The Banal Chew

A Sample of My Work

For two years, I had the pleasure of serving as music director of a Sydney-based chamber choir known as Coro Innominata. At that point, I had never worked with a volunteer, but non-professional choir of such a high calibre. I will never forget it.

I am working on my electronic portfolio, and this is the first of what I hope to be a number of endeavours. 

I hope you enjoy listening to this.

 

 

Ravel, Brahms, etc.

I have just returned home from an enjoyable chamber music recital in historic St Stephens Church in Newtown.

The Astor Ensemble offered a highly commendable interpretation of the Ravel String Quartet. This work, which I have to say that aside from the fact that Andrew Kennedy, the clarinetist who I believe organised the concert, and with whom I share some interesting parallels, (eg, both are fine clarinetists who chose at an early age to pursue other avenues rather than professional playing but still return to the horn it as our primary instrument..he much more successful than I at this point, I have to add), was the drawing card for me to attend this musical offering. I simply adore the Ravel Quartet. 

Following the interval, Mr Kennedy joined the quartet for the Brahms Clarinet Quintet, as he put it, the "Van Gogh" of clarinet quintets. Kennedy is a fine clarinetist, and served, as I predicted he may, as an appropriate catalyst to get my small person to Melbourne and rescue my Buffet instrument from hostage and start getting my embouchure back into shape.

A couple of lighthearted delights flanked the program as bookends. They allowed the band to lighten up with artful delight, which they did convincingly and without any need for patronizing smiles from the audience. They did not pander, and that's the important point.

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable concert, and despite the need for scarves and (possibly) woolen hats, the cool venue proved to be acoustically suitable.  Even the powering jets flying overhead every 30 minutes or so were thankfully (and rarely) overshadowed by the fine playing that had most of us ignorant of any distractions. And that is something that I am elated to say, when it comes to venues in in the Inner West, is a rarity.

A Matter of Taste

I am seeing a flurry of reports that Beyoncé lip-synced her performance of the National Anthem. To me, this isn't such a big deal. It's not like I paid $200 for a seat at one of her concerts.

Heck, even Yo-Yo Ma "bow-synced" on his cello at the last Inauguration. Performance conditions at the Capitol at an event that huge are beyond challenging, especially during the bleak Washington midwinter.

Anyway, I'm only a little disappointed to hear this news. Regardless of whether it was a live or studio performance, Beyoncé sang our anthem very well.

People have disagreed with her improvisations here and there, but even that doesn't bother me. Brace yourselves, dear music colleagues, but in my opinion it was tastefully done.

Our anthem derives from a Renaissance galliard (dance form). During their time, galliards would have been decorated in performance with ornaments and "divisions", which is exactly what Beyoncé did, albeit in a modern, "pop" manner.

Renaissance treatises on the art of musical performance discuss the ubiquitous abuse by singers and instrumentalists when it came to ornamenting a melody, stating it was often done without regard to the rules of counterpoint and, less objectively, taste. That criticism sounds familiar. We have all heard "pop" performances of the National Anthem by artists whose renditions make us cringe. For me, it's not because they're pop artists. Rather, it is their performance choices when it comes to improvisation and style that cause my dislike. To me, Beyoncé chose to add her modern embellishments in a way that did not harm the underlying melody and served the purpose of decoration well, but in, um, a very modern context.

She also sang convincingly, handling the technical challenges well.

To those music colleagues out there gasping in disbelief, yes, it's true. Sandy-Wayne has mellowed out.

Vale Judith

Regrettably fresh on the heels of my post concerning the death of Dietrich Fischer Dieskau, I am sad to compose another, this time commemorating the career of soprano Judith Nelson. She died on May 28, 2012.

Known widely for her work in the field of early vocal performance practice, Judith was one of the American singers who ventured to Europe during the 80s to contribute to the burgeoning interest in historically informed performance of music composed prior to (roughly) 1800. I enjoyed the wonderful opportunity to sing the M.A. Charpentier Leçons de Ténèbres with Judith in the mid-90s. It remains one of my favorite gigs to date.

Here she is singing with Emma Kirkby on their fundamental recording of the Couperin Leçons de Ténèbres.

 

Fahr wohl, Herr Fischer-Dieskau!

I have been so busy with personal housekeeping and moving around Sydney that Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's death a number of days ago went unnoticed by my eyes. I am sure many music colleagues updated their Facebook status with RIPs. How I missed even that, I am not sure.

As a voice student at university, I spent many hours listening to Fischer-Dieskau's intoxicatingly sublime baritone voice while studying vocal literature and German diction. The impact of his recordings of lieder by Schubert and other composers was (and still is) undeniably huge on the education of young singers.

Years later, as a professional singer, I returned to the recordings of Fischer-Dieskau again and again as a reference point for my own interpretations of German art song. These days, I listen to him for pleasure, but while doing so, I cannot help but continue to pay close attention to the manner in which he takes a texted melody (of any era or language, for that matter) and shapes it lovingly and artfully into something so personal that one is almost embarrassed at times to be privy to the performance.

This is a big loss for the music world, but the many recordings he made during the latter half of the 20th century remain as a testament to the astonishing mark he made in the area of classical music.

 

Fischer-Dieskau and Alfred Brendel (piano)
Der Leiermann by Franz Schubert

 

Fischer-Dieskau and Wolfgang Sawallisch (piano)
Mondnacht by Robert Schumann

 

Fischer-Dieskau and Hartmut Höll (piano)
L'heure exquise by Reynaldo Hahn

 

 

Ravel's String Quartet in F

Perhaps there are others out there who will never forget the first time they heard a particular piece of music.  For me, it is movement 2 of Ravel's String Quartet in F.  The entire work places me in a trance, but this movement tends to reduce me to immobility. 

 

 

Vagaries

My heart is sick. 

The choir I have been conducting for the past two years was taken away from me by the choir's governing committee (of 5), because of our move to Melbourne.  This, even though I offered (and they accepted) that I would commute to Sydney to finish out the year.  And they let me continue with this costly commute for nearly three months before firing me.  This means I won't complete the season with them...a season I programmed and was looking forward to finishing.

Goodbye Liszt. Goodbye Bach. Goodbye Handel. Hello emptiness. 

I've never been fired in my life.  Until now.  It hurts.

My beautiful fiancé, an expert in the governance of community-based organizations, tells me he has seen this over and over.  The first year of a new director is shiny and happy.  During the second, the old guard start to exert their power, and that they did.  Thanks to them, and despite all the recorded examples of our happy and worthy endeavors together over the past two seasons, I now look back on this experience with dismay and disgust. 

Hopefully, the hate I am currently feeling will fade.  It's not something I enjoy.

Boys Should Walk and Girls Shouldn't Cry

I went to see Jersey Boys last night. There wasn't much about the show I didn't enjoy.  [Sidebar:  I will always equate the 1960s and early 70s with my uneasy childhood, knowing I was different and largely unaccepted by my family, but not really understanding why.  This makes anything that references the time period, like Jersey Boys does, an uncomfortable experience for me. But that's beside the point. From a theoretical and entertainment perspective, the show is good in just about every way. Rock solid.]

Judging from comments I overheard in the lobby during intermission and afterward, I am not alone in misremembering just how many hits The 4 Seasons (and Frankie Valli as a solo artist) have in their repertoire list.  You can't really say their music is timeless, because assuming you were alive at the time, there's little way you can hear it and not flash back to what you were doing, where you were living during the two decades when these guys were at the height of their career.  But what you can say is that the songs were well written (mostly by Bob Gaudio, who also sang with the group for a number of years), the vocals tight, the men handsome, the production (by Bob Crewe) superb...and the style. Oh, the style! All of that is translated into the musical beautifully.  It's great stuff.

Through the years, there have been many, many covers of their songs, performed by artists from Andy Williams, The Pet Shop Boys, Clay Aiken to Lauryn Hill.  And the royalties keep rollin' in! 

Speaking of covers of their songs, here's one you may not know.  Have a good weekend everyone!

 

The Way I Feel

 I had a marvelous rehearsal last night with the choir.  We are learning a challenging program of Romantic music that celebrates the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt.  It will be a stretch for the choir, but I know they can handle it.  And after our second rehearsal on this program, I predict it will be an intense pleasure to conduct.

I just read this post on Paul Carey's wonderful blog.  It is a must-read for anyone who cares deeply about what performing or teaching music means.  I was moved by Weston Noble's words.  Let me know what you think.

The Word is On Your Lips

For whatever reasons, I am loving these tunes n vids right now.
Some old, some new,
Some funny, some blue.

Alphabeat, Fascination

Melanie, Brand New Key

Faker, This Heart Attack

Martin Solveig, C'est la vie (with the amazing U-Min dancers)

Pete Murray w/John Mayer, Opportunity (live)