kagablog

Pilgrim Church, 12 Flinders Street
Monday August 17th 2009

The Firm, run by those two hard working composers, Raymond Chapman Smith and Quentin Grant, presented the third of the six concerts for this year. This superb concert featured the highly acclaimed London based Australian pianist Antony Gray, who has recorded vast quantities of music for the ABC.

The concert opened with Barcarole and Sleepers Wake, two delicate pieces by Andrew Schultz derived from his cantata, Journey to Horseshoe Bend. The first movement was open and light in texture, yet featured heavily, internally dampened low bass notes, giving an unusual percussive pedal note effect below the gentle melodic line.

Raymond Chapman Smith’s Nach der Natur (After Nature), a three movement piece inspired by the poem by W. G. Sebald, has flowing, lyrical melodic lines running through it over rich harmonies. This is a fine piece of writing with so much inventiveness contained in a relatively short work and Gray clearly relished the chance to play it.

A Fractured Landscape (In Memoriam Edward Said) by South African Michael Blake, influenced by Brahms, was written especially for Gray’s 2009 Australian performances. This was a complete contrast to the first two pieces, with intense chords and sudden rhythmic and dynamic changes. Where the first two works allowed us to see Gray’s sensitive and thoughtful approach to his playing, this was a showcase for his virtuosity.

Four Inventions by Andrew Schultz is music taken from his opera A Children’s Bach and the four contrasting sections gave an opportunity for Gray to exhibit more of his technical skill and considered interpretation.

The second half of the concert began with the Sonata No, 1 in F Major by Malcolm Williamson, Gray lamenting the fact that so few composers now write piano sonatas, although he pointed out that two of the works in the first half could be considered as sonatas, even though not specifically labelled as such. There was plenty of fire and passion in this piece.

The Sonatina by Peter Sculthorpe, by contrast, opens with sparse writing moving to alternating fast and slow passages with varying harmonic density, cramming numerous ideas into a surprisingly brief piece of music.

Quentin Grant’s Angels was inspired by Duino Elegies, written by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who was also represented in the last concert. This is a highly imaginative work with a wealth of variation. Appropriately, this piece had a wonderfully meditative quality and Gray did it full justice with a reverent and subtle interpretation.

Malcolm Williamson’s frenetic Toccata Americana closed the concert. This was the first performance of this very brief, unfinished work, discovered amongst his ex-wife’s papers. Gray’s humorous introduction, with tongue in cheek reference to the works’ subtitle, Daniel Hurrying to the Lion’s Den, set the scene for this fast and furious piece that served almost as an encore.

Antony Gray combines enormous technique, sensitivity, deep understanding of the music and a sense of humour. These attributes made this a memorable and most enjoyable concert. Visit the ABC shop soon for recordings by this fine performer.

There are another three concerts in this year’s series, the next being tenor, Robert Macfarlane, with pianist, Leigh Harrold, on Monday 28th September. The concert on Monday 2nd November features pianist Kristian Chong, and then The Langbein String Quartet will play at the final concert on Monday 30th November. All concerts are at 8PM in Pilgrim Church. Don’t miss them.

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