Melbourne Conservatorium of Music | Recital
April 15, 2025 , Hanson Dyer Hall, VIC
Lisa-Maree Amos (flutes)
Brent Miller (percussion)
Peter de Jager (piano)
Lisa-Maree Amos, Brent Miller and Peter de Jager were the lynchpins of a most varied concert to a full house in the acoustically and visually pleasant Hanson Dyer Hall. With nine different composers it was to be expected that a few would shine out as beacons of creativity and enrichment. But one given was the excellence of the performers.
Idyll for the Misbegotten (1985) for flute and drums by the doyen of intellectual music in the USA in the 1970’s and onwards for a couple of decades, George Crumb gave credence to the idea of a recent classic. Works like his famous string quartet Black Angels, the choir work Ancient Voices of Children and the whale song work Vox Balaenae made his reputation across the world and this Idyll for the Misbegotten harvests similar musical ground. Lisa-Maree Amos gave a compelling and exquisitely beautiful performance and led three members of the MCM percussion school in this adventure in dramatic colours and textures. The murmuring deep drums and relentless banging was the perfect compositional foil to the at times gentle and elegant flute line. A performance to savour and keep in the memory.
There are only a handful of Australian works for flute that could be referred to as a classic and foremost among them is the 1994 work for solo alto flute, Déjà Vu by Johanna Selleck. Joo Lee Kim, a post-grad student at MCM, gave an assured and mature reading full of dazzlingly technical displays whilst always ensuring that the gorgeous sound of the alto was front and centre. I have heard this in concert several times and this was equal to any!
Sasha Wee’s memorised playing of a ridiculously difficult marimba solo by Keiko Abe brought the house down as there is nothing quite like being fast and furious and perfect. And in a quartet by Mark Pollard four of her colleagues showed that the percussion department of the MCM is thriving and delivering excellent musicians into the world of music.
Pianist Peter de Jager gave an informative introduction to Kakan by Anne Boyd. For those who know Boyd’s work this chamber work displayed more musical aggression and angst than one usually encounters in her work. This was a fitting and finely nuanced performance from Amos, Brent Miller and Jager just 5 days after Anne Boyd’s 79th birthday.
It is so encouraging to see an audience of several hundred people ranging in age from teenagers to, and quite a few, people in their 80’s. That they heard music written since 1984, augers well for the appreciation of music of now.
PROGRAM
Shaun TILBERG: Two Abstracts *
George CRUMB: Idyll for the Misbegotten
Anne BOYD: Kakan
Maria GRENFELL: These dark notes drifting
Keiko ABE: Prism
Johanna SELLECK: Déjà Vu
Mark POLLARD: The Heavenly Muzak Machine, part 4
Melody EÖTVÖS: Tardigradus
Sergei GOLOVKO: Charanga Salada *
* Denotes Australian premiere.
Lisa-Maree Amos (flutes)
Brent Miller (percussion)
Peter de Jager (piano)
Joo Lee Kim (flutes)
Sophie Barker (percussion)
Alicia Jeong (percussion)
James Owen (percussion)
David Stockwell (percussion)
Sasha Wee (percussion)
