Kathy Selby (piano) and friends - Julian Smiles on cello and Daniel Dodds on violin - gave a thoughtful and entertaining recital at the Sydney Recital Hall, Angel Place in the last Selby and Friends concert for 2016.
The recital commenced with the young Schubert’s’ Sonatensatz in B flat major, D. 28. This single movement allegro was given a crisp performance by the trio. Though it betrays its debt to Hayden, it has enough of the emerging Schubertian spirit to be valued as piquant, particularly in the delightful engagement between chirruping piano and highflying violin. The various elements and progressions of this piece were handled with dexterity and delight as the trio made a case for its lilting grace.
The next work involved a different kind of lilt – quirky and eclectic. The Sheer Nylon Dances by Gerard Brophy (2000) combine violin and cello with prepared piano – rubber wedges of various sizes are placed into the lower echelons of the keyboard strings. The work’s four dance movements are carefully crafted - inspired by their French titles - insistent and additive with minimalist clarity, but also full of awkward and ghost like echoes: the prepared piano at times recalling the tinkling sounds of bar room instruments in Hollywood Wild West movies. The first movement was particularly arresting with its carefully spaced progressions against hints of tolling bells within a fractured reworking of a Joplinesque cakewalk prance – all via Debussy! In contrast, the final movement seemed to breath the open sounds of Copland. The work's delicate hybridity captured memories of certain gamelan sonorities, shimmering at times, while the filigree of the violin and cello wove a texture of rhythmic insistence: a quirky and enjoyable experience.
This lead nicely into the Liszt work – a reimagining of his piano movement Vallée d'Obermann (Première année: Suisse (S160) from Années de pèlerinage. This unpicking of the sculptural complexity of the original pianistic ideas was intriguing – it suggested a different take on the intense drama of the Swiss mountain landscape and the human melancholy that it inspires. At times the original piano version remains superior, particularly in the first part of the work where the mystery and struggle is secretly anticipated, but the chamber version comes into its own with the surging thematic material that reaches an aching finale and almost transcends the fatal longing embodied in its melodic material.
This was inspired music making that left a distinct aftertaste, a haunting sense of new possibilities, luxurious and passionate – without the dogmatic excesses of Wagner and his school.
After interval we settled down to the Brahms first Piano Trio, Opus 8 (1853 – revised 1889). This early work, heavily revised, has some glorious moments, though the final movement never seems to be able to settle what its purposes might be.
Overall, the musicians gave a lovely performance, though the opening section seemed a little disembodied until the Trio settled down to a strong unified conception of the work and let its muscular beauty unfold – broad and stately as required.
The Scherzo was deliciously pointed, sharply defining its Mendelssohnian roots, but also providing evidence of the new energy that the young Brahms brought to his models – building on Beethoven in these sections. The Adagio provided another highlight – suspended beauty on full display, poignant and aching with tenderness. The chordal themes were spacious and mysterious, while the cello was full of ripe poignancy delivering its ‘ardent longing’. The musicians deserved full bouquets for such music making. The sombreness of the final movement always seems a little wayward and almost implies an unsettled sense of well-being – it was well played on this occasion.
The 10th year of Selby and friends has delivered consistent excellence and richly varied programs – we give thanks.
Selby and Friends – City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney – November 10 2016
The recital commenced with the young Schubert’s’ Sonatensatz in B flat major, D. 28. This single movement allegro was given a crisp performance by the trio. Though it betrays its debt to Hayden, it has enough of the emerging Schubertian spirit to be valued as piquant, particularly in the delightful engagement between chirruping piano and highflying violin. The various elements and progressions of this piece were handled with dexterity and delight as the trio made a case for its lilting grace.
The next work involved a different kind of lilt – quirky and eclectic. The Sheer Nylon Dances by Gerard Brophy (2000) combine violin and cello with prepared piano – rubber wedges of various sizes are placed into the lower echelons of the keyboard strings. The work’s four dance movements are carefully crafted - inspired by their French titles - insistent and additive with minimalist clarity, but also full of awkward and ghost like echoes: the prepared piano at times recalling the tinkling sounds of bar room instruments in Hollywood Wild West movies. The first movement was particularly arresting with its carefully spaced progressions against hints of tolling bells within a fractured reworking of a Joplinesque cakewalk prance – all via Debussy! In contrast, the final movement seemed to breath the open sounds of Copland. The work's delicate hybridity captured memories of certain gamelan sonorities, shimmering at times, while the filigree of the violin and cello wove a texture of rhythmic insistence: a quirky and enjoyable experience.
This lead nicely into the Liszt work – a reimagining of his piano movement Vallée d'Obermann (Première année: Suisse (S160) from Années de pèlerinage. This unpicking of the sculptural complexity of the original pianistic ideas was intriguing – it suggested a different take on the intense drama of the Swiss mountain landscape and the human melancholy that it inspires. At times the original piano version remains superior, particularly in the first part of the work where the mystery and struggle is secretly anticipated, but the chamber version comes into its own with the surging thematic material that reaches an aching finale and almost transcends the fatal longing embodied in its melodic material.
This was inspired music making that left a distinct aftertaste, a haunting sense of new possibilities, luxurious and passionate – without the dogmatic excesses of Wagner and his school.
After interval we settled down to the Brahms first Piano Trio, Opus 8 (1853 – revised 1889). This early work, heavily revised, has some glorious moments, though the final movement never seems to be able to settle what its purposes might be.
Overall, the musicians gave a lovely performance, though the opening section seemed a little disembodied until the Trio settled down to a strong unified conception of the work and let its muscular beauty unfold – broad and stately as required.
The Scherzo was deliciously pointed, sharply defining its Mendelssohnian roots, but also providing evidence of the new energy that the young Brahms brought to his models – building on Beethoven in these sections. The Adagio provided another highlight – suspended beauty on full display, poignant and aching with tenderness. The chordal themes were spacious and mysterious, while the cello was full of ripe poignancy delivering its ‘ardent longing’. The musicians deserved full bouquets for such music making. The sombreness of the final movement always seems a little wayward and almost implies an unsettled sense of well-being – it was well played on this occasion.
The 10th year of Selby and friends has delivered consistent excellence and richly varied programs – we give thanks.
Selby and Friends – City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney – November 10 2016
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