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Paavali Jumppanen speaks with 3CR Community Radio about the amazing performances at the end of year ANAM chamber music festival, The Innovative Spirit of George Crumb.
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Episode 8, 2021: Vanhal’s Double Bass Concerto
Friday 5 November 2021
Since the mid-18th century, the double bass has evolved considerably. One of the most prolific composers that are known for his Double Bass Concerto is Bohemian-born Johann Baptist Vanhal. During his time, there were different models of the double bass which made the degree of standardisation for the instrument a lot lower than it is today. Vanhal was writing for double basses tuned in the Viennese style, which is significantly different from the current-day style of tuning.
The difference in configuration was one of the biggest challenges Ben Saffir (double bass, NSW) had to overcome when he was preparing for his first ANAM recital in 2020. In this episode of ANAM Radio, Ben talks to ANAM Music Librarian Phil Lambert about everything we need to know about the double bass and his own double bass created by Romeo Gabute in the Philippines in the mid-20th century.
The performance video featured in this episode of ANAM Radio is from Ben’s 2020 Recital in the Musica Viva studios in Sydney, NSW.
To watch Ben's performance, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tp36cbf1Mk&list=PLbdnd7x5ydRe5IjD5fW0--WZZmey7832f&index=1 -
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Episode 7, 2021: Boulanger’s Trios morceaux pour piano
Wednesday 20 October 2021
Some might say that French composer Lili Boulanger could have done more in her lifetime if she did not die far too young at 24. Nevertheless, it is no doubt she was able to live a productive and colourful life in 20th century Europe. Hailing from an extraordinary family, Boulanger grew up with a father who was a musician, a princess for a mother, and an equally talented sister who was later recognised as one of the greatest female composers and music pedagogue, Nadia Boulanger. In 1913, Lili Boulanger became the first woman to ever win the prestigious Prix de Rome where she was awarded a year of artistic residency in the Medicci estate.
It was during this residency that she composed her Trios morceaux pour piano or Three pieces for piano performed by ANAM pianist Hannah Pike (QLD) in her 2020 recital. According to Hannah, Boulanger is a very precise and detailed composer. When studying the pieces for her recital, she learned that Boulanger knew exactly what she wanted and was clear about how her music should be played. However, that did not make it easier for Hannah as Boulanger’s rich impressionistic harmonies asks the musician to play with a lot of density and control.
This episode of ANAM Radio is accompanied by Hannah’s recital video of her performance of Boulanger’s work last year. Hannah’s performance won her the ADFAS Yarra Prize for the Most Outstanding Program in an ANAM Recital. To watch Hannah's recital, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSzhm0psXg4&list=PLbdnd7x5ydRd7-ANQQkJmed2HSGRsyrF-&index=9 -
Episode 6, 2021: Brahms’ Horn Trio
Friday 8 October 2021
German composer Johannes Brahms’ Horn Trio is a unique contribution to chamber repertoire written originally for violin, piano and horn. Composed in 1865 after the his mother’s death, the piece is both nostalgic and melancholic interwoven with extra-melodic details of lullabies Brahms’ mother used to sing for him.
This week, ANAM Music Librarian Phil Lambert talks to ANAM horn player Tim Allen-Ankins (QLD) about his experience performing this piece for his ANAM recital last year. Tim, who plays with a Modern Valve Horn, shares with us how he attempted to imitate the sounds of an Old Forest Horn which was the original instrument Brahms used when he wrote this composition.
Tim’s efforts truly paid off as he received the 2020 St Silas Prize for the Most Outstanding Performance in an ANAM Recital for his performance. The video that is featured with this ANAM Radio episode is from Tim Allen-Ankins’ recital last year which was recorded in Queensland with fellow ANAM musicians, Claire Weatherhead (violin, QLD) and Amanda Pang (piano, QLD).
To watch the video, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-2QQXZY2S4&list=PLbdnd7x5ydRe5IjD5fW0--WZZmey7832f&index=16 -
Episode 5, 2021: Hindemith’s Kammermusik no. 1
Wednesday 22 September 2021
Born in Hanau, Germany in 1895, Paul Hindemith was cultivated as violist, violinist, pianist and percussionist. He was also “one of the most practical, but also the most overlooked composers of the last century.” Considered an avant-garde composer in the 20s, Hindemith’s Kammermusik no.1 features twelve solo instruments and reflects its composer’s Dadaist response to chamber music.
In this episode of ANAM Radio, ANAM’s Head of Piano, Timothy Young (Margaret Johnson Chair of Piano) talks to Phil Lambert (ANAM’s Music librarian) about how he first came about Paul Hindemith and his works, and some of the things that he has learned about how to write music from the prolific musician and composer. -
Episode 4, 2021: ANAM Radio Special Part II
Monday 21 June 2021
“ANAM is really interested in the person, as well as the musician.”-Thea Rossen (percussion, 2016)
In the second part of the ANAM Radio Special, alumna Thea Rossen, and current musicians Rachel Lau, Nathan Gatenby and Noah Rudd share fun anecdotes about their ANAM auditions and share hot tips on what to expect on the ANAM application process.
Thea also chats with her former teacher Peter Neville, and other ANAM faculty members Virginia Taylor and Damien Eckersley about what kind of musicians ANAM is looking for.
Applications for ANAM’s 2022 Program are now open! Visit www.anam.com.au/training for more information. -
Episode 3, 2021: ANAM Radio Special
Monday 7 June 2021
In this special episode of ANAM Radio, alumna Thea Rossen takes over the mic to chat with ANAM musicians and faculty about why ANAM is a unique and special place for young musicians. They also give us insights about what a usual week at ANAM looks like whilst musicians, faculty and guest artists prepare to play side by side in ANAM performances throughout the year.
Applications for ANAM’s 2022 Program are now open! Visit www.anam.com.au/training for more information. -
Episode 2, 2021: The Poet, Nature and the Dance (ANAM 2021 Opening Concert)
Wednesday 28 April 2021
ANAM Head of Strings, Resident Cello Faculty (Chair of Cello, Supported Anonymously) and long-standing member of the Chambre Orchestra of Europe, Howard Penny talks to ANAM Music Librarian Phil Lambert about ANAM 2021 Opening Concert, The Poet, Nature and the Dance.
Howard describes the program as all about “Romanticism with the capital R”. Compositions from the 19th century contained much more details than before, and he is keen to uncover the musical language behind the musical notations with ANAM musicians.
In this episode of ANAM Radio, Howard and Phil explores the context and meaning behind Schumann’s Manfred Overture, the warm sounds of Bohemian countryside and the array of dances of the Danube in Dvořák’s symphony, and the Hungarian inflections in Strauss’s celebratory Polka Eljen a Magyar.
Visit www.anam.com.au to know more about our concerts -
Episode 1, 2021: Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier
Thursday 25 March 2021
In 1911 Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (The Cavalier of the Rose) premiered in Dresden, Germany when the aftermath of World War I caused the cultures of Vienna to fade. A bittersweet romantic comedy set in the 1740s in old Vienna, a half-real and half-imagined Utopia, one that Strauss and Der Rosenkavalier’s librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal are nostalgic of.
In this new episode of ANAM Radio, Phil Lambert (ANAM Music Librarian) talks to renowned oboist Nigel Shore and former ANAM Artistic Director Nick Deutsch about Nigel’s wind arrangement of Der Rosenkavalier. Nigel discusses how the oboe, clarinet and horn are the protagonists in operas, just as much as the singers. Nick also shares his most memorable performances of this masterpiece throughout his career.
Nigel Shore’s wind arrangement of Der Rosenkavalier will premiere on 1 April 2021 at The Good Shepherd Chapel, Abbotsford, Victoria. To purchase tickets, visit https://anam.com.au/whats-on/events/rosenkavalier. -
Episode 17, 2020: Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to Orchestra
Friday 11 December 2020
For his final year as ANAM’s Artistic Director, Nick Deutsch originally planned to start and end the year performing with the complete ANAM cohort and faculty. However, 2020 had other plans. Yet as he proved, “no pandemic will stand in our way”. In this special episode of ANAM Radio, Phil Lambert (ANAM Music Librarian) talks to the people who took on the mammoth task of putting together ANAM’s 2020 finale video from different living rooms and studios around the world. Nick and Alistair McLean (ANAM Recording and Online Coordinator) share how they worked with ANAM’s faculty and musicians to bring to life a brilliant performance of a piece that poses different challenges in the unusual 2020 set-up for musical performances.
The performance you are about the see was premiered in ANAM’s 2020 end of year celebration on Zoom on 29 November 2020. Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to Orchestra is performed by the ANAM Orchestra, and edited by Alistair Mclean and Tom Marley by permission of Boosey and Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd., and all rights administered by Hal Leonard Australia.
To watch the full performance, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhurka41l4Y&feature=youtu.be -
Episode 16, 2020: Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique
Wednesday 18 November 2020
For ANAM Radio’s final 2020 episode, Phil Lambert (ANAM Music Librarian) and Peter Neville (ANAM Head of Percussion) talk about one of the 20th Century’s unique, bizarre and outrageous compositions, George Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique.
Born in New Jersey, Antheil found himself in Paris in the 1920s along with other great American modernists of the time. In 1922, Antheil met Russian composer Igor Stravinsky who then had an idea of writing a piece for the pianola. The following year, Antheil came up with his own composition for 16 pianolas and percussion. Ballet Mécanique was premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 1926 to a sold-out concert attended by James Joyce and TS Elliott, but his eclectic musical experiments proved to be harder to pull off during his time resulting to a riot performance. After not being able to keep up with the complexity of the composition, it was believed that Antheil never tried to make anything as ambitious again and became a more conventional composer.
Ballet Mécanique was conducted by Peter Neville and performed by ANAM musicians and guest artists in 2016.
To watch the video recording of this performance, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saNoUX7o-pY&feature=youtu.be -
Episode 15, 2020: Dvořák’s Quintet in A major
Wednesday 4 November 2020
ANAM alumnus Laurence Matheson (piano 2016) and ANAM Music Librarian Phil Lambert agree that Dvořák was quite happy when he wrote his Quintet in A major in his country estate in Vysoká, Czech Republic in the summer of 1887. Yet, this light and folk-influenced composition finishes with a tone of pathos in the sudden slow section at the very end. While some might feel that the change does not quite fit the general mood of the piece, Laurence was drawn to the way Dvořák was able to bring the work together with a sense of gravitas.
In this episode of ANAM Radio, Phil and Laurence talk about the Dvořák’s journey and influences when he wrote this piece, and why Laurence chose it to be part of his concert series. The video recording is from one of Laurence’s ANAM fellowship concerts in 2016 with ANAM musicians and guest artists. -
Episode 14, 2020: Bottesini’s Double Bass Concerto
Wednesday 21 October 2020
Giovanni Bottesini is considered to be one of the most colourful and mysterious celebrities of 19thcentury music. Although his Double Bass Concerto no. 2 is considered to be a staple in every double bassist’s repertoire, there is unfortunately no surviving orchestral score written in the composer’s hand. Bottesini’s lack of due diligence in preserving his manuscripts made him more interesting for modern bass players who continuously search for the missing compositions in the back streets of Italy.
In this episode of ANAM Radio, ANAM alumnus Alexander Arai-Swale (double bass 2017) talks to Phil Lambert (ANAM Music Librarian) from Berlin, Germany where he gives his two cents on the mysterious world of the double bass, and shares interesting anecdotes of Bottesini’s time in Baden-Baden, Germany. Alexander is currently a scholarship holder at the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker under the tutelage of Matthew MacDonald.
The performance recording featured in this episode is from Alexander’s ANAM recital in 2016. To watch Alexander's full performance visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7M3OYvx5zo&feature=youtu.be -
Episode 13, 2020: Finnissy’s Ru Tchou (The Ascent of the Sun)
Wednesday 7 October 2020
A virtuoso pianist himself, British composer Michael Finnissy has been at the forefront of new music for the last fifty years. He composed Ru Tchou in 1975 for a concert series in Taiwan and intended it to be a musical ritual for welcoming the sunrise. A Canadian colleague advised him on taking advantage of “a small setup but using it thoroughly”. Earlier this year, Finnissy was able to watch ANAM percussionist Alexander Meagher’s performance of his composition and was thoroughly impressed by how Alex interpreted the piece.
In this special episode of ANAM Radio, Phil Lambert (ANAM Music Librarian) chats with Michael Finnissy and Alex Meagher about Ru Tchou and the proportions of sound and non-sound that requires the player to perform it like a dance. Finnissy talks about how Alex gave a performance reminiscent of a stylised modern dance – something that is not only meant to be listened to, but also to be watched, a skill Alex credits to his early training in Karate.
The performance you are about to see is from Alex’s 2019 ANAM Recital. To watch the performance recording, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKjeLH0yGwc&feature=youtu.be -
Episode 12, 2020: de Falla’s Concerto for Harpsichord
Wednesday 23 September 2020
When pianist Wanda Landowska asked composer Manuel de Falla to write a composition inspired by Baroque music, she envisioned the piece to be played on a harpsichord. To this end, Landowska also commissioned the French firm Pleyel to build the instrument for her which they indulged with four 7-and-a-half feet long harpsichords made up of metal frames more powerful than any harpsichord known to JS Bach. Although it took him three years to complete, de Falla, a devout Catholic, was able to translate his love for rituals and sacraments into his music. In the second movement of the composition, one can hear solemn plainchants and the clanging of cathedral bells in the bass notes of the cathedral which were inspired by the yearly Corpus Christi procession the composer witnessed in Seville, Spain in 1922.
Even without the magnificent harpsichords that the composition was first performed on, ANAM Associate Artist Peter de Jager was still able to give justice to the composition when he performed it with fellow ANAM musicians in 2014. Both Peter and Phil Lambert (ANAM Music Librarian) agree that de Falla envisioned this piece with big sonorous sounds, so suitable amplification of the harpsichord is needed for its sound to match the rest of the ensemble. In this ANAM Radio episode, Peter further talks about how de Falla was able to come up with a composition of great strength that seems to look beyond the instrument.
The performance featured here is from ANAM alumna Jessica Foot’s fellowship concert in 2014. Watch the video recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-cb5tIip04&feature=youtu.be -
Episode 11, 2020: Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons
Wednesday 9 September 2020
It was in 1725 in the city of Amsterdam when Venetian virtuoso and composer, Antonio Vivaldi’s Il cimento dell’armonia e inventione or The Contest between harmony and invention was published. The composition was made up of twelve sets of concertos for violin, strings and continuo. Its first four concertos, dedicated to a particular season quickly became popular and have since become known as The Four Seasons, a division from the whole Vivaldi did not foresee. The Four Seasons disappeared in the concerto circles after Vivaldi’s death only to resurface in 1948 after a recording of it by Louis Kaufmann. Today it is considered one of the most recorded works of all time, with over 400 versions by different musicians.
One of the most interesting features about this Vivaldi composition are the introductory sonnets for each concerto believed to be written by Vivaldi himself. ANAM violinist Harry Ward thought that each sonnet helps set the scene for each concerto and decided to have one person from the orchestra read the sonnet that accompanies each concerto when he performed and directed The Four Seasons with fellow ANAM Musicians last year. In this week’s episode of ANAM Radio, Harry and Phil Lambert (ANAM Music Librarian) chat about remarkable musical details of this classic masterpiece.
The Four Seasons performance featured in this episode is from Harry’s recital concert at ANAM in 2019 with ANAM strings and Peter de Jager. Harry was recently recognised as one of Musica Viva’s FutureMakers.
Watch the full performance recording athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM2FYe5jcss&feature=youtu.be -
Episode 10, 2020: Chopin’s Barcarolle
Wednesday 19 August 2020
It is surprising to know that Frédéric François Chopin wrote the Barcarolle without having had the chance to visit Venice during his lifetime. A barcarolle is a Venetian gondolier's song, and Chopin wrote his in 1845. ANAM Alumnus Adam McMillan (piano 2017) tells ANAM Music Librarian Phil Lambert about Chopin’s love for the opera as a possible inspiration for this composition as some of the arias written around that time were written in the Barcarolle style.
In this episode, you will also hear Adam talk about how performing this piece feels like being “in a dream the whole time.” The recording featured on this episode is from Adam’s ANAM Recital in 2017. Watch out for Phil’s favourite moment of suspense that begins about 6:51 into the video that he calls a good “moment of suspense.”
Watch the full performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALs_LlGkKSA&feature=youtu.be -
Episode 9, 2020: Mozart’s Six German Dances
Wednesday 12 August 2020
This week we revisit Mozart’s first time in Prague in 1787 where he wrote the first of his ten sets of German Dances. But first, Phil Lambert (ANAM Music Librarian) clarifies that the music in the elegant ballroom scenes in film adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels where couples dance and change partners is not a German dance. On the contrary, in a German dance each dancer only has one partner – no sharing.
In this episode Phil and ANAM alumnus Nicholas Young (piano 2017) chat about how Mozart, who was known as a procrastinator, wrote this piece in a spur of the moment to celebrate his final few days in Prague during his first visit. Phil calls it a dance track; a musical composition to get up and dance to. Nicholas also shares how the piece’s lack of tempo markings gave him the freedom to experiment with it to bring delightful music to his audience.
The performance featured on this episode is from a 2017 ANAM Soundbite concert. -
Episode 8, 2020: Strauss’s Metamorphosen
Wednesday 5 August 2020
The position of Richard Strauss during the Second World War was truly tragic. Already an esteemed composer during his time, he was used by the Nazi Party as a validation of its program. His contrasting political view was compromised by his desire to protect his Jewish family members. The war ended when Strauss was about 80 years old. At this time, he was inconsolable because of his perceived destruction of the German culture brought by the war. Metamorphosen is a play on the word ‘metamorphosis’ whose classical meaning of ‘rebirth’ the great composer inverts to describe how German culture descended to bestiality, of ’man killing man’, through the course of the Second World War.
Laura Barton (violin 2019) chats to Phil Lambert (ANAM Music Librarian) about conducting this masterpiece with ANAM Musicians during her final year at ANAM. For her, Metamorphosen is a complete overview of German culture as seen in Strauss’s perspective – the unbridled joy reached during the piece’s climax, only to come crashing down in the end.
This performance of Strauss’s Metamorphosen is from the 2019 ANAM Soundbite concert that formed part of Laura’s Master of Music thesis that she was concurrently completing at Griffith University while also completing the ANAM Performance Program. It was performed by ANAM string musicians with Laura as the conductor.
Watch the full recording of this performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5IAJAz1CY0&feature=youtu.be -
Episode 7, 2020: Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for strings
Wednesday 29 July 2020
This week ANAM Music Librarian, Phil Lambert, talks about one of the most popular String Serenades by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The story begins in 1868 when the master composer was putting together an anthology of Russian folk songs for piano duets. The arrangements are short and have simple harmonies. In September of 1880, Tchaikovsky was working on a commission to commemorate the victory of Russia over Napoleon, his famous 1812 Overture. Around the same time, he began jotting down ideas for another piece, convinced that a Serenade for a large string orchestra would permit him to create lush texture without having to take on the intellectual weight of a symphony. His Serenade for Strings was completed in November 1880. Its most interesting quality is how the simple Russian folk songs he composed 12 years prior came together with the rest of the composition to give the finale a very rustic romp.
Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for strings is easily one of the string masterpieces that is still very popular to this day. Phil talks to ANAM alumnus Liam Oborne (violin 2019) who admitted he stopped enjoying performing it at some point, until performing it with Israeli violinist Gregory Ahss renewed his appreciation for this piece. Gregory directed and performed this piece with the ANAM string orchestra during his 2019 ANAM Residency. The performance featured in this episode is from ANAM’s Joy and Heartbreak concert.
Watch the full recording of at performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk-9ONSUPyM&feature=youtu.be - Mehr anzeigen
