18' The Sy~ney Morning Herald
The only period instrument
missing was the baroque ear
MUSIC
PETER McCALLUM
KATECLARK
Kate Clark, baroque flute;
Nicholas Parle, harpsichord; Kate
Morgan, baroque cello
Music: Leclair, O'Angelbert,
Couperin. 15. Bach, W.F. Bach,
C.P.E. Bach
Flute Society of NSW
St James Church. November 8
ONATA, what do you want
S of me'!" was, according to
Rousseau, the wisecrack
witb wbich tbe 18th-century wit,
Fontenelle, dismissed the whole
fa~of instrumental music.
T~ay, Fontenelle's and Rous-
seau'scontempt seems as quaint as
Rousseau's prediction that tbe
sonata itselfwould soon die out as
a musical form (this was just as
Haydn was penning his first
attempts).
Yet it is still possible to
experience authentic 18th-century
frustration with the sonata, while
straining to hear the diminutive
sound of the baroque flute in, for
example, Leclair's Rute Sonata in
E Minor with which Kate Clark
(flute), Nicbolas Parle (barp-
sicbord) and Kate Morgan (cello)
opened their recital for the Flute
Society.
This persistent difficulty
with balance (and some trivial
drainage problems witb the instru-
ment itself, which occasionally
impinged on the music) was the
only problem in what was otber-
wise an admirable demonstration
of stylish baroque playing and
musicality
Clark pays commendable atten-
tion to clear projection, articula-
tion and phrasing and achieved
particular poise in slow music,
such as the elegant "Saraband" in
Francois Couperin's Premiere
Concert in G Major (from the
Concerts Royaux ).
Equally elegant was the rhyth-
mic spring in the Bouree Anglaise
in J.S. Bach's Partita in A Minor
for Solo Flute (BWVI013)
although I missed the sense of
long line in the ." Allemande" and
"Saraband"
Harpsichordist . Nicholas Parle
displayed a welcome ability to
imbue baroque performance con-
ventions with musical concentra-
tion and intensity.
This quality was p~rticularly
~a~ent in his florid and sensitive
reading of D' Angelbert's Tom-
beau de Mr de Chambonniere. The
balance problem was not so great
as to negate the great interest of
hearing this music on original
instruments.
It nevertheless leaves these fine
musicians with a real problem.
Dare one suggest the heresy of
discreet amplification as a poss-
ible solution'!
o o o Conservatorium. November 10
CAMERATA TALLINN
Leill Tammel, mezzo-soprano;
An ne Reissar. soprano; Juhan
Palm-Peipmann, viola
Music: Meder, Adaiewsky, Kangra.
Magi. Sink. Vahi. et al
St James Church. November 9
OR A country who~ pop-
F ulation is about half the size
of Sydney's, Estonia's musi-
cal achievements are rather
remarkable.
My fIrSt contact with its music
was through that of composer Arvo
Paert. My second was through a
disciplined boys' choir who, on their
visit to Sydney, bore witness to a
thriving choral tradition.
The third was tbe Camerata
Tallinn, wbose concert in St James
drew a large crowd of Sydney-
based Estonians, no doubt in part
to celebrate tbeir country's decla-
ration of independence in August
after the failed Soviet coup.
Interestingly it was in tbe music
in the second half (all written in the
lOth century) that distinctive Esto-
nian features seemed evident (it was
only in tbe period between tbe wars
that Estonia enjoyed complete
independence).
Kangra's Rute Solo on the
theme of a folk song (1949) and
E. Magi's Serenade (1922) both
showed individual treatment of
folk material, tbe latter occasion-
aHy reminiscent of Bartok.
By contrast the 18th- and 19th-
century music played in tbe first
half by Meder, Adaiewsky and
others was not markedly different
from anything being written across
Europe at that time.
Most of these pieces were in the
category of attractive restaurant
music rather than the sort of tbing
demanding silent attention in a
concert.
The string intonation was prob-
lematic at times, particularly from
the viola piayer Juhan Palm-Peip-
mann. Nevertheless, it was to
symbolic rather than artistic sig-
nificance that the concert aspired
and in that respect it would now
doubt .'count as "a . success. '
I' .Or'
~. ' "
[i. ':~: I:J .;".J:. '0
SYMERON ' ....
laura Chislett, flutes; Roslyn
Dunlop, clarinets; Daniel
Herscovitch, piano
With Daryl Pratt and Anthony
Cowdroy, percussion
Music: Schumann, Carter, Griffes.
Shanahan, Scelsi, Smetanin
L
INKING togetber the
worlds of Robert Schumann
and Elliott Carter, the first
half of Symeron's concert
explored the world of nocturnal
whimsy and fantasy captured in
tbe former's Fantasiestiicke opus
73 for clarinet and piano and tbe
latter's large-scale piano piece
Night Fantasies.
Daniel Herscovitch's perfor-
mance of Night Fantasies was
agile, absorbing and meticulously
prepared, his unassuming manner
belying tbe daunting complexity
of the score and his own sheer
competence in tackling it.
The Scbumann performance
(Herscovitch and Dunlop), by
contrast, was ratber ordinary,
lacking a sense of long line and
tonal variety.
The second balf included
two early works by two of
Australia's most interesting young
composers, Ian Shanahan and
Micbael Smetanin.
Shanahan's Echoes/Fantasies
for bass clarinet and percussion
(also beard at last week's Spring
Festival with its companion piece
Cycles of Vega) exploits tbe
contrast and tension between com-
plex rbythmic processes and freer,
more spontaneous gestures.
The sound world, mixing
breathy clarinet sonorities with
vibrapbones, marimbas and bells
is at once arid and shimmering.
Michael Smetanin's Under-
tones for bass clarinet, piano and
percussion is his first acknowl-
edged work and imposes a uncom-
promising sUck humour on the
remnants of minimalist phrases.
Also in tbe second half were two
baunting and suggestive flute
pieces played by Laura Cbislett:
Poem by the early 20th-century
composer Charles Griffes (per-
baps the closest America ever
came to Impressionism) and the
transcendently serene Hyxos for
alto flute and percussion by
Giacinto Scelsi.