arpeggios. Also some stories: Jimmy Cobb said "we didn't care" about his trio playing behind Miles or others, implying the strength of the groove was what mattered; jazz is "not guitarist's music, it's horn players' music" so think fingerings, etc; practising by long application, eg, playing one tempo 1 hour pd for a week; record yourself; "isolate things you suck at and practice them" then integrate.
Then the concert. Nine tunes over 90 minutes, all standards, three by Monk (both Sheryl and Andrew had entered the Thelonious Monk competition). Wayne Kelly sat in for a blues towards the end. Some slower tunes, Lover man in 3/4, Isfahan, Panonica; two more Monks, Eronel, Epistrophy. Jobim How insensitive (I didn't know it was from a Chopin theme) and Invitation and You stepped out of a dream. Nothing too unusual or particularly out although there were dissonant harmonic colours at times, all stunningly sharp and interesting and skilled and fabulously expressed. That's what practice does, as it should. An eye-opener.

Sheryl Bailey (guitar) led a trio with Ashley Turner (bass) and Andrew Dickeson (drums) for a concert and workshop at the ANU School of Music Band Room.

What we forget

We are relatively lucky, living in Canberra, the bush capital, relatively close to nature, but it's still something we miss or ignore or that passes us by. I realised it seeing some beautiful views of red soil, then gum bark projected at Wesley. We know it but forget it. It wasn't quite so 50-years ago, but we are more urbanised now. It surprised me. The event was a strange and informative session (hard to call it a concert) entitled Where song began featuring two mates I know from the Australian Haydn Ensemble, Anthony Albrecht and Simone Slattery, cello and violin. Both are exceptionally trained and musical; both have glorious tones and skills. In fact, I thought Anthony's Bach Prelude no.1 (from cello suite no.1) was the most intense rendition I have heard. And Simone hit me for six (it's Ashes time) with Schmelzer Cucu Sonata (1664) or was it David Lang Anthochaera carunculate (Red Wattle Bird) a new commission (2017); perhaps both. And she sung decently too, especially Ngarra Burra Ferra, an Indigenous hymn. But it was more. This was an exploration of Australian songbirds out of Tim Low's book, Where Song Began : Australia's Birds and How They Changed the World, and further afield, a broader touch on the environment. There was science and species and nature melded with music and performance all in low light and flittering feathers. More than just a concert. I'm still processing it and I learnt quite a bit but mostly I just learnt our distance from nature these days. The end-times of climate are enough to confirm that. I should have known.

Simone Slattery (violin, vocals) and Anthony Albrecht (cello) presented Where song began at Wesley. And thanks to Anthony and Simone for the use of the pic.

Visits

My organ tour continues through the churches of the ACT. This one was the Canberra Baptist Church, Kingston, near Manuka Pool and Oval. It's an old church (1929, old for Canberra) and claims to have had an organ since its inception. The current organ was built 1958 by JP Eagles and subsequently restored. It's none too decorated, with pipes exposed but the sound was attractive. Bill Fraser played a varied program: Thiman, Bach, Mendelssohn, Ireland, Wolstenholme and father Lloyd Webber. Interestingly, he noted the Bach may be a ring-in, as his name was given to the works of some others (this was his Fantasia with imitation Bmin) and it did sound a different Bach. The Lloyd Webber was the father of the famous LWs (Andrew and Julian) and was an organist and composer. Otherwise, perhaps the Mendelssohn fugue was my favourite. These monthly concerts from the RSCM (ACT) [=Royal School of Church Music ACT Branch] are nice lunchtime outings if you get a chance.

Bill Fraser (organ) performed at the Canberra Baptist Church for the Royal School of Church Music, ACT Branch.

Clavicytheria and more

The clavicytherium was sitting on the edge of the stage and featured between tunes, but the real star of the day was Pierre Gillier Livres d'airs et de simplonies mélez de quelques fragmens d'opera. Sarahlouise, Lauren and Ariana gathered to perform this recently recovered collection of songs from the French baroque era (1697), This is a work of history by local academic Kathleen Gerrard who unearthed the manuscript in the vaults of the Versailles music library and has recently published the definitive text. Gillier was a student of Lully, and here produced a string of works of amusement to the aristocracy or perhaps the developing bourgeoisie, rich in stories of love and animals and references to classical mythology. It's all rather out of time for us, but fascinating and pleasurable and laugh-inducing at times with the accompanying translated texts. The trio did it great justice, Sarahlouise emoting as only a singer does; Ariana hard at work throughout but gentle on the soft harpsichord; Lauren sitting out the songs but taking book-ending and intervening pieces with her baroque bow and easy gamboling cadence. And Ariana intervened at one stage to introduce this new Wesley instrument, the clavicytherium: an old and now rare instrument, recreated in this copy, luscious with its carvings on the subject of St George and playing somewhat like a harpsichord, strings plucked. It's missing some strings and even that replacement is a slow task, but maybe we can expect a Wesley outing sometime. A lovely historical but intellectually-informed concert.

Sarahlouise Owens (soprano), Lauren David (violin) and Ariana Odermatt (harpsichord) performed Gillier and Rameau at Wesley. The Gillier was recently un-earthed from Versaille and published in a definitive edition by Kathleen Gerrard.

The show goes on

The continuing story of basses. This time it was a run to Sydney and Bresques Basses. BB is Matthew Tucker in Marrickville. He shares the workshop with Dave Ellis of Homebass. So, a good opportunity to chat bass, talk bass, indulge. So it was, but this was serious business. I worried about a possible sagging top under one bridge foot. In the end, no problem there and a few other jobs done for a significantly louder and firmer sounding bass if a little weightier. The weather was good and this town seemed so much better out of a car and those hours wiled in Marrickville Road saved a return trip so I arrived home, 12 hours after setting out, happy and expectant of next practice. Bring it on.

Matthew Tucker is Bresque Basses, luthier in Marrickville. Dave Ellis of Homebass shares the workshop. Thanks to Matthew for the pic.