Review by Patricia Kelly
Collusion Concert 1 supported by St Margaret's Anglican Girls School, Ascot.
Collusion
2010 Concert Season Launch ‘Music With A View’
The Arts Centre
St Margaret`s Anglican Girls School, Ascot.
Friday February 26, 2010
A MORE suitable setting could hardly be imagined for a music program incorporating Meditation from Nigel Sabin`s
Inner City Counterpoints and Sonata for Violin and Piano by Melbourne-born composer Stuart Greenbaum, than the
Arts Centre at St Margaret`s Anglican Girls School in Ascot (Brisbane).
The windowed walls of two sides of this wedge-shaped space give a magnificent vista of the city spread below, its night
lights twinkling from centre to hill-rimmed boundaries. Both pieces of music reflected the mood of this setting for the
February 26 performance that launched the 2010 concert series of the Brisbane instrumental ensemble Collusion.
Sabin was living in Brisbane when he composed the intriguing four-movement work in 1989, so he may have been inspired
by such a view, or he may have been remembering New York where he also studied. It was not difficult to relate the music
to Brisbane`s carpet of lights and the silent space above. The Meditation is a quiet reflection on a place of peace, as the city
appears from this position high above the urban sounds and disturbances.
Sabin crafted the work for the ensemble Perihelion comprising piano, viola, cello and clarinet, formed at University of Queensland
in 1988. It was recorded in 1992 and performed in concert in 1997. Collusion has replaced viola with violin, and with beautifully
balanced playing it is recapturing the spirit of Perihelion`s great performances. Meditation moved as lyrically as a great bird
soaring silently skywards.
Greenbaum`s Sonata resonated with the images inspired by words from Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Glazkov and Alexey Leonov
after their space flights in 1965 (Leonov) and 1977 (Glazkov) describing the ``black emptiness`` and the ``great silence`
` with its ``infinite heartbeat`` they experienced in space. Exquisite musical moments produced by violinist and Collusion founder
Benjamin Greaves with pianist Jonathan Ng re-created those feelings in their thoughtful musical partnership.
But Collusion`s reach is wide, and the program began with movements from a Beethoven Trio in B flat opus 11 for piano,
clarinet and cello, in which Katherine Philp (cello), Rianne Wilschut (clarinet) and pianist Jonathan Ng were a close-knit
group, and Bach`s Solo Cello Suite III in C Major given an individual and meditative touch by Katherine Philp.
Rianne Wilschut set a lyrical clarinet tone in the famous slow movement of Clarinet Concerto in A Major by Mozart,
although the rather brittle piano tone did not suit the smooth texture of Mozart`s melody from clarinet and its accompanying
instruments.
Composer Paul Kopetz was present to hear and feel the vitality of his Yakini for violin, clarinet, cello and piano fully realised.
It may have been inspired by the baby gorilla born at Melbourne Zoo in 2000, but it was the pulsating rhumba rhythms that
drove the music and narrative forward.
Trio for clarinet, violin and piano by Aram Khachaturian was a master stroke for this ensemble. The textural depth in the
music of this Armenian composer challenged and inspired the players to dig deep and create the complex patterns spinning on
exotic melodies and rhythms.
With Reclaiming the Spirit by Sarah Hopkins, now a Brisbane resident, the program came full circle. Not only is it a timeless
trek through sounds of Australia, ancient and modern, with her introduction of birdsong and mystical effects from her featured
whirly instruments (simply, instruments made from pieces of piping spinning at varying speeds to produce pitched sounds), but it
was written for Perihelion in 1993. Which gave it a double significance to end this program, reclaiming not only the spirit of
Australia, but the spirit of Perihelion living anew through this new generation of fine musicians as they brought new textures
and insights to Hopkins` musical vision.
The venue gives a vital intimacy to such performances and if these samplers are an indication of their 2010 concert series,
it will be something to savour and enjoy. With easy parking and access, Collusion concerts will add a special and individual
dimension to music in Brisbane this year. - Patricia Kelly