Jonathan  Paget (guitar)/ Stewart Smith (piano)

The Grove Library, Peppermint Grove

reviewed by Neville Cohn

 

Billed as a program of music from the age of Jane Austen, two leading Perth musicians took an attentive audience on a journey back in time. Jonathan Paget played a Bauer guitar manufactured around 1840 in Vienna – and Stewart Smith was at the keyboard of a Clementi square piano built in London around 1830.

 

This was fascinating fare.

 

Dutch composer Karel Craeyvanger’s Introduction and Variations on a Theme from Weber’s Der Freischutz was played as if to the manner born by Paget. Blissfully free of the creaks, squeaks and clanks that bedevil the playing of so many guitarists, we were here able to savour the work as it unfolded – beautifully. I particularly admired the pianissimi which Paget conjured from the instrument – and the library’s pleasing acoustics came up trumps, too.

 

Fernando Sor’s Sonata No 1 was no less satisfying. Here, Paget gave us a most expressive interpretation with stylistically impeccable rubato.

 

Hummel’s tongue-in-cheek Pot-Pourri with its gentle obeisance to composers from Paisiello and Mozart to Spontini and Gretry was a highlight of the afternoon.

 

In Carulli’s Petit Concerto opus 140, both musicians succeeded, admirably, in revealing the gentle, intimate nature of much of the writing with ensemble throughout a model of refinement.  There was also a piano solo: Beethoven’s Fur Elise. Here, subtle rubato transformed this oh-so-familiar miniature into a listening experience of high order. Bravo!

 

Not the least of the pleasures of this presentation was the fine balance of tone between the two instruments. Each has a gentle voice. Together, their tonal manners were impeccable.

 

 

devised and presented by Alex Cohen AO

Callaway Auditorium

 

reviewed by Neville Cohn

 

 

 

Quite the most memorable of the offerings at this fascinating presentation was an account of Gerald Finzi’s Dies Natalis featuring The School of Music Chamber Orchestra and soprano Sara Macliver.

 

Clear diction is a crucial requirement here – and in this sense Macliver came through with banners flying. Vocal tone, too, was consistently fine in a beautifully considered presentation by one of UWA’s most distinguished music graduates.

Throughout, the soprano line was complemented by the young UWA string players who responded most expressively to the masterly direction of Paul Wright who has done so much to raise the level of string playing at the School of Music.

 

At this most civilised of entertainments, Alex Cohen’s philosophical musings, in turn wry, gentle and self-effacing, were like a golden thread through the evening.

 

Later, Wright, with Graeme Gilling a fastidious accompanist at the piano, presented Shostakovich’s delightful Romance from The Gadfly. It was given a beautifully considered exposition. Earlier, Gilling played that perennial favourite: Myra Hess’ arrangement for piano of Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.

 

Alan Lourens is a master of the euphonium – and this was clearly evident in his account of an unaccompanied Tarantella by Philip Wilby.

 

Some vocal edginess was apparent in an account of Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock in which the vocal line was complemented by Gilling at the keyboard and Ashley Smith on clarinet.

 

 

 

 

Geoffrey Lancaster (fortepiano) and friends

WAAPA Music Auditorium

reviewed by Neville Cohn

 

For many, if not most, the word ‘melodrama’ evokes movies of the silent era in which, say, the heroine is tied to railway tracks as a steam train bears down inexorably  towards the terrified victim while the villain of the piece watches with an evil smile. (This was a staple episode in many an early movie made in the USA.)

 

Back in the 18^th-century, through, melodrama was thought of in the ancient Greek sense, as a work which combined music and on-stage action. One of the finest instances of the genre is Georg Benda’s Medea, a re-working of the ancient Greek tragedy in which the eponymous murderess kills her own children, a hideous story that has been a source of horrified fascination for centuries. (Mozart, incidentally, was greatly taken by Benda’s skill in melodramas of which he spoke in glowing terms.)

 

It was an inspiration to feature Geoffrey Lancaster at the fortepiano. As if to the manner born, he gave point and meaning to an often cruelly demanding score with expected flair and an ineffably fine grasp of style, mood and pace.

 

Against this immaculate sonic background, Belinda Cox, garbed in funereal black as Medea and evoking an aura of inescapable tragedy, gave an account of this demanding and lengthy role at a level which augurs well for a career on stage. Certainly, her ability to remain in character throughout says much for this young actor’s potential.

 

Smaller roles, too, were clearly taken seriously and presented with care. Ry Charlson was convincing in a very brief role as Jason as was Monica Brierley-Hay as the governess. Gretel and David Smith did well, too, as Medea’s children

 

Not the least of the pleasures afforded by this presentation was the quite exceptional quality of the program notes. They are a model of their kind and ought to be read with care by anyone with aspirations to writing program notes of any kind. Factual and fascinating, they don’t come much better than this.

Opera Undressed

Penny Shaw (soprano)/ Tommaso Pollio (keyboartd)

Casa Mondo Tent, Russell Square

reviewed by Neville Cohn

 

 

It was a first­time experience for me: a striptease on the part of the accompanist for a program of well ­loved opera arias.

Initially, it was off with the jacket and bowtie. Then trousers were removed revealing bright green board shorts and hairy legs. There was more to come, though, with board shorts also removed to present very upmarket, multi­coloured underpants.

I hope that these extraordinary goings ­on do not trigger a craze for similar entertainments.

From a purely musical point of view, though, there was much that was thoroughly worthwhile in a performance that maintained focus, momentum and good humour on the part of soprano Penny Shaw despite having to contend with less­than­ideal performing conditions. And not even Tommaso Pollio’s burlesque­type antics could detract from commendably focussed vocal artistry.

Throughout, Shaw reached out to the audience with excellent diction and a delightful sense of humour. But I’d very much have liked to listen to this recital without maddening sonic intrusions –

doef­doef thumping (from some distant rock band?) and irritating machinery noise (could this have been from the air conditioners?) – and a busily fidgeting photographer nearby.

Penny Shaw has a voice that projects confidently and meaningfully – and it is complemented by Pollio’s profoundly musical presence at the keyboard.

There was also a jolly music quiz in which three brave concertgoers volunteered to take part as contestants, sparking a good deal of merriment from both participants and audience, the former offered Lindt chocolates in bright red wrappers.

I can’t recall such uncomfortable seats – bare planks! ­ since attending Pagel’s Circus in Cape Town when I was about 8 years old.