New Australian works premiered alongside revival of neglected ones

“Australian  Song”

Sarahlouise Owens soprano

Natalia Tkachenko piano

Wesley Music Centre, August 23. 

Reviewed by Tony Magee

In compiling this fascinating and diverse program of Australian song, soprano Sarahlouise Owens and pianist Phillipa Candy spent months researching through archives, discovering two forgotten female composers whose musical output included pieces of substance and quality that somehow slipped through the net.

Owens paid tribute to Candy’s enormous contribution to this recital.  Alas due to ill health, she was unable to accompany on the day and the amazing and extremely talented Natalia Tkachenko took her place, with six days notice, providing piano accompaniments of sensitivity and beauty throughout the performance.

Soprano Sarahlouise Owens. Photo: Peter Hislop

The highlight of the concert was the premiere of the song cycle “Truth and Beauty” by Canberra composer Michael Dooley, using three poems by John Keats as his texts and later in the program, finishing with Keat’s most famous “Ode to a Nightingale”, the opening text reading thus:

My heart aches

And a drowsy numbness pains my sense

As though of Hemlock I had drunk

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains

Hearing it again brought back chuckling memories of my first encounter with that poem, in 1972, where The Pythons had some fun translating it into a more basic format:

Ode to A Nightwatchman

My heart goes ping!

And a lousy numbness pains my sense

As though of Guinness I had drunk

Or thrown up all over your carpet

Michael Dooley stands tall as a gifted modern composer, having established a composing style that is clearly unique and which he can call his own.

He has a special gift for melody, supported by beautiful, flowing, almost cloud-like cushioning support from the piano.

Owens sang the Dooley cycle with lyrical phrasing, beautiful pitch, diction and dynamics which captivated the socially distanced capacity audience of just 34 - such are the times in which we live.

I have it on good authority, that this program will be repeated as a dual session before the year is out. 

“Two Hebrew Songs” by Linda Phillips (1899 - 2002) and selections from “Collected Songs Vol. 1” by Phyllis Batchelor (1915 - 1999) followed, both female Australian composers who have been unjustifiably ignored. Phillips’ “Ash Trees” and “The Golden Bird” showcased her bold and dynamic composing style, repertoire that was once sung by Joan Sutherland in her youth and then largely forgotten, until this rectal brought them back to life.

Batchelor’s “The Wind” demanded extreme vocal power and emotion from Owens who delivered the goods with aplomb and assurance, aided by Tkachenko’s equally demanding and powerful accompaniments.

Carl Vine’s “Love Me Sweet” presented a gentle and romantic contrast, using the musical technique known as “tierce de picardi”, where the key centre changes from minor to major at cadence points.

Selections from Horace Keats’ “Brennan Songs” was the only disappointment for me during this recital. His composing style is unoriginal, predictable and repetitive. The performers did the best they could with it, but I think the program would have been better off with this section omitted.

It was certainly very refreshing to hear new Australian works premiered alongside revivals of neglected ones, all presented by these two talented artists with panache and style, in yet another of the first, tiny steps we take back into the world of live performance.

First published in a slightly edited format in Canberra City News Digital Edition, August 24, 2020

Obituary - Julian Bream: Classical guitarist dies aged 87

Entertainment and Arts

14 August 2020

Classical guitarist and lute player Julian Bream has died at his home in Wiltshire at the age of 87.

The virtuoso musician performed globally during his heyday, and was renowned for his recordings of new compositions and masterclasses.

He won four Grammy Awards and received 20 nominations between 1960 and 85.

A self-taught musician, Bream learned playing to radio dance bands with the lute his father bought from a sailor on London's Charing Cross Road in 1947.

As a child prodigy, his early recitals led to him being "acknowledged as one of the most remarkable artists of the post-war era", according to the Royal Academy of Music.

After studying piano and composition at the Royal College of Music, and completing national service, he became one of the most prolific and best-selling recording artists in classical music.

RCA boxed set "Elizabethan Serenade" with Julian Bream Consort and British tenor Peter Pears

He was made an OBE in 1964 and a CBE in 1985. His repertoire included new works by composers including Benjamin Britten, Sir William Walton and Sir Michael Tippett. 

British cultural commentator and journalist Norman Lebrecht expressed his "sadness" at Bream's death.

Prestigious London venue Wigmore Hall called Bream "one of the greatest guitarists of all time", adding: "Julian gave his first performance at Wigmore Hall in 1951. He will be greatly missed. RIP." 

German classical guitarist Heike Matthiesen called the musician "My idol, my lifelong inspiration as musician and artist", while Helen Sanderson, director of National Youth Guitar Ensemble, said Bream was "my hero forever".

Bream's passion for the Elizabethan lute resulted in him being given solo recitals in concert halls around the world, as well as programmes of poetry and music with the actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft.

During the 1960s, he also founded the Julian Bream Consort a period-instrument ensemble with Bream as lutenist, putting the instrument firmly back on centre stage.

During a masterclass in California in 1991, he told the students: "Guitar was just a hobby, but it seemed to me that the instrument had possibilities, not least of which was that there was no one else playing it.

"I could be, as it were, the best boy in an all-girls school."

In 2008, he set up the The Julian Bream Trust to provide financial help for the less well-off, young and gifted music students, and to continue the work of commissioning new compositions for the guitar.

Bream told The Guardian in 2013 that he had to "renounce making music seriously" in 2011 after being knocked off his feet by a neighbour's dog while out walking.

He broke both hips and injured his left hand in the fall, but said: "There's nothing sad about not playing any more. The thing I feel a little annoyed about is that I know I'm a better musician than I was at 70, but I can't prove it."

He added that he was still able to manage a few scales and arpeggios because "it's very good for one's brain and muscular system to work in harmony. If you keep up your playing it just keeps things ticking over".

Speaking about his career, he said: "I devoted my life to music for a reason, and the reason wasn't because I wanted to get on or make money, but to try to fulfil myself and also to give people pleasure. That's been my credo."

First published by BBC News Online, August 14, 2020

Dame Shirley Bassey to release first new album in five years

Dame Shirley Bassey will release the album later this year. Photo: Getty Images

Dame Shirley Bassey is to release her first new album in more than five years to celebrate her 70-year career.

The 83-year-old superstar singer from Cardiff has released 70 albums and sold nearly 140 million records.

The album will be released later this year and is described as a "grand finale" dedicated to her fans.

Dame Shirley said: "The songs I have chosen all feel very personal and connected to my life. I hope they will do the same for my fans."

Decca Records said the release would include brand new material written especially for the singer, as well as tracks to reflect her life and career.

The recording is taking place in London, Prague, Monaco and the south of France, with the crew operating within coronavirus restrictions.

Biographer John Williams told BBC Radio Wales that it may not be Dame Shirley's last album, saying "with someone like Shirley, never say never, but it sounds like it would be a great way to go out".

"When you have been singing for as long as she has, which is about 70 years, I wonder if she will really give it up,"

One of Dame Shirley's biggest hits was Goldfinger, from the 1964 James Bond film. Photo courtesy BBC

Dame Shirley's biggest hits include the theme songs to three James Bond films - Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker.

Her last studio album was Hello Like Before, released by RCA in 2014.

Born in Tiger Bay, Dame Shirley first started singing as a teenager in Cardiff, performing in pubs and clubs while also working in a factory.

In 1959, she became the first Welsh singer to score a number one single with As I Love You.

She was the winner of the first Brit Award for best British female solo artist in 1977, and was the first musician to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Cardiff.

She was made a dame for her services to performing arts in 2000.

Mr Williams said Dame Shirley had created an "extraordinary legacy" and it was time to "take stock" of what she had achieved.

"As a teenaged, mixed-race single mother from the Cardiff docks, she managed to make herself a star [in a largely] all-white Britain of the 1950s, through pure force of personality and talent," he said.

Mr Williams said Dame Shirley's career started in the early 50s, before rock and roll.

"She came out of a world of musical halls and variety shows," he said.

"She related to the great stars: people like Judy Garland would have been an inspiration, and she's kept that idea of glamour, and singers that are full of emotion and drama."

While Mr Williams said the powerful songs were incredible, he would love the album to include some "quieter numbers".

"We are so used to the full-throttle Shirley, occasionally it's nice to have a bit of light and shade as well, because she is actually surprisingly great on more sensitive numbers."

Co-managing director of Decca Records, Tom Lewis said: "Dame Shirley Bassey is a living legend and she is still at the peak of her powers."

He added: "Every note she sings tells its own story of the adventures she has had, the legends she has encountered or the lives she has enriched."

First published at BBC News, August 6, 2020

BASSEY'S BACK AT 83!

by Mark Jefferies

6 Aug 2020

LEGENDARY singer Shirley Bassey has signed a new record deal for what appears to be her final album, after a career spanning 70 years.

Dame Shirley Bassey at 83. Picture: Mark Cuthbert / Getty Images

Since first singing professionally back in 1953, Shirley - now 83 - has released 70 albums, selling nearly 140 million records.

The new deal with Decca records is for an as-yet untitled LP described as “her grand finale album entirely dedicated to her fans and career”.

It will see her record in London, Prague, Monaco and the South of France, with the crew operating under strict Covid travel and recording restrictions.

The Diamonds are Forever singer said: “My new album is a celebration of 70 years in showbiz, 70 years of support from my fans and 70 years of music. I’ve trodden the boards of many stages and kicked up many a diamante heal. The songs I have chosen all feel very connected to my life. I hope they will do the same for my fans”.

The album will also feature new material alongside the tracks hand-picked by the Welsh icon. Some of Dame Shirley’s biggest hits include the theme songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever and Moonraker.

She became the first Welsh singer to score a number one single, in 1959, with As I Love You.

First published in Daily Express, August 6, 2020

Polish Count Matvei Wielhorski provides inspiration for superb concert

“The Russian Cello” 

Thomas Rann cello

Edward Neeman piano 

Wesley Music Centre 

August 2, 2020

Reviewed by Tony Magee

CONCERT THEMES are a particularly excellent way of preparing a program of music and the choice of the Russian-Polish Count Matvei Wielhorski and his legacy of enthusiasm for the cello, provided such an opportunity for cellist Thomas Rann and pianist Edward Neeman.

Pianist Edward Neeman and cellist Thomas Rann. Photo: Peter Hislop

Beginning with Beethoven’s Variations on a theme by Mozart, “Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen”, the performers engaged each other with superb phrasing, balance of tone and volume.

Neeman extracts a beautiful singing tone from the piano, using a relaxed weight technique. Rann projects his cello sound in a bold, dramatic and engaging manner, partly due to his own stylish and beautiful playing, but also his magnificent modern instrument, made in 2010 in France by luthier Frédéric Chaudière.

Rann varies his upper register intonation at times, complimenting the beautiful rich middle register of his cello and its incredible bass foundation, the low open C string projecting with almost contra-bass proportions.

This pattern of finely honed balance, exquisite phrasing between the two players, tone production and projection of immense clarity and cantabile was repeated throughout the entire concert.

In addition, Neeman and Rann provided the audience with a master-class in dynamic shadings, taking us on a whirlwind tour from the most delicate pianissimos, to forte passages and cadences of immersive strength and intensity.

Both artists play as if they “lived” every moment of each piece. Rann in particular seems to savour the opportunity to visually engage with his audience with occasional eye contact before disappearing back into his inner world of music making.

Two pieces by Karl Davydov followed the Beethoven, his “Romance sans paroles, Op. 23” being beautifully melodic and romantic in nature, before his “At the Fountain, Op. 20, No. 2” which revealed a striking vivace opening of intensity from both musicians before relaxing back once again into a romantic melody of beauty and feeling.

Vieuxtemps’ “Elegy, Op. 30” followed, the cello part being transcribed from the original viola setting. In this, the cello played the dominant role with piano dropping back into a sensitive and moving accompaniment.

To close the program, Mendelssohn’s massive “Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Major” was spell-binding in its delivery from these two master musicians, where piano and cello share equal roles. Neeman recreated Mendelssohn’s own rippling arpeggiated phrases, based on a Sebastian Bach motive in the Adagio movement, both instruments fading into a sublime, almost mystic conclusion. 

The final Molto allegro movement was played with conviction, style, precision and emotion of a magnitude rarely heard these days.

Perhaps its partly the large gap in time since I’ve heard anything live, but I truly believe this was a concert of the first rank.

First published in Canberra City News Digital Edition, August 3, 2020

Polished and refined return to live performance

“Venite, Venite!” 

Luminescence Chamber Ensemble

Gorman House Gallery

August 1, 2020

Reviewed by Tony Magee

In a suitably relaxed and informal atmosphere, Luminescence, in one of their many guises, performed a highly polished and refined concert of music ranging from the late Italian and English Renaissance to modern day composers.

Soprano Veronica Milroy, tenor Dan Walker and Mezzo AJ America. Photo: Peter Hislop

Beginning with Claudio Monteverdi’s “Venite, Venite”, roughly translating as “Come, Come”, soprano Veronica Milroy, mezzo soprano AJ America and guitarist Benjamin Grace captured beautifully the polyphonic style of the composer, with superb harmonic blend and phrasing from the singers, aided by Grace’s sensitive and stylish guitar accompaniment.

Giovanni Legrenzi, an early Italian Baroque composer, was showcased using the same players in his piece “Lumi Potete Piangere”. In this, one could hear harmonic structures that seemed way ahead of their time.

A selection of five Elizabethan pieces from the feather ink quill of English composer John Dowland followed. “Flow My Tears”, arguably Dowland’s best known work, later re-arranged by the composer as the lute solo “Lachrimae Pavin”, was sung with passion and great feeling by tenor Dan Walker, who followed up with “Weep No More Sad Fountains”. The melancholy, heartache and despair these songs evoke came across so perfectly. With Walker’s ability to phrase and enunciate very skilfully, one could feel the immense sorrow.

Veronica Milroy brightened things up with Dowland’s “Awake Sweet Love”, beautifully sung with sweetness, tenderness and passion.

AJ America completed the Dowland set with a move back into the somber tones of “In the Darkness Let Me Dwell” and “Can She Excuse My Wrongs”, the latter also being re-arranged by Dowland later in his life as the lute solo, “The Earl of Essex Galliard”. In these, America displayed her excellent pitch and phrasing abilities, capturing the sadness and despair of both pieces.

Throughout the Dowland set, guitarist Benjamin Grace supported the artists most sensitively, achieving a delicacy of tone that sometimes captured lute-like qualities.

It was lutenist Julian Bream and tenor Peter Pears who brought this repertoire to international attention in 1962, with the release of many recordings for RCA. Pears, incidentally, was also the life partner of composer Benjamin Britten, who featured later in the evening’s program with his arrangement of “I Will Give My Love an Apple”, exquisitely sung by America with Grace on guitar.

The Elizabethan selections closed with all three singers presenting a cappella renditions of Wilbye’s mournful “O What Shall I Do”, showcasing the group’s superb vocal intonation, followed by the bouncy triple-time “Though Philomela Lost Her Love”. 

Morley’s “With My Love My Life Was Nestled” was sung with imaginative period vocal ornamentation by America and once again demonstrating Grace’s lute-like qualities from his Australian made Paul Sheridan guitar, a most impressive instrument.

Now - a change of guitarist and a change of period and style. Minh Le Hoang won first prize in the 50th Tokyo International Guitar Competition in 2007 and is also a long-time member of the Australian quartet, Guitar Trek, founded by his mentor Tim Kain.

L - R: Tenor Dan Walker, guitarist Minh Le Hoang, guitarist Benjamin Grace. Photo: Peter Hislop

Playing his recently acquired and stunning sounding instrument made by Australian luthier Greg Smallman, Hoang delivered the most superb Spanish guitar accompaniments with bold projection, over which swept the voice of AJ America in two pieces by Manuel De Falla - “Jota” and “Canción”.

Dan Walker then took centre stage with Hoang on guitar, performing two pieces by Mátyás Seiber - “Reveille-vous” and “Le Rossignol”, both capturing the essence of French peasant country life with lively and engaging performances. Hoang was playing arrangements by Julian Bream, equally noted as a guitarist as he is a lutenist.

Walker completed the program with a thrilling account of the Italian Tarantella “La Carpinese”, composer unknown.  The vocal line, sung with passion and deep emotion, was complimented by wonderful countermelodies from Minh Le Hoang on guitar, with the strumming support of Benjamin Grace on second guitar and the light, gentle percussion playing of Veronica Milroy on tambourine.

The five performers took well deserved bows to very appreciative applause from the socially-distanced audience. You could feel the vibe of “isn’t this great!” swirling through the room from both the performers and the audience, as we all gently took our first, tentative steps back into the world of live performance.

First published in Canberra City News Digital Edition, August 2, 2020