Fauré's Requiem at St Mary's Cathedral

St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

In 1865 the architect William Wardell was commissioned to  design a new cathedral in Sydney. He was asked to create: 'Any plan, any style, anything that is beautiful and grand, to the extent of our power.'

The result is St Mary's cathedral in Sydney. You have to admire the spirit that created such a building in colonial NSW.

Last Friday I went to a concert at St Mary's, billed as Fauré's Requiem. I went with a friend who brought another friend who had never been to a classical concert. 

The concert turned out to be more of a Catholic service than a concert. Most of the concert was hymns composed quite recently sung softly by the Sydney Philharmonic Choir (or was it the church acoustic that made it so muffled?) I normally find church music uplifting but I was bored and sat there on the hard seats feeling sorry for the friend for whom this was meant to be an introduction to the classical world. What a missed opportunity. (He commented afterwards that the soloists were lovely but so short!)

The cathedral was full and I think perhaps we had stumbled into a congregation who were much better informed about what they would be hearing than we were. Luckily a program with the words was provided, Latin/French and English) and I could amuse myself by testing my school-day Latin. I was surprised how much I had retained.

Pie Jesu from Fauré's Requiem sung by Dominic Harvey, Winchester Cathedral Choir

Mersmerising pianist Lucas Debargue

Lucas Debargue plays

I started listening to the wonderful 24 year old self taught French pianist Luca Debargue online and was unable to turn the video off even though there was a live radio performance I wanted to hear at the same time.

Have a listen and see if the same thing happens to you.


Ismene Brown interviewed  Lucas Debargue in Moscow at the Tchaikovsky Competition.

Rainbow coffee

The early morning sun and my coffee machine put on a rainbow display this morning. If I were superstitious I might think the gods were sending a message to our Prime Minister Tony Abbott who is opposing a proposed cross-party gay marriage bill.

I was once so naive I thought maybe Abbott just didn't get it, was uninformed about the social causes he opposes.  His stance on climate change has made me wise up and I am now convinced he understands but just doesn't care and that he is just the sort of politician corporates need to push their barrow. Our current government seems to be full of people who just don't care.

So I see the rainbow as a reminder that nature is beautiful and fragile and that we must join together to fight for her.

Multifaceted mirror

On the way to the museum, we came across a multifaceted mirror that was just about as much fun as the museum itself.

Richard Egarr, Satu Vänskä and the ACO

Harpsichord waiting for Egarr to appear

Baroque music. Somehow the name sounds so staid, as if the music might be constrained by tight corsets. Women did wear corsets in the 16th and 17th century but there was an exuberance in fashion at that time and if  the baroque concert I heard yesterday is any indication, that is what we should judge the music by.

Baroque music expert Richard Egarr conducted from the keyboard, or keyboards actually because he played three 'old' instruments.

Richard Egarr (from ACO website)

Egarr is a pleasure of a man, explaining to his delighted audience what they should be listening for in the context of the time and teasing the orchestra by his unexpected improvisations which is, he said, exactly what baroque musicians would have done. (In Melbourne a mobile phone went off and Egarr reportedly improvised to include the mobile tune in his playing.) The Australian Chamber Orchestra, who accompanied him obviously enjoyed Egarrs theatrical flourishes and whimsical  improvisations.

Another great pleasure of the concert was hearing ACO Principal Violin Satu Vänskä play the solo lead in Bach's Concerto for Violin in A minor. She  has the most malleable right arm of any violinist I have seen. It flows in a mesmerisingly fluid dance as she plays. She reminded me of a weeping willow in the second movement, swaying and bending as she played. She was supported by the delicate and precise playing of her ACO colleagues and it made me feel like weeping.

Sydney Symphony's Tristan and Isolde

After a major Wagner drought, all the antipodean Wagner riches came at once this year.  The wonderful NZSO Wagner Gala conducted by Pietari Inkinen and with soloists Christine Goerke and Simon O'Neill was sung in Wellington, Chistchurch and Auckland last week, the Auckland performance on Saturday coinciding with the first of two concert performances of Tristan and Isolde by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Tristan and Isolde was the first live performance in Sydney of  a major Wagner work since 2003! We Wagnerians have been dying of Wagner-thirst.

Smoke and mirrors: giant sail in the Sydney Opera House auditorium
onto which images were projected during Tristan and Isolde

The SSO played wonderfully well under David Robertson. The singers were placed behind the orchestra which could have been a problem in a hall with such dodgy acoustics, but they were voices of caliber and all of them could be heard clearly through the hall. At half time I was amused to hear a young actor/singer talking about the amplification of the singing and saying he could hear the singers well from the back of the hall.  He was astonished to be told that opera singers are not amplified.

The standout singers for me were John Relyea as King Marke and Katarina Karneus as Brangane. Both have voices worth traveling to hear. I hope they get another opportunity to sing Wagner in Sydney and that we don't have to wait another twelve years before we hear them again.

(Review of the SSO Tristan and Isolde)
(Review of the NZSO Wagner Gala)

Rain and roses

I was in Wellington only five days but hearing Christine Goerke and Simon O'Neill sing up a storm at the Wagner Gala was worth the trip across the Tasman.

Pouring rain greeted me on my return but my pet Valentines Day rose looks very happy despite the wet. It has produced another crop of flowers, the third since I bought it looking dry and sad. It is clearly very pleased with its new pot.  I didn't think roses thrived in Sydney's humid climate but they obviously do when it is cool and wet. I shall be interested to see when my lone rose decides it is time to hibernate and whether it survives our humid warm summer.

Hobbitland: down a Wellington hill

Where the hobbits live?

Perhaps it is no surprise that New Zealand became the home of the hobbits. The countryside is stunning but even the cities have a sense of wonder and mystery.

Take Wellington for example. If you wander down the Botanic gardens from the top of the cable car to the city you have the feeling of being in mystery-land.

At this time of year it is dank under the spreading trees and in one of the hill crevices which never seems to see the sun you discover a house with ferns growing on the roof. Surely hobbits live there?

Pungas line the path

Punga trees line the steep path down. Next to me on the path was a boy gripping an empty pram to prevent it careering down the path. As the path got steeper his slightly older brother came to help him hold the pram back. They were making for the playground in a clearing half way down.

Further down the hill the botanical gardens open out into a rose garden. The name, Lady Norwood Rose Garden, flips us from native pungas back into British colonial times. Perhaps the Lord of the Rings might sip tea there with Lady Norwood.

Lady Norwood Rose Garden

 

Rose hips and trellis

Seddon on his plinth

Past the rose gardens is a very tall plinth with a statue overlooking the city. SEDDON is written on the base in big letters.   Richard Seddon, 1845–1906, remains New Zealand's longest serving Prime Minster. He served thirteen years, which is something of a marathon in a country with three-year electoral cycles.

Harry Holland grave

Past the Seddon plinth, the old Wellington cemetery with colonial tombstones marking the deaths of early settlers spills down the  steep hillside. 

Almost the first grave you see is that of 'Harry' Holland, 1868 - 1933.

Wikipedia says Harry Holland was a New Zealand politician and unionist who devoted his life to helping people. It doesn't say why he is buried under a statue of a naked young man whose cute buttocks face the path down the hill.

I studied in Wellington in pre-hobbit times and remember fellow students going to read poetry in the cemetery at night. Perhaps they did it so they could boast about it next morning. If they had paused to read the tombstones they would have returned chastened as there are sad stories amongst them.

Duff family grave

One stone commemorates five children of the Duff family:

Hannah Duff aged 1 year and 9 months
Agnes Duff aged 8 years and 4 months
Margaret Duff aged 10 years and 3 months
John Duff aged 11 years and 10 months
Edith Duff aged 6 years.

The five Duff children all died of diphtheria within 12 days of each other in December 1876 to January 1877. Their father lived on until 1899 and their mother until 1912.

A motorway cuts through the bottom of the cemetery. A fellow walker told me she has a childhood memory of  gravestones stacked together at the side of the road  when the motorway was built.

Apparently when the site was excavated many more skeletons were found than had been expected. They were all  reburied in a mass grave near the church at the bottom of the hill.

You leave the cemetery at the bottom of the hill and suddenly you are in the city center not far from the famous beehive which houses the country's Parliament.

A few steps more and you are on the wharf overlooking the harbour. The day I was there the sun shone brilliantly on the white sailed yachts and hillsides beyond. Wellington is certainly picturesque.  I hope the Duff family had many such sunny days before they were so cruely parted.

Wellington Harbour

Wagner Gala in Wellington

Christine Goerke (Brunhilde) and Simon O'Neill (Siegfried) sang their hearts out at the Wagner Gala in Wellington on Friday. They were both stunning, as was the NZSO conducted by Pietari Inkinen, as they transported us through selections from Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.

This concert is definitely worth crossing the Tasman to hear. They perform in Christchurch and Auckland next week ....hear them if you can! (Interview with the singers)

Christine Goerke

Pietari Inkinen conducts

Wellington, built on hills

Wellington houses cascade down the hills like blocks dropped from a child's box. They gleam white in the sun, peeping between the power poles. 

Wellington Botanic Gardens

The Wellington Botanic Gardens climb up a gorge between two hills leading from  the city. The land was probably too inaccessible to be built on in the early days and still today some paths are very steep. It is a lovely spot on a sunny day, though dark and dank in the shade. The plants have gone into winter hibernation but last roses hang on. 

1977 News

A random paper blowing down the street turned out to be the NZ Evening Post from 1977.

Wellington Gales

I watched the severe weather warnings from Wellington NZ with some trepidation earlier this week as I was due to fly across the Tasman on Wednesday. Gale force winds were predicted. 

The cold front crossed Wellington on Tuesday night with such strong winds that shipping containers were blown into the harbour. 

Wellington - beautiful again the day after the gale

There was still a brisk wind on Wednesday but the biggest bump our flight experienced was a tire blowing out as we touched down. We had to be towed to the terminal but no one minded the delay at all. 

Music and lights in Pearl Beach

Isabella Brown plays Double Bass

The Pearl Beach Progress Association is quite a phenomenon. I don't know the average age of the members but whatever it is, they are proof that you don't have to slow down with age.  Among the events they organise is the June long-weekend Music Festival. Four mostly classical concerts over two days in their small community hall. There is always a taste of other music to cater for those less classically interested and this year it was Tango.

This year was also the first year with a new lighting system and the person operating the lights seemed quite captivated by all the different combinations he could produce. We had a very colourful show.

The Taming the Tango concert on Sunday night was the best attended concert and very well received, but my personal favorite was the first concert on Saturday afternoon: the Acacia Quartet playing a music by Elena Kats-Chernin, an Australian composer whose music I very much like.

I am delighted the Progress Association continue to bring serious classical musicians north for  evenings of intimate music in their lovely old hall. There is nothing that quite compares with hearing music in such surroundings.

Brandis arts-funding protest

The Australian Arts Minister George Brandis has taken $104m of the funding previously distributed by the arms-length Australia Council and moved it, without warning, to his own Department where he has the say on where it is spent. (Here is a thoughtful comment by the Music Trust)

Zwei Halbakte mit Brandis

In response the George Brandis Live Art Experience Facebook page has been established to which artists are posting images of paintings with Brandis photoshopped into them. In just 3 days it has become more popular than George Brandis' own page.

This is my contribution. I modified Zwei Halbakte (Two semi-nudes) by Otto Mueller who was declared a Degenerate Artist by the National Socialists in Germany in the 1930s. I tried uploading it without the yellow bar covering the breasts, but it disappeared almost immediately .... Facebook doesn't  like nipples (although presumably they don't mind male nipples).

The page is growing and I notice someone has just photoshopped Brandis into the famous Demi Moore photograph.

Red canvases

Three canvases painted bright red with 'artists professional underground paint' are sitting out in the sun drying. Our autumn has turned from chilly to warm, good weather for canvas preparation.  The large canvas is for a portrait but the others were painted just because I couldn't resist the red.

Rothko’s “Untitled (Yellow and Blue)”
  2.4m (8') high, created in 1954

I read that a blue and yellow canvas by the American artist Rothko sold for a record $46.4 million last Tuesday so perhaps I should just leave my canvases plain red.

People are reduced to tears when confronted with Rothko's work; the colour/vibrations of the painting have an extraordinary emotional effect.  I doubt a small canvas with one layer of red paint (Rothko's are many layered)  would have the same effect so I will continue with my plan of using them for portraits.

Old wood and music

Matai 

Walnut

My father loved wood and eventually became a wood turner. At the bottom of each piece he wrote the species of wood he had used. You could often guess the species as the colour of the wood was similar to the fruit, for example apricot wood has an orange hue.



I thought of that on Friday as I watched Maxime Bibeau play his new honey-coloured double bass. I think must have been made by bees. Bibeau says it was made in the late sixteen century but that some of the wood in the instrument can be traced back to 1266. My Dad would have loved that idea as a lot of people brought him wood for turning and he had a large selection, some of it very aged (though not 750 years). 

Bottesini (above)
Bibeau sketch (below)

Bibeau's new 'old' double bass is not only beautiful, it has the vocal range of a whole orchestra. We are used to hearing the double bass as bass, baritone or sometimes perhaps as tenor. On Friday we heard her soprano range and it is quite extraordinary.

The ACO Mostly Mendelssohn concert included the Grand Duo Concertante for Double Bass and Violin by Bottesini (1821-1889). You could tell Bottesini must have been a bass virtuoso himself as only an accomplished bass player would know how to produce the high notes required in this piece. Stefan Jackiw played violin and at times it was difficult to tell which instrument was playing which part. Watching these two virtuosic musicians play extraordinary music, accompanied by the always-able ACO was a real pleasure.

Peter Serkin: an elegant banker-look-alike gives us new ears

A wave from
tier 3.

We have got so used to loud and virtuosic piano high-jinks that when a concert is quiet and meditative, it takes time to adapt. The SSO piano concert last night at Angel Place in Sydney was one of those.

The audience filed into the Angel Place concert hall and sat looking at the grand piano, shining in black splendor. Bathed in violet with yellow backdrop, the setting was a visual treat even without a performance.

The lights dimmed and onto the stage walked a gentleman in a perfect grey, striped, three piece suit. He bowed to the audience, looking for all the world like a banker from a by-gone era, one of those elegant if slightly stiff gentlemen common in the days when bankers were people you could trust.  This was Peter Serkin, distinguished American pianist and son/grandson of distinguished musicians. Perhaps you need a persona and lineage like this to present a concert such as he presents, music that no one has heard before and which defies the 'normal' concert experience.

Serkin has a reputation for championing contemporary music but the pieces he chose to play last night looked to the past. The concert started with pre-baroque adaptations and music from an Elizabethan song-book. They seemed so simple but it look me some time to change tempo. I am sure the pieces and Serkin's slow, quiet and contemplative presentation was a very deliberate choice, designed to help us move from an over-busy and intellectualised world into a space where we could 'really hear' the works he presented.

I found myself wondering as the concert started whether I would have come had I known what was on offer and it was only during the second half of the concert, listening to pieces by Max Reger, Mozart and Beethoven  that I realised Serkin's skill had given me a whole new ear. I had not previously heard the chosen Mozart and Beethoven pieces and as I listened I could feel my view of both composers changing. I felt as if I had previously only seen the surface view and that now I was suddenly able to delve much deeper. Mozart's Rondo in A minor was a revelation. The program notes say it is regarded as his most personal work and I can believe that. It is introspective, thoughtful and contemplative, but emotional at the same time. Beethoven's Sonata No 30 is similar.

I am so grateful to Peter Serkin for taking me to a place where I could really hear music I didn't know existed.

Clay for Nepal

Ceramic artists in Australia and across the world have donated pieces for the Nepal relief effort. Many of the pieces by the more well known artists are up for auction until tomorrow evening, Sunday 17 May. If you want to start or augment your ceramic collection, this would be a great place to start.

Water set by Kris Coad
(from the auction website)

Wool for warmth

Woolly layers

Thank heavens for wool. The first snows have fallen on the ranges to the south of Sydney and we can feel it in the air, even here on the Central Coast. I am grateful for my winter woollies, mostly from the wool shop in Taihape, New Zealand.  

NZ Met Service website

In New Zealand they measure the cold by telling you the number of layers you will need to feel warm. The Met Service website shows the temperature is currently 11C in Wellington but feels like 8C. They recommend three layers plus a windproof layer..
 
Three layers for 8C! That might be adequate for those hardy Wellingtonians, but what about we folk whose blood has run thin after a long hot summer?  Our forecast temperature is 17C for tomorrow, but I am needing three layers even today when it has been warmer. I wonder what the NZ met service would recommend for the thin blooded?