Julie McErlain

Great excitement surrounded the announcement by Musica Viva to bring three distinguished international soloists to form a trio for a National Australian tour. The appointment of French musician Nicolas Fleury as Principal Horn in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra allowed him to team up with international legends, violinist Emily Sun and pianist Amir Farid using Sydney, as a base for launching a tour of exciting concert repertoire and regional workshops. Musica Viva is committed to presenting live music in as many states as possible, but not all planned ventures could overcome even Australia’s current volatility with musicians in lockdown or quarantine. Following concerts in Adelaide and Sydney, cancellation of Melbourne concerts and live streaming, Musica Viva nevertheless, were able to schedule a last minute on-line concert by the trio in Chatswood’s Concourse Theatre.

We are thankful that composer Ernst Naumann arranged Mozart’s challenging Quintet K407, performed in this concert as the Horn Trio in Eb, Mozart’s favourite key for the horn. A brilliant and perfectly balanced opening to the Allegro heralded the brilliance of this ensemble. Bright and sharp execution of colourful tones combined with Mozart’s spirit and energy was a delight to hear. From Fleury’s golden instrument came a warm and soulful tone in rich and satisfying melodies where ornaments, trills and embellishments were smoothly delivered. His low notes were full of character and bold assertion – Mozart would have smiled. In the Andante we were captivated by the lyrical, aria like opening melody on the violin. Not just an exceptional string sound, but also a unique tone colour glowed from Emily Sun’s 1760 Gagliano violin. Horn and violin showed an ease and gracefulness in expressive and graceful conversations. In the Rondo we continued to admire the joy and spirit coming from this balanced team, the fullness of their sound and the addition of luxuriant bass tones on the grand piano. Ornaments and embellishments and the clarity of rapid cadenzas on the horn continued to impress.

Gordon Kerry is a prolific and widely performed Australian composer with a long association with Musica Viva, writing pieces ranging from symphonic and chamber music to choral works and opera. Julian Burnside AO QC has continued his generous commitment to performing arts, commissioning Kerry’s Sonata for Violin and Piano (2020). Described succinctly by Paul Kildea, the sonata “starts with a whisper and ends in a soaring declaration”. Described as a sonata in one movement, a three-tiered level of structural development could be felt. Opening with a celestial four note motif on the violin against intermittent piano tremolos, ripples and clusters, there was an important use of space and silence, colours of glassy, reflected, fragments from a mosaic, free-time, reflective and engaging. A “middle” section highlighted Emily Sun’s authoritative and expressively passionate long tones, as further scattered icy ripples and bell-like piano shapes added assertive rhythms and brilliant rapid technical flurries for both instruments. High soaring notes, extensive tremolos and tonal exploration took us towards a final platform of embellished trills and turns. With varied recollections of introductory motifs, a finely balanced partnership of varied and colourful timbres on both instruments gave Kerry’s work a fine World Premier hearing.

How impressive was Emily Sun’s leadership in Brahms’ Horn Trio in Eb, her luscious, warm and resonant tone expressing highly emotive swells of passion and richness. Amir Farid responded accordingly, demonstrating equally passionate colours and emotion in flowing piano arpeggios and richly textured accompaniment. The Scherzo was an exciting and energetic journey,introduced by an envigorating staccato piano accompaniment that became more powerful and scintillating with striking mood and key changes. In the low brooding piano chords that opened the third movement Adagio Mesto, we felt Brahms’ introspection, growing sorrow and deep feelings of loss. A simple, poignant rising two note phrase added further questioning from the violin, with only the piano replying with shadows and gloom in troubled low chords. The trio produced some magnificent orchestral grandeur, but the low bass notes of the piano added intense finality in the Eb minor key. If this third movement was a sorrowful tribute by Brahms, commemorating the death of his mother, the bold, brisk and buoyant tones of the fourth movement called on us to muster our resilience and respond to the call of the horn. And how triumphant was the horn in this final Allegro con Brio, calling the chargeof the hunt with true military phrases and galloping fanfares. Again, there was an admirable display of unique tone colours, virtuosic skill and vibrancy of spirit from this exemplary team of world class musicians.

Musica Viva is to be commended for adding Workshops by performers, very complete Concert Guide notes, fabulous Pre Concert talks, and Recordings and Webinars of great educational value to their prime concert program.

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Julie McErlain reviewed Musica Viva’s National Tour concert “Nicolas Fleury, Emily Sun and Amir Farid” recorded at the Concourse Theatre, Sydney, and presented via Melbourne Digital Concert Hall on June 21, 2021.

We do love to celebrate and acknowledge “firsts”. A concert program that offers a premier performance of a colossal Australian composition is historically significant. Then, before Ian Munro came to the Steinway grand piano in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre CEO Euan Murdoch came to the stage to announce this event as the first in a new partnership with Melbourne Digital Concert Hall and 5stream. Any sadness from the lack of a live audience was banished by the beauty and colourful stage lighting of this magnificent venue, the incidental hues formed on the textured backstage panels, the precisely planned camera work and the fine acoustic of this recital hall.

Ian Munro, one of Australia’s most distinguished and internationally respected pianists, is a remarkably relaxed performer, modestly physically calm and stately. His fingers alone tell an epic story, producing a huge spectrum of colour and expression. Detailed program notes revealed the important comparative elements in emotion and form, and links between these three composers and Munro’s reflections, personal understanding and respect for them.

Mendelssohn’s six Songs Without Words, Book1 Opus 19, were delivered as ideal, classy textbook performances. Numbers 1 & 2, Fond Memories and Regrets, warmed our wintry weather with pleasing melodic expression, flowing motion and idyllic poetic lines. In No 3, Hunting Song, Munro produced a significantly more buoyant, crisper, cleaner and brighter tone, while the frequently played Venetian Gondola Song was nicely moving forward, clean and sparkling, without sentimentality. All six pieces were exemplary in detail, beautifully described in shapes and tones like six different paintings.

By opening the program with these miniatures, Munro was heralding his deep admiration of influential Russian composer Rachmaninoff, who modelled his Preludes on them. Each of Rachmaninoff’s Six Moments Musicaux reproduce a form and characteristics of a previous musical era, yet with individual themes and moods. Each piece was certainly an admirable concert piece of its own. No 1 Andantino revealed long, reflective melodies, which developed into a rapid climax with orchestral colourations and virtuosic runs, hinting at shades of Chopin’s Nocturnes. No 2 Allegretto showed Munro’s exciting virtuosity in the waves of cascading florid patterns woven around deceptively simple but powerful melodic themes. The contrasting No 3 Andante Cantabile was a deeply contrasting reflection of a funeral march, with a stirring melody built above a long earthy chordal sequence. A striking middle section of bass staccato pulses was reminiscent of the foreboding and percussive imitative bass drum elements of a past era. No 4 Presto was truly exciting, lavish, exuberant and rich in its expression and melodic intensity, and we felt Rachmaninoff’s homage to the spirit of Chopin.  Most admirable was the remarkably calm ease and control Munro showed playing immense torrents of notes preceding the most brilliant acceleration to a double fortissimo conclusion. He broadened and enriched the tonal colours of No 5 Adagio Sostenuto as we felt the barcarolle form, enjoying a heartfelt aria-like melody and textures that conjured up a panoramic vista. No 6 Maestoso was a triumphant closing piece where robust, dense textures resounded fully down in the oceanic depths of the Steinway grand. Surging pulses and a powerful ebb and flow of expression were sensitively controlled yet powerfully striking. A final descending chromatic motive was repeated with a tragic, almost desperate acknowledgement of this great composer’s soul.

Lasting just under thirty minutes, Munro’s three-movement Piano Sonata No 2is a highly captivating and epic work. In his words, his sonata “deliberately follows in the footsteps of Prokofiev and Shostakovich, as an homage to them and to the Russian musical tradition which shaped his musical development”. Subtitled Moscow – 1986, this work embodies Munro’s respect for the greatness of Russian musical history, and his lasting memories of visiting Moscow as a young pianist.

The intriguing first movement Allegro Nervosa was indeed a brilliantly constructed testament, and listeners would enjoy and smile at the flavours of Rachmaninoff’s architecture and perhaps Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata, with brisk arpeggiated patterns and dramatic harmony being set into a modern framework. Melodic fragments developed into a dynamic 7-time chordal section, followed by clever derivatives of primary themes building into a heroic march. Many dazzling episodes explored extreme upper and lower regions of sound, before descending to a surprising and abrupt ending, lost in profound bass notes. We were left begging for more. Following a gentle, chordal fanfare in the introductory bars, the triplet rhythm of Largo took us briefly to a modern, barcarolle style. A surprising explosion of insistent dotted rhythms built up a new energy and tempo, until elegant Romantic melodies were broadened with expressive tender and reflective qualities. Schubertian shades of military motifs added colourful marching elements to precise and individual voices in an exciting Fugue a 4 for the third and final movement. Textures and momentum developed into an intense and furious explosion as orchestral timbres and percussive chords reached their finality in a single defiant and echoing cluster of sound. Rest, hope and spiritual resolution came with a coda of gentle high-pitched fragments and soft melodic simplicity.

Being able to re-watch the performance multiple times through streaming, added much enjoyment of this epic work and confirmed highest acclaim for Ian Munro.

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Julie McErlain reviewed Ian Munros’s piano recital, presented as part of the Great Performers 2021 series and streamed in collaboration with Melbourne Digital Concert Hall from the Melbourne Recital Centre on June 16, 2021.

The “Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields” Festival of Fine Music has been a highly successful and important facet of Victoria’s musical life. Since 1996, international guests and highly renowned Australian musicians have showcased the heritage of buildings and the unique sound of wonderful pipe organs in that very popular 9- day festival. In our uncertain global climate, an alternate Ballarat Heritage Festival recently offered a broad and creative artistic program spanning twenty-four days in May.

Following a thirty year career as organist and music director at Toorak Uniting Church, with a subsequent lecturing and research fellowship position in UPSI University Malaysia, Dr Andrew Blackburn has made a welcome return to performing in Australia. He has made a significant mark on creative organ performance, research, and recording with live electronic sound processing, and has always curated unique recital programs. In a most elegant and historically significant bluestone church, this recital was a fascinating program of European music composed around the time the St Peter’s pipe organ was built (1929), with the inclusion of two contemporary organ works by well known local composers who deservedly have a place in Ballarat’s heritage.

Although Vaughan Williams wrote little music for solo organ, 3 preludes on Welsh Hymns (1920) suitably introduced the tone and traditional settings of this instrument with varied orchestration and treatment of hymn verses and its softer, spiritual and ethereal qualities. Blackburn added a free improvisatory introduction and brought out fantasy like florid passages in the accompaniment surrounding the simple verse structure of Bryn Calfaria. The well known and sweet, lyrical Rhosymedre, played at Vaughan Williams’ funeral in 1956, revealed lovely bass melodic lines under the principal melodies, with the final verse being very soft, distant and heavenly. The chorale melody Hyfrydol was given more textured orchestrations, with Blackburn demonstrating agile foot pedalling with continuous walking bass lines, moving forwards and so avoiding what can become a heavy and formidable density in traditional hymn practice.

It was wonderful to hear one of the most popular and best known of the Preludes & Fugues by French organ virtuoso and prolific composer, Marcel Dupré. Originally written in 1914, Op 3 No 7 was not published until 1920, as Dupré’s teacher, Widor, considered the work to be “unplayable”, and his publisher also thought the work was “way too difficult”. Blackburn performed both pieces with admirable ease. The Prelude is a captivating piece where a beautiful plainsong melody in the lower part strongly and gently permeates the stillness of the church beneath repetitive, ceaseless shifting upper patterns. Brilliant yet calming. The contrasting dotted rhythms of the Fugue dominated in all voices as they grew with increased dynamics and galloped into the fray.

Ron Nagorcka loved exploring the natural world in the Western District, often using his recordings of birdsong as the basis for his compositions. Zygodactyl Dance, originally written for harpsichord then revised for organ, introduced delicate, quirky and irregular motives with fragmented rhythms. With a section of contrasting high and low lines, we could imagine two birds dancing, searching hither and thither.

Composer Ros Bonighton was very much a Ballarat person, being parish organist and music director of St John’s Church at Soldier’s Hill. Her Toccato-Scherzo is a tightly structured and tonally flowing work, with short scale segments and repeated tonal patterns taking the journey towards assertive sustained chords. A final coda section was full of theatrical bravado and stage presence.

From his childhood days, Messiaen was fascinated by sacred scripture, prefacing his 9 Méditations – La Nativité du Seigneur with reflective texts. His work also reveals his personal feeling for the colours of stained glass windows, as evidenced by his shining orchestrations. With twenty-four stained glass windows, designed by artists and makers from 1877-1983, St Peter’s Church was a fine venue for Messiaen’s music, and his favourite window piece, the Rose design, is today, also a principal feature in this particular building. Musically intriguing is Messiaen’s interest in the meters and rhythms of ancient Greece and India, along with birdsong and inventions of his own scale patterns. Meditation No 2 – Les Bergers was played with sensitivity and gentle control, hypnotic and unhurried, as slightly syncopated pulses developed into two complex rhythmic voices walking a jagged path together. A wider exploration was felt in the cosmic, almost free-time sonic exploration of sounds in No 3 – Dessiens Eternels, where astonishingly, a passing motorbike timed its noisy presence quite by accident, or by the grace of God, adding improvised tonal colour and blend in a most unoffensive and surprising way. The work resolved beautifully in a subterranean register.

Blackburn’s grande finale was a well-chosen tour de force in organ repertoire – Henri Mulet’s Tu es Petra – a brilliant toccata referenced by the biblical text “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church”. A whirlwind of continuous high patterns given sharp, steely timbres seemed to be in combat with independent piercing bass lines, all developing into a climactic and devilishly difficult dance, with a triumphant major key resting place. Great demands are placed on the performer here.

There was much applause for this challenging and varied program.

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Julie McErlain reviewed the Organ Concert by Andrew Blackburn’s, presented as part of Ballarat Heritage Festival at St Peter’s Anglican Church on May 22,2021.

Concerts regularly held at the magnificent state heritage-listed Beleura House are a very special experience. Built in 1863, this classic Italianate villa welcomes lovers of art and history to admire the gardens and original interiors of the country home of composer John Tallis, and hear Melbourne’s finest musicians in an extensive all-year round program, with a bonus treat of sharing a fine silver service tea with French pastries and macaroons. Probably the most significant attraction for concert pianists, is the intimate music salon, The Pavilion, which is home to two uniquely designed Stuart grand pianos specially commissioned by Beleura, with their extended size and keyboard range allowing performers new tonal possibilities to explore. Stefan Cassomenos astutely chose a program to complement the Autumn colours and sunshine of the day, with music whose inspiration came from the historical flavours and traditions of European art and culture.

Into this dreamlike and colourful world of Autumn in historic Beleura, how perfect were Debussy’s Les Estampes, three sensuous and impressionistic musical portraits, where Cassomenos took us on an exotic journey from the Far East (Pagodes), to Spain (La Soirée dans Grenade), returning to his home in France with Jardins sous la pluie. The Stuart piano allowed Cassomenos to exploit atmospheric heights with ringing upper chords and high repeated motifs, and to take us into new sonic depths with powerful sustaining auras in low bass steps. Inner modal melodies were given a forthright contrasting tone colour, with balanced accompanying patterns adding sensitivity and distant visions. An Evening in Granada is more suggestive of the colour and flavour of Spain with its repeated lilting habanera dance rhythm echoing through every octave of the Stuart piano. Cassomenos augmented the pictorial story, using the instrument’s timbres to portray the passion and freedom of the soul of the dance. Rapid short light staccato patterns of Gardens In The Rain leapt and flew with incessant movement, highlighting Cassomenos’ virtuosity, energy and flair.

Composed in 2012, Studies in Odd Times, by Adelaide composer Anna Cawrse can ambiguously represent very certain musical odd times in these continuing uncertain times. Loosely based on Bartok’s 6 Dances in Bulgarian Rhythms, these miniatures were highly engaging, colourful and fresh, with innovative textures, joyful shapes and sparkle. Cassomenos feels very at home with the syncopated dance beats and timings of traditional Greek folk music and we shared that joie de vivre. The insistent walking beats and flowing steps of Nightshade allowed much tonal colour to be produced, while Stomp brought a stronger dynamic and energy with a clear 7-time meter and the accented footfall of dance steps. Above repeated short left hand ostinato patterns of Whimsy, the upper melodies climbed and searched in gentle shifts and wanderings. Bittersweet flowed with a steady pulse and broody repeated bass pattern, alternating a feel of groups of 5 and 3 beats, with fortified right hand accents adding insistent declarations and percussive colour. True to expectations, Twitch built a sharp, pointed and fragmented picture with scattered snippets and agitated motives. Drive was indeed a stimulating and new short journey, with a central single repeated note repeated at length while surrounded by stark but exciting open shapes and double octaves. Pulse beats were accented in repeated triple and duple meters creating much momentum and energy. Wonderful piano music.

Cassomenos then acknowledged the Australian composer, pianist and educator Sonny Chua (1967 – 2020) as a mentor whose works inspired him to compose from the age of seven. As a tribute to Chua, he performed his set of Genesis – Transcendental Studies. In The Beginning (“let there be light”) repeated upper melodies rippled as chords built up eventually becoming a descending, deep sonic blur. The Fruit gave us some quirky clusters and staccato fragments, almost percussive, enjoyable to taste, while flowing and surging, relentless natural forces were felt in The Rain with a clear section of regular, scattered tones imitating clear drops of water. The Coat (Allegro) was a true coat of many colours with vibrant full textures, surges in dynamics, balanced design and richly satisfying material.

The concluding work was one of Ravel’s finest impressionist pieces, the five movement work Miroirs.  Cassomenos delivered a breathtakingly beautiful and iridescent performance. Listeners were motionless, spellbound, lost in a faraway place, somewhere between Beleura’s historic gardens and near a rainbow. Noctuelles revealed smooth glossy colours and fleeting silvery reflections, while Oiseaux Tristes revealed much tone colour in expressive cadenzas and moments of sombre, distant solitude. Cassomenos hypnotised us with his introspective and affective colourations here as the Stuart piano added a high metallic edge to shimmering virtuosic trills and tremolos, and resonant lower keys took us further into a deep, calm and peaceful underworld in Une barque sur l’océan. Percussive repeated notes gave Alborado del gracio modern, adventurous and dramatic exotic chords with a highly emphasised melody projected from a refined and colourful accompaniment. In the final piece, La vallee des cloches, strong bell -like tones and lyrical melodies were exposed following a mesmerising and hypnotic soft opening. In the warm tonal harmony we held our breath, finally sinking into envelopes of echoes and sustained overtones.

There were many shouts of Bravo from the full house.

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Julie McErlain reviewed Stefan Cassomenos’ piano recital Prints and Mirrors, given at Beleura House, Mornington on May 20, 2021.

What a bold and adventurous undertaking – holding a ten day International Music Festival with the absence of international musicians, but with artists from all over Australia offering a highly diverse program. The headline for the festival – “Canberra transformed by …the idea of Vienna”- was perhaps a tenuous signpost for this concert, which did open with Schubert Waltzes, but the acknowledgment too that “tango still rules in Buenos Aires”, and the inclusion of recent Australian compositions, made this appear to be a disparate hour of music. Staged in The Fitters Workshop, an historic arts and cultural space in the historic Kingston Arts Precinct, the audience of two hundred people added a high level of anticipation to the atmosphere. Sadly, there were no dancers.

In Schubert’s short life, he wrote over 450 short dances, more like occasional pieces, whose economy of writing and delightful melodic appeal was shown in Six Waltzes D145, brought to life by soloist Ronan Apcar on a very beautiful Bosendorfer grand piano. His was an artistic presentation with colourful, exaggerated contrasts, bringing an elegant, and at times flamboyant expression to these enjoyable miniatures. He sensitively controlled the momentum of the flowing Viennese waltz, highlighting the melody and symmetry of the young Schubert’s pleasing romantic waltzes.

Australian World Premieres are always highly anticipated and warmly welcomed. She Dances By the River Op 103 was a most introspective, almost programmatic, slow and searching work for strings and piano by Sydney’s Andrew Schultz. Beginning with gentle walking steps, we could see in our minds a solo dancer exploring freedom of movement, with gentle turns and evolving shapes as strings climbed upwards, then slowly descended as repetition rather than melodic development produced resolution and calmness. Variations in dynamics inspired more passion and energy in dance beats, defining sections and climaxes but returning to introspective movement.

A different colour and movement came with the combinations of instruments possible in the popular tango flavoured work The Three Dancers by Elena Kats-Chernin. Accordion player James Crabb joined strings introducing repetitive footfalls of the dance and the work gained impetus and flair with punctuation from percussive open chords on the piano (Sonya Lifschitz). This small dance orchestra produced some evocative movements as passionate and subtle descending glissandos appealed to our imagination. There was a rise in energy as soprano sax (James Nightingale) was joined by congas and chimes (Adam Jeffrey) reinforcing the traditional tango rhythm. The musical journey took us further to Paris as sax and five stringed double bass (Rohan Dasika) drew the dancers into a faster but elegant circular waltz. Dreamy, exotic sections continued to alternate with changing orchestrations, with an exciting finale driven to its close by a prominent bass drum.

Three pieces by Piazzolla, led by the centrally staged accordion master James Crabb, took us firmly to the atmosphere of Argentina’s seedy nightclubs. Vayamos al Diablo (Let’s Go to The Devil) commenced with the traditional percussive handclaps and tapping of instruments with solid pulse beats, increasing to a more complex weaving and overlapping of fiery dance rhythms and short sharp melodic riffs. The fragments grew into longer, sweeping and sliding chromaticism as the heat was stepped up, sensuous and slightly manic but under control.

Central to Oblivion were long drawn out haunting notes from the accordion, with a hint of a Spanish serenade almost lost in memory. Repeated notes on the piano added to the simplicity and melancholy of the work as the music dissolved into a blur of white noise and gentle non-pitched shadows. Written as an accompaniment to a play Tango del Angel, the final piece La Muerte del Angel (Death of An Angel) showed the essence of Piazzolla’s revolutionary style. The story of an angel, who tries to heal the broken human spirits in Buenos Aires and ends up dying in a fight, inspired Piazzolla’s musical reflection on hope, desire and resilience. Performers first slapped their instruments, hands clapped overlapping syncopated gypsy rhythms and the accordion led the street dance with free solo improvisation. A romantic jazz ballad style evolved into a typical Piazzolla trademark finale with a frenetic increase in tempo and an exciting close.

The audience loved it.

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Julie McErlain reviewed Waltz to Tango, presented as part of Canberra International Music Festival, and streamed by Melbourne Digital Concert Hall from The Fitters Workshop, Canberra on May 7, 2021.

A newly refurbished Athenaeum 2 has become the ideal home for chamber music concerts as Melbourne Digital Concert Hall provides a permanent technical set-up for live and streamed concerts this year. There was a joyful and warm atmosphere and perhaps a more casual approach with both M.C. Chris Howlett and the musicians wearing colourful attire. The popular and highly regarded members of the Sutherland Trio were colourfully dressed in complementary patterned silk jackets adding to the intimacy of the smaller, warmer venue. Cellist Molly Kadarauch welcomed friends and family members present and overseas, connecting the first work, Mozart’s Piano Trio in C, K 548, as a “happy piece” played frequently with her family members when living in America.

The opening unison octaves of the Allegro signalled a passionate and united performance, with Caroline Almonte’s forthright piano solo work spearheading vigour and passion early into this concerto-like piece. She established a fine lead with her broad range of colour and dynamics, with matching empathetic echoing phrases and conversational themes matched by her string partners. The Andante Cantabile showcased Kadarauch’s passionate melodic style with charming and highly detailed expressive playing. The rich colour and broad tone of Elizabeth Sellars’ violin achieved prominence in the trio’s conversations – such a glowing and gorgeous timbre, but dynamically subduing the cello’s dynamic in some ensemble playing.The Allegro was a fabulous movement with further admirable piano work, spotlessly crystal clean embellishments, spirited playing yet also in a graceful frame. Most evident was the technical accomplishment of each musician and the team dedication to venerating Mozart’s essential joie de vivre, coquetry, wit, charm and dramatic spirit.

Inspiration for Melbourne composer Katy Abbott’s Fallen Angels came from Michelangelo’s sculptures – Four Prisoners, and Abbott was affected by the thought of the captive human spirit trying to escape from the marble block.Written twenty years ago for piano, flute and clarinet, it was expertly arranged especially for this trio by acclaimed Australian composer Tim Dargaville. This through composed one movement work opened with a high eight-note piano theme, notes sprinkled slowly above like angel steps, its pattern partially echoed by stronger rising tones from the cello and strings that seemed to grasp hands in the growing insurgency. Long, low, sustained notes explored the restraint of the enslaving marble block, repeated scurrying short scale patterns, sweeping violin glissandos and intense trills added emotional restlessness and eagerness. Freedom was sought through broken sections of the theme rising upwards, seeking release, but freedom from the sculptural theme would not come easily for the four prisoners. Final notes came from soft unison strings as a short motif rose against ponderous beats, then fell slowly and resignedly.

As with much contemporary music, particularly when programmed immediately after a Mozart trio, it was a great delight to access this work again after the live concert on the MDCH streaming access, and feel the true power, structure and tonal effects of this excellent but short work.

The fabulous playing and teamwork of the Sutherland Trio reached a pinnacle with Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor. This highly virtuosic and challenging work opened with elegant and mystical piano playing, Almonte leading with a lightness and graceful tempo in the Modéré preceding colourful themes where elements of Basque folk rhythms developed into passionate and exhilarating textures. Pantoum brought a rich and expansive tone colour from the trio in the many detailed conversational lines with a semblance of true orchestral textures in a passionate waltz section. Glorious low sunken piano chords under Ravel’s long drawn modal melodies brought a final extended and powerful cello melody to complete the third Passacaille movement. Ravel’s superb composition requires absolute melodic and harmonic precision and the final movement Animé brought this trio’s brilliance to the fore with an ecstatic close, as Sellars powered to the end through eight bars of exciting high trills.

Such wonderful music from popular musicians, but I felt there was some awkwardness with optics and casual stage presentation, with a problematic piano stool, and wire music stands carrying distractive loose white manuscripts, which did not blend nicely into the formal black and royal blue stage setting, but stole my attention from some of the piano performance.

We again applaud Australian female musicians and composers for their growing imprint on classical music and hope to hear more of Abbott’s fascinating scores.

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Julie McErlain reviewed “Making Angels” performed by the Sutherland Trio at Athenaeum 2 on April 21, 2021.

As the musical world cancelled or postponed hundreds of 250^th birthday celebrations for one of the most influential composers that ever lived, Australian Chamber Choir musical director, Douglas Lawrence, made sure we would not miss hearing some of Beethoven’s rarely heard vocal compositions in this year’s first public performance by the ACC 8.

A few of Beethoven’s real and imaginary friends were also invited to share the program, composers who would “cheerfully drink a toast of sweet wine to the external brotherhood of friendship” as extolled in the lyrics of the opening work, surprisingly, Beethoven’s Farewell Song. This gentle, very beautiful opener was a fine salute to the Germanic chorale tradition, introducing the warm and blended vocal timbres of ACC8 male voices. Frequently paired with his complementary Song of The Monks, Beethoven’s second work was stronger, darker and more profound, asking for a more dramatic and declamatory power in tone and stern lyrics: “Quickly comes man’s death. He is given no reprieve”. Completing this trilogy of sorrowful songs, the rarely performed Elegy Op 118 added the female voices to a hushed atmosphere of spiritual loss and reflection: “Life gently touched thee, and passed as softly”. The smoothest pulse and rhythmic flow developed more as harmonies and timbres broadened across a wider vocal range with rising soprano lines adding colour, affirmation of life and acceptance of the inevitable homeward journey. In this arrangement Elizabeth Anderson allocated string quartet parts to the voices, effectively tailoring Beethoven’s piece to the strengths of this ensemble.

Beethoven certainly admired and studied the rich harmonies of J.S.Bach, so the inclusion of An Wasserflussen Babylon in this reflective program was a meaningful choice. “By the waters of Babylon we sat down in pain … there we cried from our hearts”, solemn and dignified, the texts were delivered with the clearest of diction, the music delivered with flowing hymn-like qualities, sopranos leading and soaring above well-balanced harmonies.

Australian composer and writer Gordon Kerry was present for this performance of his composition Seven Last Words, a complex piece where elements of medieval rhythms and motifs, plainchant and simple counterpoint added textural variety. In the resonant acoustic of this domed church, ACC8 excelled in producing a gorgeous tonal aura, strong resonance in unison passages, and a fascinating crystal clear and bell like tone with precise punctuations and flexions in abrupt changing dynamics. Final solemn and darker tones were voiced effectively when the composer asked for an almost motionless, sleep inducing hint of lifelessness and sorrow, a contrast to the expression of pain and suffering in earlier rising chromatic motives.

First performed in 1942, the anthem Valiant For Truth is seen to be Vaughan Williams’ response to the death of his close friend, Dorothy Longman, in a setting of a notable speech from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. In a solemn quasi-religious setting, the imminent Mr Valiant-For-Truth recognised that he was being called to meet his Father, but without humility maintains his pride and authority as “all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side”. Tenor voices were featured in effective detailed dynamics and energetic counterpoint, as the work ended with rousing harmonic authority and imitative brassy vocal colours.

Would Beethoven have invited more anguish and pain into his life with Poulenc bringing sorrowful Latin texts to his birthday party? Four Motets for a Time of Penitence brought new tonalities, dissonance and awe to the Easter Passion.

Timor et tremor, like a solemn chorale, brought suggestions of pain and suffering in rising chromaticism and atonal steps. A descending glissando from soprano Elspeth Bawden was felt as an intense sigh, a cry of anguish. Vinea mea electa offered more calming, brooding tonal chords, but colder bare intervals and more modern fractured patterns exposed some bitter flavours. In Tenebrae factae sunt thelow male voices underpinned slow rhythms with sustained drone-like pitches, augmented intervals and descending short steps into darkness and sorrow. A final hushed unison note revered the text “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit” with much feeling. Tristis est anima mea opened with a free, almost improvisatory and ethereal solo soprano line (Elspeth Bawden) leading into the most challenging and difficult motet, where voice entries projected search for hope and meaning among dissonance and final resignation.

Beethoven, the entertainer, would have the final say with his musical jokes and teasing of his friends. He wrote Five Canons playing on the names and characteristics of his friends, each one sung by ACC8 with varied vocal groupings. Happy New Year for female quartet was a most playful and staccato piece. Hoffman and Tobias for male duo were two amusing, light and playful caricatures. Kuhl Nicht Lau brought his friend and composer Kuhlau into the party. Maizel with its “ta ta ta, great metronome” vocal imitations, was most fun and the audience’s favourite.  An encore had to keep the celebrations going. Elizabeth Anderson’s creative flair and talent for writing unique vocal arrangements for the ACC was highly applauded with an uplifting setting of Ode to Joy. 2020 saw the ACC continue regular newsletters, videos, livestreamed concerts, the release of a CD, always with highly scholarly programme notes, and today they delivered yet another memorable concert.

WATCH ON DEMAND: www.auschoir.org/Ludwig-van

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Julie McErlain reviewed “Ludwig van we missed your birthday!”, performed by the Australian Chamber Choir – ACC8 at Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church, Middle Park on March 21, 2021.

Here is a true guitar family. Formed in 2005, the Melbourne Guitar Quartet is continuing its unique and mesmerising concert programs of new repertoire for guitar quartet. Its innovative collection of instruments includes designs by the late Australian luthier Graham Caldersmith – classical bass, baritone and requinto (treble) – which have not only expanded the tonal range beyond the standard classical guitar, but also have a wonderful visual stage presence.

Highly applauded at the 2021 Peninsula Summer Music Festival, the guitar family members Jeremy Tottenham, Ben Dix, Daniel McKay and Michael MacManus gave another sell-out concert in the ambient Wyselaskie Hall, Parkville.

Embracing the music of Arvo Pärt, the quartet opened the program with Fratres, exploring a fantastic range of colour, resonance, echoing timbres and melodic interplay in an arrangement that transformed the composer’s fundamentally simple structures. The unique instrumentation of treble, baritone and two standard classical guitars allowed colourful and sensitive variations on the simple shape of the Medieval flavoured melody. Opening rippling arpeggios developed into contrasting and assertive Flamenco styled timbres, with each new segment revealing new colours as the harmonic density grew.

Inspired by the colours of the Australian landscape, Queensland composer and guitarist Robert Davidson has produced fine works of art for the MGQ. The River was full of vivacious technical episodes, constantly moving reflections and overlapping ripples. A folk-like melody took prominence as the accompaniments became more varied and virtuosic, with a prominent bass solo eventually rising from a rapid flow of conversational and contrapuntal statements. Most effective from these four skilled musicians was the intuitive and united ebb and flow of intensity and dynamic changes. Cliffs began with a languorous Sarabande dance rhythm, with a repeated song-like melody supported by an ever increasingly virtuosic accompaniment. Resonance, string harmonics and blended harmonies created shadows, while a strong walking bass line added depth and loftiness.

Award winning guitarist Pat Metheny has also inspired the MGQ’s arrangements. Highly exciting and virtuosic was Heat of The Day, where syncopated Andalusian dance rhythms, percussive techniques and rousing hand-clapping set a new scene. Exciting tremolos and high repeated single notes added bright timbres as the guitarists exchanged solos weaving in and out of the surrounding busy Flamenco textures. An MGQ favourite, Pat Metheny’s Letter From Home is a strikingly powerful and expressive ballad, its free moving and expressive introduction telling a nostalgic story as the piece developed a fully romantic and soulful sound on classical guitars.A smooth flowing 7-time rhythm added the sense of a slow circling dance by candlelight, wistful yet calming.

From Peteris Vasks’ String Quartet No 4, MGQ member Daniel McKay transcribed three movements, which he felt evoked shades of Beethoven, Stravinsky and Shostakovich. Toccata 1 exploded with urgency and drama in accented chords, frenetic unison passages and freewheeling improvisatory solos. Atonality and tension combined with incessant edgy punctuations. An illusive Chorale steadied contrasting exploratory chords and gave rhythmic unity, as solo baritone melodic fragments climbed in walking steps, restless and insistent till a calm cadence was found. This was a fascinating and colorful piece. Toccata 2 recaptured the agitation of the main themes as chromatic lines rose and fell, circling upwards, climbing atonal ladders and demanding rhythmic gymnastics from the players. An explosion of tremolos dissolved into a short closing blur of white noise and finality.

Technically brilliant, this was an absorbing program from a seriously innovative and balanced ensemble, whose stimulating music, high artistic skills and passion is most admirable. Dedicated to using instruments and compositions which are Australian made, they are a truly creative guitar family.

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Julie McErlain reviewed the concert given by the Melbourne Guitar Quartet at Wyselaskie Hall on March 12, 2021.