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