Indholdsfortegnelse for Feb-15 i Limelight

LETTER OF THE MONTH… THE VULTURE WING FLUTE In the December issue of Limelight (p64) you show a picture of ‘the world’s oldest instrument’, a piece of bear bone pierced with two holes. You also state: “Its creation corresponds with the time of the Neanderthals, some 55,000 years ago.” To clarify, there is some controversy about whether the holes were made by animal teeth or were deliberately made by hominids, and the dating may be closer to 43,000 years. The assumption that the ‘flute’ is Neanderthal is also controversial. Perhaps more certain is a bone flute fashioned from a griffon vulture’s wing found in a cave in Germany, dated at 35,000-40,000 years, and assumed to be human in origin. Other fragments of bone and ivory flutes have also been discovered,…

The much-anticipated return to the concert platform by violinist Kyung-Wha Chung has been overshadowed by an unfortunate incident involving a coughing child. The Korean virtuoso’s first recital in 12 years at London’s Festival Hall began with Mozart’s G Major sonata K379. Chung soon appeared distracted, however, by the barrage of coughing that erupted at the conclusion of the first movement. Turning to the parents of a child a few rows from the stage, she allegedly declared:“Don’t you think you should bring her when she’s a bit older?” Cowed into silence, the audience sat in some degree of terror as Chung proceeded to finish the Mozart and play Prokofiev’s First Violin Sonata.“I can’t remember the first half of a concert ever feeling this tense,” declared Erica Jeal in her three-star Guardian…

French production company Monello have partnered with Daniel Barenboim to produce a new animated series aimed at introducing classical repertoire to children. It will tell the story of a young suburban boy who becomes friends with his musical neighbour, Daniel Barenboim. The program will be broadcast on French and Italian television, with each episode exploring a different musical concept. FESTIVAL BAGS WENDY The Perth International Arts Festival has appointed Wendy Martin as the Festival’s next artistic director. Her tenure will begin in 2016 and last a minimum of four years. Martin said she is “delighted to be taking on the artistic leadership with the Festival’s rich history in the unique environment of Western Australia.” Previously, Martin worked as Head of Theatre and Dance at the Sydney Opera House, and currently…

1. You’re a busy man conducting the world’s most famous orchestra. What made you take on the Australian World Orchestra? As soon as I heard about the AWO I thought, what a fantastic idea! I’ve known Alex Briger for years, from his work in Birmingham, and through his uncle Sir Charles Mackerras. The music industry works on a grapevine and we have our own Australians in the Berlin Philharmonic: we have Stan Dodds, we have Matthew MacDonald – Brett Dean is one of my oldest and closest friends, and they all told me about the AWO. But, of course, so did Simone Young and so did Zubin Mehta who conducted the AWO last year. Zubin said to me, “Simon, you won’t believe how good they are!” 2. Bruckner’s 8th Symphony…

How much does classical music rely on corporate sponsors? Classical music nowadays is highly dependent on corporate partnerships. A typical professional orchestra only makes back between 50 to 70 per cent of its operating costs from ticket sales. What isn’t subsidized by the government must then come from donors and sponsors. For European orchestras, over half of sponsorship revenue comes from the banking and financial sector; car and media companies make up the next biggest partners. What do the companies get out of it? Fans of classical music are typically well-educated and middle-class – the same consumer demographic for high-end luxury products and services. As a result, many companies wishing to foster brand synergy use sponsorship of classical music as an effective marketing tool. Hermès and Rolex are two prominent…

Fifty years ago, Australia was gripped by Beatlemania. Crowds of record-breaking size and enthusiasm filled the streets and jostled for a sight of their idols, stampeding for tickets and fainting from sheer overwhelming adoration. For many it must have seemed a brand new phenomenon. But go back another half century or so, and you’d find the country in a similar frenzy: not for a pop group, but for an opera singer, and an Australian one at that. This was Melbamania, and though the phrase had been coined by the American press, it seized Australians just as forcefully as it had the rest of the world – may more so, since this was one of their own. When she made her first triumphant homecoming visit in 1902, she was already a…

An elderly, disillusioned scientist, a deal with the devil to restore youth, a fallen maiden redeemed at the last. The ingredients are familiar enough, and if we guess ‘Faust’, nine times out of ten we probably mean the first part of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 19th-century morality tale, considered by many to be the greatest ever work of German literature. But despite its ranking as the most performed play on German-language stages, how many of us can claim to have actually sat through a performance of the original? No, what most of us will have seen is one of its musical incarnations – and it was probably in French. This year no less than three of our opera companies (Opera Australia, State Opera of SA and WA Opera) will be…

Symphonies San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/Herbert Blomstedt DECCA 4609882 (2CD) Blomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony are undisputed masters of this repertoire. Concertos Dong-Suk Kang, Patrick Gallois, Olle Schill, Gothenburg SO/Chung BIS BISCD616 Concertos for violin, flute and clarinet are as fine as any written in the 20th century. Chamber Works Danish String Quartet, Trio Ondine etc DA CAPO 8206003 (6CD) The string quartets plus masterworks like the Wind Quintet in copybook recordings Maskarade Haugland, Skovhus, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra /Ulf Schirmer DECCA 4780146 (2CD) Nielsen’s comic masterpiece takes place on one evening of madness in ‘olde’ Denmark…

Li-Wei Qin finds something original to say in both Elgar and Walton Elgar • Walton • Britten Cello Concertos, Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes Li-Wei Qin vc, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Zhang Yi ABC 4811243 If Samuel Barber’s Adagio is dead Presidents’ music and Edward Elgar’s own Nimrod variation is dead field marshalls’ music, surely his Cello Concerto came to symbolize an end-of-empire separation/imperial glory anxiety. I mean no disrespect to cellist Li-Wei Qin, whose playing throughout both concertos is wonderfully sensitive with technical assurance and gorgeous burnished tone coaxed from his instrument. Every note resounds with exquisite clarity. Anyone who approaches this, by now, well ploughed furrow is courageous: is there any other work in the mainstream repertoire which has been overshadowed for so long (for better or worse) by a single…

Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier Jonathan Butt hpsd LINN CKD463 (2SACD) By refusing to ally himself to the received wisdom that Bach always sounds best on an ocean-going modern grand piano, John Butt gives us a Well-Tempered Clavier performed on harpsichord and instantly we’re teleported back to an ancient, shady world of tuning that feels as alien to our modern experience as water divining, those harmonic ripples causing the basics of familiar musical gesture to flow in ways which are utterly unexpected, but that also feel instinctively right as Bach swims in appropriate waters again. When performed on the sort of grand piano that does Brahms or Rachmaninov favours, the Well-Tempered Clavier becomes frozen in time, like an adjunct to Classicism or Romanticism, more a hook for our convenience as it…

Albinoni • Corelli • Vivaldi Pachelbel • Manfredini Orchestral Works Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/ Herbert von Karajan DG 4190462 I’m sure everyone has a favourite Karajan recording – no doubt he’s a regular in this feature. But my pick isn’t a Beethoven or a Mahler Symphony, nor is it mighty Wagner. No, I’m a sucker for the Berlin Philharmonic’s Baroque – and I don’t even mean their Four Seasons. One of my all-time favourite recordings is a very modest 1987 Deutsche Grammophon compilation of random Baroque gems, most of them Italian. This CD has been a part of my life since childhood – and surely all good classic recordings have an element of nostalgia attached to them. But what I find most endearing about Karajan’s Baroque is the orchestra’s sumptuous, full tone (boosted…

[PREVIEW] Australian Galleries in Sydney presents an exhibition and art sale from Glenn Morgan. Infusing mixed media works with pertinent social commentary, he is one of Victoria’s best-loved artists. Morgan studied a Diploma of Fine Art at the Warrnambool Institute of Advanced Education and completed his Postgraduate studies at the Victorian College of the Arts. While light-hearted in appearance, his three-dimensional works explore contemporary themes of Australian culture. One work in this exhibition, Black Caviar she’s just too bloody good (2013), depicts a horse race. With punters cheering from the track sidelines, the piece reflects pertinent moral issues surrounding the sport. In Us on a road trip (2012), a densely-packed car provides a humorous observation of material possession in the modern age. A related work, Only two hours to go…

[FICTION] The Skeleton Road Val McDermid Atlantic Monthly Press, HB, 384pp. $20 ISBN9780802123091 In the centre of historic Edinburgh, builders are preparing to demolish a disused building only to discover skeletal remains. Detective Karen Pirie uncovers a decades-old murder. [FICTION] My Sister’s Grave Robert Dugoni Thomas & Mercer, PB, 416pp. $15.95 ISBN9781477825570 Detective Tracy Crosswhite has spent 20 years questioning the facts surrounding the murder of her sister. Searching for the real killer, she unearths dark secrets that will forever change her relationship to the past. [NON-FICTION] Hand to Mouth Linda Tirado Putnam Adult, HB, 224pp. $25.95 ISBN9780399171987 Journalist Linda Tirado’s candid account of growing up below the poverty line. Interviews and stories explore the underclasses of contemporary America, and the growing phenomenon of the ‘working poor’. [NON-FICTION] Dreamers and…

Fine music radio station 3MBS has announced Johannes Brahms as its 2015 marathon composer following intense interest and lobbying from listeners, music lovers and musicians. Now well established on the Melbourne and national music calendar, the 3MBS Marathon enters its third year following the huge successes of the previous two events, which featured Beethoven in 2013 and Schubert in 2014. “We thought long and hard about an appropriate follow-up to the remarkable successes of the Beethoven and Schubert Marathons,” said the event's artistic curator Chris Howlett. “This year’s Marathon promises to be the most audacious and largest continuous classical music project in Australia for 2015. Performing Brahms’ masterworks in a marathon format firmly places Melbourne as the chamber music capital of Australia,” he added. The 3MBS Brahms Marathon on Sunday…

ABC CLASSIC FM SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA February 23 & 24, 8pm Over two weeks in February, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and David Robertson present the four symphonies of Schumann. In the first program, Robertson has paired the first two symphonies with music by Mendelssohn, the man who conducted their premieres. Bringing the theme of friendship full circle, David has also invited his own friend, Christian Tetzlaff, to perform as soloist in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. In Schumann’s Fourth the symphony is transformed for a new age: unified in vision and full of Romantic fantasy. Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony, inspired by the great unfinished cathedral of Cologne, brings the second concert to a vibrant conclusion with spirited rhythms and sunny colours. Celebrated Australian composer and Sydney Symphony violinist Georges Lentz also looks forward…

The first concert from the Berlin Philharmonic as part of their 2015 project to perform all of Sibelius’s symphonies, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. The melodic and emotionally charged Symphony No 1 in E Minor contrasts with Symphony No 2 in D Major, influenced by traditional Finnish ‘Kalevala’ singing. The concert streams February 5 at 8pm (Berlin time). To watch, visit www.digitalconcerthall.com The second concert from the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle. Sibelius’s thunderous Symphony No 3 in C Major is followed by the spiritual and sparsely orchestrated Symphony No 4 in A Minor. The composer’s beloved Violin Concerto rounds off the concert, with featured performer Leonidas Kavakos. The concert streams February 6 at 8pm (Berlin time). To watch, visit www.digitalconcerthall.com The third and final Sibelius concert from the…

GREG KEANE CD OF THE MONTH PAGE 64 Greg Keane has been a Limelight contributor since 2008. He is a copywriter and has also lectured in music appreciation in the adult education sector. He has a prodigious collection of LPs and is currently also the producer (aka the Dark Lord of Vinyl) of ABC Classic FM’s Mornings program. ANDREW ARONOWICZ REVIEWS PAGE 66 Andrew Aronowicz is mostly a composer, but sometimes feels the need to write words. He has had performances with the TSO and MSO, and was a 2013 Australian Youth Orchestra Fellow, which is how he met the ‘lovely people’ (his words) at Limelight magazine. LYNDEN BARBER FILM REVIEWS PAGE 96 When not earning an honest coin as a screen studies teacher, Lynden Barber is one of Australia’s…

DAVIS’S NEW MUSIC PLEA John Davis, the CEO of the Australian Music Centre, has written an open letter imploring broadcasting and government officials to save the ABC Classic FM’s New Music Up Late program. Presenter Julian Day’s radio show was the first program to be confirmed as cancelled following the announcement last week of major changes to Classic FM’s schedule due to federal funding cuts. With a focus on contemporary music, it is a major media channel for the promotion of new Australian work. WHAT TAMAR DID NEXT Tamar Iveri, the disgraced soprano who was forced to withdraw from Opera Australia’s production of Verdi’s Otello last June, has performed a charity concert in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The performance marked the first stage in what the singer hopes will be…

The young French harpsichodist chooses music that inspired his debut disc of Bach Bach Trauermusik Pygmalion/Pichon HM HMC902211 It’s impossible for me not to mention JS Bach — his inspiration is limitless! This funeral music from the magnificent Pygmalion choir and orchestra beautifully illustrates Bach’s genius, every detail refined and divine! Mendelssohn Elijah Paul McCreesh SIGNUM SIGCD300 This version of Mendelssohn’s oratorio (not as well-known in France as it should be) is essential. The way McCreesh unites these 400 musicians is staggering, bringing us closer to the heavens as the work progresses, then holding us there enthralled. Keith Jarrett Sleeper ECM 2290/91 Keith Jarrett has always been a hugely important influence on my own exploration of the piano and improvisation (which came much later than the harpsichord). Sleeper, recorded live…

LYDIA MORDKOVITCH 1944 – 2014 The Russian-born British violinist Lydia Mordkovitch has died at the age of 70. Born in Saratov in 1944, she was a protégée of David Oistrakh, with whom she studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow in the 1960s and served as his assistant there from 1968 to 1970. Mordkovitch won the National Young Musicians Competition in Kiev in 1967 and the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in 1969. She also taught in Kishinyov at the Institute of Arts from 1970 to 1973. In 1974 she emigrated to Israel, where she taught at the Academy of Music in Jerusalem. After relocating to the UK in 1980, Mordkovitch enjoyed great demand as a concert soloist. She made over 20 recordings for Chandos, much of it Eastern European repertoire,…

I remember two early and memorable experiences with the harp. One was the extraordinary sight of Harpo Marx in A Night at the Opera. In the midst of significant chaos, he calmed the madding crowd with some sublime harp playing. The second was attending a Melbourne Symphony concert and being captivated by Huw Jones who would eventually become my teacher. It seemed that while I knew about the harp, the experience of seeing and hearing it live reinforced the impression that Harpo Marx had made all those years earlier – this was an instrument that was enticing, beautiful, unusual and, in many ways, powerful. This was certainly the case when I had the opportunity to take up the Italian baroque triple harp. What a mighty instrument with three rows of…

Bach and Handel were perhaps the best-loved composers of the 18th century. Although the two never met, they were however united by a curious and unfortunate incident: both were blinded by botched eye surgery at the hands of the same ocular surgeon. The physician in question was the Chevalier John Taylor, an infamous figure in 18th century medicine who travelled across Europe in a coach adorned with paintings of eyeballs and the branded motto: “Qui dat videre dat viver” (He who gives sight, gives life). For the most part, Taylor seemed more concerned with the public spectacle of his surgeries than with their success rate. He would announce his arrival in each town with placards and handbills, and commonly performed in front of large crowds. During the final days of…

BORN DECEMBER 1987 IN WELWYN GARDEN CITY, HERTFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND STUDIED CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY; ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC, LONDON; HOCHSCHULE FÜR MUSIK HANNOVER/ROSTOCK LIKES QUIZZES, PUNS, INCLUSIVITY DISLIKES MORNINGS, MAKING OBOE REEDS, EXCLUSIVITY Is classical music a bug for you and, if so, how did you catch it? When I was very little, my mum would often play classical music compilation cassettes in the car, and I got completely hooked on them! After a while, I’d ask to borrow them and would listen to them by myself. There was also a pre-school children’s television program in the UK which featured a violinist every Wednesday; I remember I was fascinated by that too. What made you choose the oboe and did you ever think you might play something else? I actually started on…

Melba had been on the stage for almost two decades when the gramophone came along, but she embraced the medium with alacrity, leaving behind numerous recordings of signature arias and beloved traditional songs. Of the few CD releases available, the Historic Masters remaster of Melba’s first recordings, captured in 1904, offers by far the best sound quality, and the chance to hear the diva in arias from some of her most famous roles. Spanning nine years (1907-16) Naxos Historical’s three-volume set of Melba’s American recordings is a more extensive overview of her repertoire, while their disc of London and Middlesex recordings (1921-6) most notably includes Melba’s speech at her Covent Garden farewell. Melba sadly never recorded the opera which was written for her – Saint-Saëns’s Hélène – but the 2008…

Berlioz La Damnation de Faust Gedda, London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis DECCA 4163952 Gounod Faust Araiza, Te Kanawa, Bavarian Radio SO/Sir Colin Davis PHILIPS 4784145 Liszt Faust Symphony Boston Symphony Orchestra/ Leonard Bernstein DG 4474492 Schumann Scenes from Goethe’s Faust Gerhaher, Bavarian Radio SO/ Daniel Harding BR KLASSIK 900122 Busoni Doktor Faust Fischer-Dieskau, Bavarian Radio SO/Ferdinand Leitner DG 4274132 John Adams Doctor Atomic Symphony St. Louis Symphony Orchestra/David Robertson NONESUCH 7559799328…

LIVED 1865-1931 MOSTLY IN COPENHAGEN BEST KNOWN FOR THE ‘INEXTINGUISABLE’ SYMPHONY, WIND QUINTET, VIOLIN, FLUTE AND CLARINET CONCERTOS SIMILAR TO SIBELIUS The Danes are probably the world’s worst self-promoters. There is no other probable reason why it should have taken the non-Danish world so long to wake up to the originality, freshness and vitality of Carl Nielsen (1865-1931). Strikingly, his most influential champions have been non-Danes: the American conductor Leonard Bernstein, the Swede Herbert Blomstedt, the Finn Esa-Pekka Salonen, the British composer and author Robert Simpson. This isn’t so much modesty on the Danes’ part, more a kind of stubbornness: “If we produce anything good, the world can come and find it,” as a Copenhagen colleague put it. Then there’s Jantelov (‘Jante’s Law’), the Danish version of ‘tall poppy syndrome’:…

Rachmaninov Complete Songs Evelina Dobraceva s, Ekaterina Siurina s, Justina Gringyte ms, Daniil Shtoda t, Andrei Bondarenko bar, Rodion Pogossov bar, Alexander Vinogradov b, Iain Burnside p DELPHIAN DCD34127 (3CD) Rachmaninov devotees have long treasured the masterly survey of songs by the late Elisabeth Söderström, accompanied by Vladimir Askenazy, and the Chandos set from the early ‘90s that gave us the correct voice types. Some 20 years later this current set is a welcome release and a strong rival. Seven youngish Russian singers are heard here and all are fine artists and bring a great deal of Slavic intensity. Andrei Bondarenko’s rich baritone timbre caresses the ear and is superbly focused while Ekaterina Siurina’s bright forward tone is a delight and suits the lighter fare to a tee. Alexander Vinogradov,…

STELLA YOUNG HAS DIED [THEATRE] Australian comedian, journalist and disability advocate Stella Young has died aged 32. Young made her start as a journalist on community television station Channel 31. ABC managing director Mark Scott said Young was an unforgettable communicator and a passionate advocate: “Stella helped us understand disability issues by sharing with a raw honesty about her own life and forcing us to reconsider how we think about disability.” BANGARRA’S BIRTHDAY BASH [DANCE] Bangarra Dance Theatre celebrated its 25th birthday with a free performance on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. Hosted by actress Deborah Mailman, the event included song stories by Christine Anu and traditional songs by Djakapurra Munyarryun from North East Arnhem Land. Students from the NSW Public Schools Aboriginal Dance Program also took part.…

What We Did On Our Holidays Opens: February 12 Genre: Comedy Duration: 95 minutes A fine turn from Billy Connolly makes TV sitcom work as movie One of the absolute gems amongst television sit-coms of the last decade has been the family comedy Outnumbered, yet another of those televisual comic masterpieces the British have proved so adept at producing. What We Did on Our Holidays is superbly written and directed by the same team behind that particular series, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, using an almost identical set-up: the battling mum and dad trying to deal with the surrealistic imaginations of a trio of bright and highly eccentric kids. The series’ adult stars, Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner, have been replaced here by the more internationally recognisable David Tennant and…

Variety is the spice of life, in art as in food, and if you were looking for the musical equivalent of dining out à la Heston Blumenthal, the dynamic Sydney-based Ensemble Offspring provided just such an experience last year in July. Not that it was easy listening – this was edgy music that repaid putting in the hard listening yards – but it’s not unreasonable to liken Claire Edwardes playing a selection of builders tiles to a plate of Heston’s snail porridge, so let’s stick with the metaphor. Ensemble Offspring traced the avant garde legacy of Iannis Xenakis in Plekto (Braids) – a virtuosic and adventurous selection of seldom heard chamber music for sextet from around the globe. The program featured also featured Xenakis' Charisma, Kaija Saariaho’s Oi Kuu, Beat…

ABC CLASSIC FM QUEENSLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA February 14, 8.30pm In an electrifying opening to the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s 2015 Season, you won’t just hear Beethoven’s Choral Symphony featuring the famed Ode to Joy, you will feel it as new-generation maestro Gergely Madaras reveals the contemporary meaning hidden within its ancient truths. Widely considered one of Beethoven’s greatest works and certainly one of the most well-known works in the classical repertoire, this symphony will feature an all-star cast with soprano Dominique Fegan, mezzo soprano Nicole Youl, tenor Henry Choo and baritone David Wakeham. The Queensland Symphony Orchestra will also perform the world premiere of Gordon Hamilton’s newly commissioned work, The Trillion Souls, featuring The Australian Voices. All broadcast information is correct as of publish date and is subject to change. Limelight…

Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’Amore shines brilliantly in this light-hearted staging from Laurent Pelly at London’s Royal Opera House. Lucy Crowe is Adina, loved from afar by Vittorio Grigolo’s dashing but shy Nemorino, while Bryn Terfel stars as Dr Dulcamara. L’Elisir D’Amore screens at Palace Cinemas, February 6-11 The Bolshoi presents The Nutcracker. Yuri Grigorovich’s classic chorography is an interpretation full of romanticism and reflections on love. The Nutcracker screens at Palace Cinemas from February 7 and Dendy Cinemas from February 8 Opéra de Paris presents Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio. Exploring the virtues of human goodness, tolerance and fidelity, French actress and filmmaker Zabou Breitman’s new interpretation features Erin Morley as Konstanze and Bernard Richter as Belmonte. Philippe Jordan conducts. The Abduction from the Seraglio screens at Palace Cinemas, February 13-18…

1. Which son of a famous opera composer wrote 16 operas of his own including The Man in the Bearskin and The Kingdom of the Black Swans? 2. Herbert Howells’ Take Him Earth for Cherishing commemorated which great US President? 3. Bach’s Concerto for Four Harpsichords is a transcription of which other composer’s Concerto for Four Violins? 4. Catulli Carmina and The Triumph of Aphrodite were the follow-ups to what blockbuster choral work? 5. Who are the famous sons of this British composer (first name William)? 6. American statesman and amateur scientist Benjamin Franklin invented which musical instrument in 1761? 7. Over 90% of the cast lose their heads in which French opera? 8. Which 20th century English composer wrote a suite of piano works by the names of Ragamuffin,…

The young Australian soprano Kiandra Howarth made a last minute substitution in the lead role of Adina in Covent Garden’s recent production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, opposite opera superstars Vittorio Grigolo and Bryn Terfel. Howarth, who is currently on the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, stepped in after British soprano Lucy Crowe was forced to withdraw due to illness. Speaking after the performance Howarth said, “It was only half way through Act I that the enomority of what I was doing dawned on me. One of the proudest moments of my career was definitely being brought on for an extra bow.”…

An Irish guy is beginning piano lessons. He tells his neighbours he’s getting his piano delivered that day. Sure enough, the truck pulls up and an enormous grand is hauled into his house. The next morning however, the truck pulls up and takes it away. “What’s the matter, Sean? Did practice not go well last night?” asks a neighbour. “What are you talking about?” replies Sean. “Things are going great – I’m off to my first piano lesson now!” AS TOLD BY… Sharon Draper, Cellist, Australian String Quartet…

At my daughter’s Speech Night each year, the Headmistress (a sensible and admired woman) takes the ‘speech’ part of the night very seriously. Last year she clocked up a good 22.5 minutes explaining the challenges our daughters face in an uncertain global future. To meet these challenges the young ladies needed a thesaurus of skills. Creativity. Resilience. Imagination. Determination. Exuberance. Dedication. Innovation. By the end of the speech I was exhausted. I needed Resilience just to stay awake. Most of the time we attempt to be the best and give our all, but there are some times when you just can’t rise to the occasion, those days when you wake up in the morning, peer out from under the doona and know that it is just going to be a…

I’m a proud Chicagoan. Having lived in this city for nine of my 36 years, I’ve grown to love a place that can feel simultaneously like both a “world city” and a large, polite midwestern town. Chicago has the fast-paced bustle and rich cultural landscape of New York, but hop off any of the city’s major thoroughfares and you will soon find sleepy streets with rows of brick two-flats, kids playing on the sidewalk, parents happy for a diverting chat. The city has colourful and sometimes repellent past, full of gangsters, political corruption, institutional racism and gang violence. Four of Illinois’ last seven governors were jailed for fraud, corruption and bribery, the most recent in 2011. Chicago’s skyline is itself a gorgeous and brutal ode to the city’s tumultuous history,…

What are you doing in Vienna? I’m doing The Cunning Little Vixen by Janácek and singing the forester. It was the opera I was contracted to sing in English when I had to leave my father’s funeral and go to rehearsals in London. If there was ever an opera you’d want to do after you lost somebody important, this is it. You’re singing about the renewal of life and the strength of nature and the way life goes on. So yeah, it’s been very important to me. You grew up as a boy singing in the Anglican choral tradition. What kind of experience does that give to a musician? First of all you deal with scripture, and the source is the King James Bible. In that instant you have all…

From its first concert in November 1975 to the opening concert of 2015, the Australian Chamber Orchestra has travelled a remarkable road. Starting as a group of 13 string players, employed on a per-call basis, rehearsing in a lounge room with their own music stands, the group showed promise from the outset. The cellist, John Painter spearheaded the foundation of the ensemble, and he was ably assisted by Donald McDonald of Music Viva, the organisation which offered the ACO its earliest engagements. A glimpse of its potential was offered just a year later, when the Orchestra was conducted by Neville Marriner at the 1976 Adelaide Festival. Music Viva continued to offer engagements to the Orchestra and touring became a regular pattern. The Sydney Philharmonia also offered engagements to appear in…

The musical champagne corks are already popping as Musica Viva Australia celebrates its 70th birthday with the brilliant Canadian Baroque ensemble Tafelmusik this month, launching a stellar season that will culminate in a gala recital tour by Russian superstar violinist Maxim Vengerov. But at the heart of the celebration is the fourth biennial Musica Viva Festival, which runs over four days at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music from Thursday April 9 to Sunday April 12. This year’s festival will be a chamber music hothouse of around 30 events featuring 60 musicians, about 40 of them young Australian performers, with the undoubted highlight being three concerts featuring legendary Latvian-born Israeli cellist Mischa Maisky. There will be seven subscription concerts featuring top international performers alongside their Australian counterparts, as well as performances by…

INSTRUMENTATION As a professional wind and string player in a wide variety of ensembles, Nielsen developed a unique feeling for instruments as personalities. In his later orchestral and chamber works individual instruments can be like characters in a play. The sometimes comically uneasy relationship between solo flute and bass trombone in the Flute Concerto (1926) is a classic example. NATURE MUSIC There are moments in Nielsen that evoke Danish landscapes as vividly as Elgar does Worcestershire or Copland the American wide-open spaces. This goes beyond conventional pastoral imagery to pulsing, murmuring or crying elemental life sounds, or to orchestral textures in which the quality of ‘light’ is recognisably northern. LINE Nielsen could write simple, homely tunes as easily as anyone, but he also had a gift for long-breathed, sinuously evolving…

Sculthorpe String Quartets Nos 12, 14, 16 and 18 Stephen Kent didjeridu, Del Sol Quartet SONO LUMINUS DSL92181 (2CD PLUS BLU-RAY) The string quartet was central to Peter Sculthorpe’s output. His last, No 18, had its premiere on his 81st birthday. He undoubtedly liked string instruments because of their ability to sustain long-held notes. Drones play a pivotal part, not only in imitation of indigenous music, but as an aural equivalent to the Australian outback. Strings are also adept at imitating birdcalls, as the third movement of Quartet No 14 shows. Sculthorpe’s quartet writing with its drones and repetitive ostinati contain all of this, and through subtle harmonic and rhythmic juxtapositions he suggests the life with which this landscapes teems. Neither the terrain nor his musical depiction of it is…

PURE POP MIDI WITH BLUETOOTH PRICE $160 Pure has a proven track record of making good radios: the company took gongs in our 2013 and 2014 Awards. Next up is a trio of digital radios, called the Pop Mini, Midi and Maxi, and what we have here is the middle-sized unit. Why is it called Pop? Because that is the most noticeable feature of the radio. Press the comically large power button at the top and it will pop up, conveniently doubling as a volume knob. The front has a small screen and a single driver, while the cloth-grille wrap is deceptive: sound only comes out the front. Power is from a microUSB connection, as opposed to a bulky power brick. The bottom of the device opens up to take…

[PREVIEW] Arts organisations are usually no strangers to financial hardship, so the story of New York based dance troupe Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet is enviable to say the least. Founded by dance aficionado, arts philanthropist, and billionaire Walmart heiress, Nancy Walton Laurie, Cedar Lake represents what is possible when money is no object. Just under a decade ago, Laurie set out to establish what she hoped would become one of the finest dance companies in America. With virtually limitless funds the vision was simple: dancers would be employed full time and choreography must be by the finest dancemakers in the world. The advantages of this manifesto is not lost on Artistic Director, Alexandra Damiani. “It’s really extraordinary. Totally unique within the world of contemporary dance,” she admits. “Dancers having a…

[ART] John Olsen: An Artist’s Life Darleen Bungey ABC Books HB, 516pp, $59.95 ISBN 9780733331138 Olsen’s life is revealed through his art, but also vice versa Although Darlene Bungey’s plans to become an artist were thwarted earlier in life, she became a copywriter before penning the acclaimed Arthur Boyd: A Life in 2007. There she had access to many personages within the painter’s life, but he was not a letter writer. With her latest biography on John Olsen, she was granted carte blanche not only to the man himself but to the many letters to and from this often controversial artist – a painter who, well into his eighties, still challenges with his work and picks up the odd prestigious award to boot, like his fairly recent Archibald win. While…

MONDAY - FRIDAY 6am Classic Breakfast with Ellen Fanning 9am Mornings with Christopher Lawrence 12pm Midday with Margaret Throsby 1pm Afternoons Monday to Wednesday with Damien Beaumont, Thursday to Friday with Mairi Nicolson 4pm Classic Drive with Julia Lester 7pm Evenings Mon - Tues Simon Healy Wed - Fri Julie Howard. Includes the evening concert which generally begins at 8pm. However some live broadcasts may be earlier or later. 10.30pm Friday only Jazz Up Late With Gerry Koster ABC Classic FM Digital Radio and streaming online New Music Up Late with Julian Day 12.30am All Night Classics SATURDAY 6am Weekend Breakfast with Colin Fox 9am Saturday Morning with Marian Arnold 12pm Music Makers with Mairi Nicolson 1pm Saturday Afternoon Concert with Mairi Nicolson 4pm The Opera Show with Mairi Nicolson…

FINE MUSIC FM In July 2012, 2MBS-FM was re-branded as Fine Music – broadcasting the same music under the new call sign. The station broadcasts a mix of classical, jazz and contemporary music to the greater Sydney region. To listen, tune in to 102.5FM or stream online at www.finemusicfm.com 3MBS 3MBS is a fine music community radio station in Melbourne. 3MBS passionately supports fine music, especially Melbourne musicians and composers, and is the only locally-based classical music radio station in Victoria. To listen, tune in to 103.5FM or stream online at www.3mbs.org.au 4MBS One of Australia’s premier classical radio stations, 4MBS has received many awards for the promotion of young and emerging artists in Australia. Based in Brisbane, tune in to 103.7FM to listen or stream online at www.4mbs.com.au 5MBS…

SYNTAX Associate Professor David Wilson, from the University of New South Wales has told AM, a reduction in condom use has led to the increases [in syphilis]. The phrase “from the University of New South Wales” provides descriptive information about ‘Associate Professor David Wilson’. This phrase is supplementary rather than defining – you could leave it out and the meaning would essentially remain the same. In such cases commas have to be used before and after the phrase. In our example a comma is missing after the parenthetic phrase. (When information is ‘defining’, i.e. essential to the meaning of the statement, commas must not be used.) To add to the confusion, the writer has used a comma in place of ‘that’. (There are times when you can use a comma…

I sat next to Judith Durham, of Seekers fame, in the school choir as a young Fahan student in Hobart. Perhaps it was that early indelible experience of hearing the warmth and power of Judith’s soaring notes which instilled in me an enduring love for the female voice. Decades later, I played Nellie Melba on ABC television and, later, Maria Callas on stage at the Sydney Opera House. The odd thing about acting the role of one who has a mighty talent and has lived on in the memories and music collections of millions, is that, in a wig and costume, standing in the lights, with the sound of her voice filling the air, one almost believes in one’s own personal power to reproduce those notes. Alas, the power of…