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CD and Other Review

Review: Wesley: Ascribe Unto The Lord (Sacred Choral Works)

Once considered something of a ratbag, Samuel Sebastian Wesley is now regarded as a rather quaint figure, remembered for a handful of popular choral and organ works that make an occasional appearance with Anglican choirs. History reveals him to have been a colourful character. Despite being the nephew of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, he was born of his father’s teenage housemaid and after a childhood stint in the Chapel Royal, he spent a lot of his early career as a musician for the theatre. Wesley’s penchant for the theatrical was reflected both in his music and in his life. His tenure in various church music jobs was never overly long and his music often attracted trenchant criticism because of its mould-breaking style and form. While it is good to hear such evergreens as Blessed be the God and Father, Wash me throughly and Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace sung so beautifully, the real contribution of this disc is the opportunity to hear some neglected works in tasteful and disciplined performances. Ascribe unto the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord and The wilderness and the solitary place are cast as mini- oratorios featuring soloists and an……

October 24, 2013
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CD and Other Review

Review: Elgar: Orchestral and Choral Works (LPO)

Certain conductors have become synonymous with particular composers. One thinks of Beethoven/Klemperer or Mahler/Bernstein. In the case of Elgar, the conductor who most often comes to mind is Sir Adrian Boult. He conducted and recorded Elgar’s music repeatedly over a period of 60 years, although when he first heard The Dream of Gerontius he predicted it wouldn’t last! This box contains all his Elgar recordings for EMI. There are others: Boult famously recorded the symphonies for the small company Lyrita in 1968. But this collection contains practically all Elgar’s orchestral works, many obscure or secondary, usually in multiple performances. The only substantial work missing is the song cycle Sea Pictures, probably because Barbirolli’s EMI recording with Janet Baker swept the board.  Timings vary – Boult’s Enigma Variations runs 26:21 in 1936, 31:03 in 1953. Occasionally he rethinks his approach. The Shakespearean tone-poem Falstaff is mellow and its climaxes more triumphal in a late performance from 1973. In 1950, the piece sounds mercurial, lively and even comic…. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

October 24, 2013
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Romancing the stone (or at least, the rock)

When you see it from the air, it’s a lot smaller than you expect. More cratery and corroded. More mound than monolith. But when I finally make it to the foot of Ayers Rock, I feel like one of those gorillas in 2001: A Space Odyssey, staring up in dumb simian wonder at a phenomenon far beyond my understanding. Whoa… So that’s why Ayers Rock is one of Australia’s icons – because it’s really, really big and impressive.   I’m in Australia’s red centre on a junket kindly arranged by Northern Territory Tourism. And a very nice junket it is so far, with shuttle buses, chilled water, indigenous dancing and handicrafts, hors-d’oeuvres sculpted from local flora and fauna, and lots of smiley people wearing lanyards. But I must admit to feeling like something of a fraud in their midst. I’m not really here for the touristy stuff – but for the music. Tonight at 7pm will be the first symphony concert ever held at Ayers Rock. The band: the Darwin Symphony; the music: a Verdi gala conducted by Matthew Wood; the soloists: soprano Emma Matthews and tenor James Egglestone.   It’s an evening of firsts for me as well. It’s…

October 19, 2013
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Electrify Your Strings!

In my teaching, I aim to break the mould of String Education and bring it to the 21st century. Embarking on an Australian first, I decided to team up with legendary American electric violinist Mark Wood and put on an Electrify Your Strings concert at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne’s CBD. It took about a year from the idea's initial inception, from when Mark and I met at the Australian String Association’s (Austa) National Conference last year. We shared the same vision in wanting to see Rock’n’Roll become a strong part of the string teachers curriculum. Our motivation was that our students should learn all styles of music including those of the modern day. 12 months later saw the hard work of 140 St Leonard's students and staff culminate in one huge evening. Complete with live feed screens, electric instruments, amplification and a lighting rig, here is what Year 10 cello student Angus Gray had to say about the evening: “Never let it be said that strings are dull. From the Year 4's dancing in the aisles to the older students rocking it out on stage, the St Leonard's College ‘Electrify Your Strings’ concert at the Athenaeum Theatre was a rock…

October 18, 2013