.
Where am I this
week? Why, I’m on Stradbroke Island, Queensland. Four hours’ drive north from
Grafton, and a comfortable 45-minute ferry ride across rippleless waters …
Why? Because the
Stradbroke Island Chamber Music Festival is taking place. And my pal, Paul, is
taking part.
The support team
is comfortably holed up in the Samarinda Holiday Apartments, we have dined on
superior fish and chips, and have just returned from the first concert. And
what a delightful concert! My chamber music concert-going, in recent years, has
been largely centred on Berlin. Big, important city full of international
artists. And I’ve seen some lovely stuff, and some, I must admit, not so
lovely. And stayed away from quite a lot because of unimaginative programming.
So, Stradbroke
Island, Qd? I knew it was going to be A.O.K the moment I saw the list of pieces
to be played … and so it proved, tonight. We had Bridge and Bloch, we had
Chausson and a Polish-Russian by the name of Weinberg of whom I had never heard,
we had an 18th century Dutch dilettante and we had a surprise too.
And for artists?
Well, they came from far and yon, from Scotland and Germany to France and
various parts of Australia: 3 violins, 2 cellos, 1 viola, 2 pianos … this
little corner of the country was treated to some really superlative playing.
The concert tonight
had a real ’village hall’ feel to it, which was normal because it was held at
the Lookout Point Community Hall. Which just happens to have the most amazing
accoustics. And which has glass walls which open up, so that the artists are
virtually playing in the open air. And the audience doesn’t stifle, as in too
many German venues. Great place for a concert.
But the music.
About which there was no ‘village hall’ at all. Every piece was fascinating. Of
course, we all have different tastes, but for me the triumph of the night was
the Frank Bridge piano quintet (Rachel Smith, Sophie Rowell, Caroline Henbest,
Louise King, Liam Viney). I know Bridge only from a couple of his songs, which
I used to sing half a century ago: I didn’t know he wrote such lovely, lush,
Frenchy music … this piece was a treat. The Chausson, too, was delicious: a poème
for solo violin (Cyril Garac) and piano quartet. It soared and ran the gamut …
great, sensual, stirring stuff. Then, in contrast, there was the sternly sombre
and deeply characteristic From Jewish
Life of Ernest Bloch, for cello (Eric de Wit) and piano (Paul Hankinson).
Bloch uses the deepest tones of the cello in this work … as a (former) bass
singer, I immediately felt affinity with those gloriously unhurried low notes.
And there is something grand about overtly Jewish music.
The Weinberg I
found rather wispy and wandering, rather striving for effects, which didn’t
make it any the less interesting and the cute cello duets by the Dutch
dilettante perhaps sat a bit uneasily in the middle of a concert of 20th
century music, but it was all intriguing, and made for a splendid night at the
‘music house’.
And the surprise?
Well, it was a real surprise. A piece by the Australian composer Paul Stanhope
had been scheduled, but it was canned in favour of a piece by a bundle of much
younger little Australians. As part of the Festival, the artists visit the
local school and work with the 7-12 year old pupils. This year, Paul decided to
get them to write a school song, incorporating the sounds and sentiments of
their lives on the Island. The result was a superb surprise, and the children’s
performance, accompanied by every instrument that everyone could (just) play, a
great success. So the organisers decided to put the piece on the first night’s
programme, where, performed by the 16 youngsters who were able to come out at
night (alas, without their drums and trombones), it went down a treat. The audience
cheered them to the hilt. And the children are so proud of ‘their’ song.
So, the festival
is launched. The braver amongst us (not I) will get up tomorrow for breakfast
and Bach. I’ll be on board at 2pm for Peter Sculthorpe’s ‘Songs for Sea and
Sky’ and the Schubert ‘Death and the Maiden’, and after time off for recovery,
an evening concert of tango music … Sunday, we have Haydn and Dvorak for morning
tea and at 2 o’clock .. I’ll be there for them all. A Festival feast of music…
Enjoy the tango music.. In sydney until aug 13 if you are passing by..
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