Went to this one on Sunday afternoon here in Sydney's northern suburbs:
Trioz "Vitebsk" tour
Kathryn Selby, piano
Natsuko Yoshimoto, violin (as guest)
Emma Jane Murphy, cello
Program:
Joseph Suk - Elegie for piano, violin & cello,Op. 23 (1902)
Aaron Copland - Vitebsk, study on a Jewish Theme,for piano trio
Claude Debussy - Piano Trio, L.3
Ludwig v. Beethoven - Piano Trio in B flat major, Op.97 "Archduke"
& this one at Sydney Conservatorium on Monday evening:
"Australian Portrait"
Michael Duke saxophone
David Howie piano
Program
Boyd - Ganba for baritone saxophone and piano *
Smetanin - If Stars Are Lit for alto saxophone and piano *
Hindson - Repetepetition for soprano saxophone and piano *
Zadro - X Suite for alto saxophone and piano #
* World premiere
# Australian premiere and 101 Compositions for 100 Years commission
I liked both of these recitals. A friend came along to the first one, and we both enjoyed it.
I like Trioz's recitals because they always include some things off the beaten track, as well as standard repertoire. We were familiar with the Debussy & Beethoven, but not the Suk or Copland. The Suk was a great opener, a quite dark and melancholic piece, dominated by the solo violin a bit. Debussy's only piano trio is from his younger years, but still has suggestions of those unique harmonies which would come later. It was first recorded only in 1984, and as the program notes show, it has a relaxed salon feel. Even the final movement marked appassionato doesn't take itself too seriously. The most surprising piece in the program was the Copland trio fragment. It had loud dissonant sections flanking some more lyrical melodic parts. Copland was influenced by Bloch in his use of Jewish sounding themes. This piece was written in 1929 and it used microtones and the two string players playing out of tune (deliberately) a bit like Ives before & Cage & Xenakis after. The ten minute piece really had a visceral impact on me. After the interval, we were treated to a superlative performance of the Beethoven "Archduke" trio, the king of piano trios. The playing was so good, it was of recording quality. I plan to go to more of Trioz's series this year, they are one of my favourite ensembles.
The saxophone-piano duos program at Sydney Conservatorium the following Monday evening was also excellent. All these pieces were very different from eachother (eg. using different kinds of saxes), but in common with the Copland above, the Smetanin & Zadro employed microtones. My favourite works on the program were the Boyd & Zadro, which were also the longest works. Boyd's work was based on her impressions of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia, which is basically a desert. The work engaged with the history of that place, employing Aboriginal harmonies, sounds of the wind, and also briefly the clickety clack and whistle of the railway that goes through there. Sometimes the piano sounded like a brass instrument and the sax sounded like a piano. I liked the darkness of this piece, which mirrored how the Aboriginal people were driven out from the area by the building of the railway. They didn't know what it was, some of them thought it was some huge mythical beast. The piano part of Zadro's suite had a bit of the complexity of Carter, but the work sounded quite tonal despite some dissonances. The 8 movements were each miniature tone poems of different places or states of mind. I particularly liked "cauldron" which brought to mind the witche's dance in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. Some interesting effects were used, such as blowing with the saxophone into the bowels of the grand piano to produce a creepy vibe and the saxophonist tapping the side of his instrument to make a percussive effect. I think that this work would benefit from the piano part becoming orchestrated. Even though I'm mainly a chamber fan it would be a lot of fun to hear this work as a saxophone concerto. The Smetanin and Hindson were short etudes. The Smetanin was a bit uncomfortable to hear, much dissonance and high pitched sounds from the sax. It was based on the spectral analysis of a recording made by the Russian poet Mayakovsky, about whom Smetanin has also written an opera. The Hindson was typical of his style - light, airy and full of vigorous dance rhythms. The music of Ross Edwards was an influence here, according to Hindson's notes. It was great to hear the music of living Australian composers of this calibre & three of them were present to acknowledge the applause. Before I went to the recital, I thought it would sound a bit like jazz because of the use of the solo saxes, but on the whole, it was very much classical...