Review: RUSSIAN PIANO MUSIC OF THE REPRESSIONIST ERA. Larry Sitsky, piano, at James Fairfax Theatre, NGA, Oct 9 1994. Reviewed by Tony Magee

Fascinating, entertaining, astonishing, educational, witty, humorous....... Larry Sitsky packs so much into his concert presentations, its somehow easy to forget that he is also a masterful pianist and interpreter.

This piano recital, and lecture that followed, dealt with music from Russian repressionist composers, an era sometimes referred to as "The Silver Age Of Russian Art". Mr Sitsky's new book, Music Of The Repressed Russian Avant-guard, 1900 - 1929, was launched at the conclusion of the Lecture.

As Mr Sitsky explained, whilst the composers represented are not household words today, the music is important because it accompanies significant economic and social change within a society. These composers were literally plunged straight into the public eye as fitting accompaniments to revolution - "a revolutionary society must have revolutionary music". So for a time (1900 - 1929), this avant-guard music became very much part of the establishment, and although it's demise came almost as quickly as its rise to popularity it has left a significant mark on the map of 20th century classical music.

But who are these "repressionist" composers? Mr Sitsky's book deals with a large number, but for the purpose of his recital, we were treated to examples from five.

Nicolai Roslavets' (1881 - 1944) second sonata (1915) opened the concert. This piece is particularly noteworthy as the point at which the composer formulates his own identifiable method of composition. He also developed, independently of Schoenberg, theories of 12 note serialism.

Five short pieces (1914) from Arthur Lourie (1892 - 1966) followed which demonstrated the composer's experiments with atonal music. In his later works he abandoned this for a modal style of writing.

Three pieces by Leonid Polovinkin provide the earliest examples of "fiddling" with a piano. In the second of this set of three, objects were placed on the strings of the Yamaha CF-3 concert grand. The piece featured dramatic arpeggiated chords with heavy use of the sustain pedal. These were punctuated by staccato notes, which combined with the object on the strings produced a wonderful percussion effect.

Polovinkin was heavily influenced by the French impressionists and this was certainly evident in these pieces, particularly the third one which could have been 

mistaken for Debussy.

My second encounter in a month (see Muse Crits, October '94) with Alexander Mosolov (1900 - 1973), came in the form of his Sonata No 1 (1924). The music is composed in rhythmic blocks which are often repeated and is referred to as 'constructionist' music.

Much of this music is hair-raisingly difficult, but nothing presented a problem for Mr Sitsky. He carried each piece off with flair and style, while also being able to administer the most delicate of sounds and emotions when required. All-in-all, a captivating performance presented with the charming humility that is Larry Sitsky.

First published in Muse Magazine Nov 1994

Review: RACHMANINOV PIANO CONCERTO NO.3, Larry Sitsky piano, Isaiah Jackson conductor, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, at Llewellyn Hall, Oct 27 1994

Isaiah Jackson

by Tony Magee

Isaiah Jackson brings to Canberra and its orchestra an international experience and to my mind, our orchestra delivered the goods well and truely. He is also a showman 'par excellence'! Add to this the remarkable and electrifying pianist and composer Larry Sitsky and the result was a stunning concert presentation of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor, Sitsky's Songs and Dances from 'The Golem' and Beethoven's Symphony No 5 in C minor.

The program opened with the Rachmaninov - huge sweeping beats from Isaiah Jackson and the clearest piano tone imaginable from Larry Sitsky, as he played the opening lyrical melody, which according to musicologist Joseph Yasser, is derived from an ancient chant of the Russian Orthodox Church. As the first movement progressed the piano began to dominate more and more climaxing in a huge thunderous onslaught of sound suddenly contrasted by lyrical arpeggiated chords over which beautifully executed solos sang out from Vernon Hill on flute, David Nuttall on oboe, Rachel Best Allen on clarinet and Dominic Harvey on horn. 

During the piano cadenza, Mr Sitsky delivered us through soft delicate lyrical passages and stormy onslaughts, followed by a return from the orchestra which featured some excellent ensemble playing from the cellos over the top of well executed pizzicato work from the basses. 

To my mind, Larry Sitsky restores humanity to the concert platform - gone were the traditional tails and white bow- tie, in favour of a kind of gold lamae vest over black shirt and trousers; taking off his glasses during piano tacets to wipe his brow and face - just venturing into the slightly unconventional without having to be deliberately reactionary.

Isaiah Jackson abandoned his baton at the beginning of the 2nd movement and controlled his orchestra with remarkable flowing gestures from both hands, rather like a magician casting a magic spell. The violins and violas sounded particularly lush here. This movement also featured a small clarinet duet, superbly played by Rachel Best Allen and Chris Woods.

As Jonathan Kramer states in the program notes, the third movement is a study in piano textures, a fact delivered with conviction by Mr Sitsky. At one point, the Llewellyn Hall resounded in three huge chords where conductor, pianist and orchestra were all operating as one - it was an electrifying moment. This performance was just so wonderfully great. I loved every moment.

Larry Sitsky

Larry Sitsky's Songs and Dances from "The Golem" is a fascinating work. This is a kind of suite based on the Christian and Jewish hymns and folk melodies which appear in the full opera. We were advised by the composer that if we imagined something fairly 'nasty' was going on as a kind of programmatic theme to the suite, then we would be on the right track. This was certainly easily imagined whilst listening to the performance - drama, suspense, intrigue etc. The folk tunes were easily evident, but were often underplayed by a disharmonic countermelody which gave an overall eerie and haunting presence to the piece. 

Mr Jackson demonstrated not only total control over the orchestra, but also over the audience as he held the last dwindling moments of the F pedal point with slowly falling arms and then kept that moment for a further few seconds before his body gestures signalled that the piece was finished - what conducting craftsmanship. 

Canberra Symphony Orchestra last played Beethoven's Symphony No 5 in the November season of 1987 under Leonard Dommett. This performance under Isaiah Jackson was assured and exciting and perhaps at a slightly faster tempo than say a hallmark performance by Karajan or Klemperer. The eagerly awaited brass fanfares of the 2nd movement rang out with great clarity. 

At the conclusion of the performance, Mr Jackson was visibly delighted with the orchestra, shaking the hands of many of the players and generally and deservedly milking maximum applause from the very enthusiastic Thursday night audience.

First published in Muse Arts Monthly (Canberra), Nov 1994

Review: MUSIC AND POETRY OF THE SEASONS, performed by Cathexis, October 23, 1994, at Alliance de Franchaise. Reviewed by Tony Magee

Shock, Horror! Someone actually managed to put an entertainment program together reflecting the seasons without mentioning or playing Vivaldi!

In fact the afternoon's concert was a well constructed program of mostly original and some traditional compositions (but all original arrangements) played by folk group, Cathexis (def: "the investment of emotional significance in an activity, object or idea"). The members of the group are Stephen Rosenberg, Bruce Robertson and Steve Hartnett. The music was interspersed with quality poetry by Canberra poets Frank McMahon and Ken Gardiner.

The instruments chosen for the performance were a combination of the familiar - acoustic guitars, flute, harmonica and voice - and the not-so-familiar - acoustic bass guitar (a much larger body than the conventional guitar with a depth of sound that was simply stunning), a small "petite" guitar, a monster tin whistle (pitched in D) and various improvised percussion instruments.

The music and poetry was designed to reflect the moods and emotions of the four seasons in the order Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and with the help of Stephen Rosenberg's informative and appropriately casual narration, this goal was achieved very successfully. Many audience members could be seen closing their eyes, as indeed was I, perhaps utilising the music's deliberate programmatic effect to conjure up images appropriate with each season, or just mildly tapping their feet or hands to the various beats.

More than this however, taken out of the context of this presentation, each original piece stands up quite well on its own simply as a delightful melody, with its own, and sometimes unusual, harmonic and rhythmic structure.

First published in Muse Magazine Nov 1994