So at ANAM there is a 'series' called Fridays@3 which is usually a conversation with a visiting artist. This last week, the cellist Alban Gerhardt was in residence, along with the Silver-Garburg piano duo. All were pretty phenomenal artists. Mr Gerhardt was the guest for the conversation at the end of last week.
I often sit in lectures of all sorts (well, I suppose necessary at university to do so...) and write lots. Often I write to keep awake, or to just get as mkuch information as possible, for processing later. This conversation, however, needed no good reason to keep awake - Alban Gerhardt was highly entertaining and candid. I was glad to have some paper and a pen to record some of these pearlers:
* About chamber music: "We get paid the same amount, but the pianist has to work so much harder (then the cellist)". (I KNEW it! Thank goodness a cellist has admitted it!!)
* About being asked whether one should play new music that isn't written for you specifically: "I found the question stupid, and telling."
* On not listening to recordings much and absorbing concepts and ideas from many sources: "I'm not very good at arts, visual arts. I mean, I've seen stuff..."
* "I've played sixty, seventy, cello concertos, which is not that much....(of the approximately 250 written for the instrument)." Oh yeah, not much at all...
* About his early listening experiences (which were not much to do with cello): "Well, I wasn't very interested in wind music, sorry...I'm sure there aren't any wind players here." On the contrary, a good proportion of the wind students were in attendance.
* "I wrote a blog, and called it 'Schumann and sweets', or some sort of shit title."
* "These scones, not British ones that are light and fluffy, but these American ones..." Good to know his taste preferences!
* "I have a good story...actually, it's not very good...anyway...."
* "We always think about Hungarians as perpper and paprika, and stuff..."
* About Jacqueline du Pre: "She was so beautiful, well, not really....she's not ugly, but she's not a movie star...you wouldn't want to watch her every day."
* About the Max Reger cello sonatas: "These sonatas, the cellist can learn it in a week. The pianist needs a year!"
* About a concerto: "It's for three cellos, which is a dumb idea!"
* "In Germany, we have been tortured by our own modern composers."
* "...he is not a charlatan, he is not Philip Glass!"
* On listening to Philip Glass play a concert: "Shit! I could improvise better as a six-year-old than Philip Glass!"
* On composing (which he has no intention of doing so now): "I wrote a piano trio when I was nine. I wrote it for myself and my siblings. It lasted a minute and fifty seconds. It sounded like Strauss."
What a dude!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Polish adventures Part 3 (A Sunday in Sydney, no Polish news to report of)
So after a most restful night in the biggest bed I've ever been granted, it was a day of pure fun! I realise that I've never been to Sydney just to have fun; the few times I've been have all been for music tours of some variety, where I've been doing other stuff, and haven't really had much time to look around that much. One day I'll actually go and be a tourist there, seeing as there is so much to do.
Waking up to a beautiful sunny day (!!) with a window overlooking a cosmopolitan street with cafes and what not....blissful!
KD was to come and pick me up from the hotel, which she did. It was nice checking out and not having to settle any bills! And to not have to make the bed (hehe) although admittedly, I really hadn't rolled around much at all. I decided if I wasn't going to be able to enjoy the lovely flowers that I had been given the night before, KD should definitely have them! We wandered around a little for a cafe that looked good for breakfast and settled upon one that looked like it would serve us a hearty morning meal. I have to admit that I love a good cooked breakfast and a morning coffee to go with it. Blissful continued! We had a lovely catch-up over breakfast, chatting about things that had been happening this year that we weren't able to hear about every week. So much has changed and happened this year. Then we went to KD's church, which is currently meeting at Moore Theological College as their original building suffered in a fire and is undergoing the rebuilding stage. It was a great service, really encouraging and also different to my usual Sunday evening one! There were people of a much larger demographic (families! Kids!) and there was a great vibe to it. It's nice going to another church sometimes to visit and to realise that even though the people are different, the songs may be different, the service format, style or vibe might be different, we're still on about the same things fundamentally! This is really exciting and reassuring, I think, partly as I think about how I have no idea what city or country I might be in within the next five or twenty years.
One other thing that struck me about getting around Sydney is how utterly confusing it really is! Even Google Maps on an iPhone do not guarantee that you will get from A to B as expected. On our way to church, the route plotted actually turned out to be not so good as it failed to consider the impossibility of turning at a particular street. We ended up having to follow the road for some while and then find our way back. A fairly frustrating non-anticipation, but in the process of this, we actually drove into the suburb of Woollahra and actually found ourselves passing by the Polish consulate, where we were only the night before! How funny! Google Maps, however, did prove useful when driving to the airport via some cool (large) back streets that avoided much traffic. Whaddaya know?!
After church we wandered along King Street in Newtown, which is close to Sydney University and has lots of shops of all sorts. You might get the idea that we ate lots that day. You wouldn't be wrong. It was great!
KD had a hunch that there was this sort of bookshop/cafe just off the main road and we followed that hunch....and found it! The downstairs part was a lovely bookshop with lots of fun books and gifts. Bookshops are one of those sorts of places that I fawn over so many things that I would buy if I had the means to do so. Perusing the shelves, both KD and I saw these bowls with a dragonfly print on it and looked at each other, with that look and said to each other, "I know somebody that this would be perfect for....!". We decided to buy a gift for the said person just because we could, because we were both in Sydney at the same time in this lovely shop and had this mutual friend that we're both close to. All good reasons for random gifts! Upstairs was a cafe and a second-hand bookshop (which unfortunately we didn't get time to wander through because of little time, pity!) where we ate sweet delicious things on account of not being able to fit lunch in after that large breakfast.
Then it was off to the airport after a very fleeting 24hr stint in Sydney. It was so wonderful to catch up with KD in her new home city (can I say 'new'?!) and to hang out with her for a whole half day. What luxury for us both! It was such a beautiful day all round and a lovely way to round off a really enjoyable weekend. What might seem quite stressful (three flights in three days, one small suitcase, two concerts, meeting-and-greeting) was actually a most relaxing weekend - I'll tel you why. We had one programme to play, which was repeated (such a good feeling!); we were well-looked after; I couldn't bring lots (if any!) work nor my computer, so the only thing I could do was relax; we were somewhat limited in how far we could venture (transport and time constraints) which meant lots of relaxation time; being physically away from the centre of my work (however much I love it) often puts me at ease because I am unable to do it. What a great mini-holiday!
Waking up to a beautiful sunny day (!!) with a window overlooking a cosmopolitan street with cafes and what not....blissful!
KD was to come and pick me up from the hotel, which she did. It was nice checking out and not having to settle any bills! And to not have to make the bed (hehe) although admittedly, I really hadn't rolled around much at all. I decided if I wasn't going to be able to enjoy the lovely flowers that I had been given the night before, KD should definitely have them! We wandered around a little for a cafe that looked good for breakfast and settled upon one that looked like it would serve us a hearty morning meal. I have to admit that I love a good cooked breakfast and a morning coffee to go with it. Blissful continued! We had a lovely catch-up over breakfast, chatting about things that had been happening this year that we weren't able to hear about every week. So much has changed and happened this year. Then we went to KD's church, which is currently meeting at Moore Theological College as their original building suffered in a fire and is undergoing the rebuilding stage. It was a great service, really encouraging and also different to my usual Sunday evening one! There were people of a much larger demographic (families! Kids!) and there was a great vibe to it. It's nice going to another church sometimes to visit and to realise that even though the people are different, the songs may be different, the service format, style or vibe might be different, we're still on about the same things fundamentally! This is really exciting and reassuring, I think, partly as I think about how I have no idea what city or country I might be in within the next five or twenty years.
One other thing that struck me about getting around Sydney is how utterly confusing it really is! Even Google Maps on an iPhone do not guarantee that you will get from A to B as expected. On our way to church, the route plotted actually turned out to be not so good as it failed to consider the impossibility of turning at a particular street. We ended up having to follow the road for some while and then find our way back. A fairly frustrating non-anticipation, but in the process of this, we actually drove into the suburb of Woollahra and actually found ourselves passing by the Polish consulate, where we were only the night before! How funny! Google Maps, however, did prove useful when driving to the airport via some cool (large) back streets that avoided much traffic. Whaddaya know?!
After church we wandered along King Street in Newtown, which is close to Sydney University and has lots of shops of all sorts. You might get the idea that we ate lots that day. You wouldn't be wrong. It was great!
KD had a hunch that there was this sort of bookshop/cafe just off the main road and we followed that hunch....and found it! The downstairs part was a lovely bookshop with lots of fun books and gifts. Bookshops are one of those sorts of places that I fawn over so many things that I would buy if I had the means to do so. Perusing the shelves, both KD and I saw these bowls with a dragonfly print on it and looked at each other, with that look and said to each other, "I know somebody that this would be perfect for....!". We decided to buy a gift for the said person just because we could, because we were both in Sydney at the same time in this lovely shop and had this mutual friend that we're both close to. All good reasons for random gifts! Upstairs was a cafe and a second-hand bookshop (which unfortunately we didn't get time to wander through because of little time, pity!) where we ate sweet delicious things on account of not being able to fit lunch in after that large breakfast.
Then it was off to the airport after a very fleeting 24hr stint in Sydney. It was so wonderful to catch up with KD in her new home city (can I say 'new'?!) and to hang out with her for a whole half day. What luxury for us both! It was such a beautiful day all round and a lovely way to round off a really enjoyable weekend. What might seem quite stressful (three flights in three days, one small suitcase, two concerts, meeting-and-greeting) was actually a most relaxing weekend - I'll tel you why. We had one programme to play, which was repeated (such a good feeling!); we were well-looked after; I couldn't bring lots (if any!) work nor my computer, so the only thing I could do was relax; we were somewhat limited in how far we could venture (transport and time constraints) which meant lots of relaxation time; being physically away from the centre of my work (however much I love it) often puts me at ease because I am unable to do it. What a great mini-holiday!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Polish adventures Part 2
So it was good that we were housed in the super austere and very warm Polish embassy in Canberra. It's a bad idea to check the temperature when you know it's cold, right? One just feels colder for looking at it.
The next day I checked the weather update and commented, "Well, at least it's now positive degrees."
We didn't have much to do at the embassy once the concert was over, so I spent a lovely morning reading a large amount of Harry Potter. It was so relaxing to just not have to do anything, to have a slow morning lazing around.
We were driven to the airport by the lovely Polish embassy woman in another very luxurious (think leather seats, motorised adjustable seats) German car, via a lost way that went past Old Parliament House. Our plane from Canberra to Sydney was a little one - only four seats across, and propellers on the wings. (Reminds me of a fantastic quote from our theory lecturer a number of years ago: "What plane has propellers on the wings? No wonder I felt sick!"). Thankfully, another short flight. Flying into Sydney, you definitely get a different vibe. There are buildings everywhere, you feel like you're about to land in a residential area as you touch down.
After collecting our luggage (flying a Qantas leg allows your to check in luggage - what luxury! For a 7kg orange suitcase...), we looked around for a man with a sign with our names. But no. We looked lost. There was a guy who obviously was waiting for somebody, but he sure wasn't waiting for us (I asked...). We didn't have any contact of the Polish people in Sydney, we didn't even know where the hotel was! We only knew the address of the Polish consulate, but figured we couldn't just rock up there, press the doorbell and tell them who we were and to take care of us (remember, we're not Polish nationals. We can't take refuge there!). A few frantic phonecalls to try get a contact, a man sidled up to us with a sign. Definitely our names. Thankfully he did, we were about to get in a cab to make our way to the Polish consulate!
One thing that always strikes me about a place is the geography. What are the roads like? Are there lots of buildings? What style are they in? Is it mostly freeways? How leafy is it? How hilly is it?
And let me say, Sydney was pretty crowded. For a Saturday afternoon, there sure were a lot of cars on the road! But maybe that is just Sydney? It was a drive that went through tunnels, across freeways, up and down the hills, past a few parks and stopping at lots of traffic lights. We turned into a fancy area: Municipality of Woollahra. As I'm aware from Australian literature studies, this is a FANCY area. Like Toorak. Like Peppermint Grove. Like the Upper East Side. (Sorry, I can't give any more analogies). Just by the bay, lots of nice cafes and homes and stuff. We were driven to right outside our hotel in Double Bay (which is next to the suburb of Woollahra), which Wikipedia tells me is sometimes referred to as "Double Pay". We had been booked a hotel room EACH (how luxurious!) into this boutique 3 1/2 star hotel which is kinda exciting when you've been living in student accommodation for a long time. We checked in ("Your rooms have already been paid for, so anything extra, like breakfast, you pay, right?") and found our rooms.
Awaiting me was a hotel room woo! A double bed - the BIGGEST double bed I have ever seen in my entire life. I could have fit at least one and a half times diagonally. Doing the biggest starfish I could, I couldn't reach the edges. Crisp white sheets, tucked in ever so tight. Amazing. A TV (unfortunately not digital...), an ensuite with dispensers of stuff, a hairdryer, fluffy white towels. Space for me, my daypack and a 7kg piece of hand luggage. Plenty good. And a window overlooking a cosmopolitan street with cafes, shops and exciting things that I could walk out the door and go to (unlike Canberra...)! A long hot shower later, I felt much better and refreshed post-two flights and travel eyes. TV and reading and chatting with KD to organise the next day, and general resting was in order. Bliss. We ventured out in Double Bay briefly foraying for food, which we found at a nice (though slightly pricey) cafe. It was such a beautiful Sydney winter day: sunny and not too cold - I was almost regretting only bringing thick layers but thankful I brough cotton socks, not just the woollen ones. What pleasant weather we had all weekend, even in Canberra (almost perfect: even though freezing cold, it was sunny and crisp!!).
At the appointed time, the driver was waiting downstairs, (yes, right at the doorstep) in the luxury German car with leather seats to drive us to the Polish consulate to have a warm-up and scope of the venue. The Polish consulate is in that suburb of Woollahra, as I found out later, next to the German and Serbian consulates. The driver apologised "Sorry, I said it was five minutes away. I was wrong. It is two minutes away!". We were ushered into what seemed like a large house into this reception room, which held about 100 or so guests. There was a little stage with a piano. Lights all set up, chairs all waiting, and tables with champagne glasses.
The Sydney concert was very similar to the Canberra one, though slightly elongated (a bit more poetry. Apparently the Polish ambassador in Canberra is a concise man...) We were in a waiting room, behind two locked doors in the offices of the Polish consulate, in a sort of meeting room with a large wooden table and various Polish consulate merchandise....a painting, and champagne glasses with the Polish consulate emblem. The thankfully went without a hitch and we were free to mingle with the guests afterwards at the reception. We were given some very lovely flowers which unfortunately I was unable to take into Victoria because one can't bring plant material into the state! As we passed the kitchen on our way to the 'dressing room', we were able to peek in and see the enormous amounts of food....yay! Plates and plates of all sorts of things were served. Amazing. We met lots of really interesting people, including Wanda Wilkomirska, who I had never heard of until that night. So apparently she is a super-amazing violinist who is of Polish ethnicity (which explains her being there..!) and lives in Sydney (also explains stuff..). She really enjoyed our playing, which is extremely high praise! We also met a film-maker, and a nuclear weapons activist whose favourite composer was Gorecki. We met lots of lovely people who really enjoyed the music, and had lots of photos taken (some by an over-enthusiastic photographer). We were saved from the (as it turned out, overly-enthusiastic) filmmaker who was so keen to go out to dinner with us when the driver insisted that we had to leave as he had to drive somebody else home so it was either now or another forty minutes. We went with the former option, while the overly-enthusiastic photographer kept trying to take last photos. We quickly escaped and headed back to the hotel to don some comfortable pajamas! Feeling it too early to go to bed, we donned more comfortable clothes and settled in for tea and biscuits and channel surfing, stumbling upon a very strange movie.....
I slept so well in this MASSIVE bed that night, though I do recall thinking "If I want to roll over, I could, several times over!". First world luxuries.....
Part 3 to come, encompassing my lovely day with KD...
The next day I checked the weather update and commented, "Well, at least it's now positive degrees."
We didn't have much to do at the embassy once the concert was over, so I spent a lovely morning reading a large amount of Harry Potter. It was so relaxing to just not have to do anything, to have a slow morning lazing around.
We were driven to the airport by the lovely Polish embassy woman in another very luxurious (think leather seats, motorised adjustable seats) German car, via a lost way that went past Old Parliament House. Our plane from Canberra to Sydney was a little one - only four seats across, and propellers on the wings. (Reminds me of a fantastic quote from our theory lecturer a number of years ago: "What plane has propellers on the wings? No wonder I felt sick!"). Thankfully, another short flight. Flying into Sydney, you definitely get a different vibe. There are buildings everywhere, you feel like you're about to land in a residential area as you touch down.
After collecting our luggage (flying a Qantas leg allows your to check in luggage - what luxury! For a 7kg orange suitcase...), we looked around for a man with a sign with our names. But no. We looked lost. There was a guy who obviously was waiting for somebody, but he sure wasn't waiting for us (I asked...). We didn't have any contact of the Polish people in Sydney, we didn't even know where the hotel was! We only knew the address of the Polish consulate, but figured we couldn't just rock up there, press the doorbell and tell them who we were and to take care of us (remember, we're not Polish nationals. We can't take refuge there!). A few frantic phonecalls to try get a contact, a man sidled up to us with a sign. Definitely our names. Thankfully he did, we were about to get in a cab to make our way to the Polish consulate!
One thing that always strikes me about a place is the geography. What are the roads like? Are there lots of buildings? What style are they in? Is it mostly freeways? How leafy is it? How hilly is it?
And let me say, Sydney was pretty crowded. For a Saturday afternoon, there sure were a lot of cars on the road! But maybe that is just Sydney? It was a drive that went through tunnels, across freeways, up and down the hills, past a few parks and stopping at lots of traffic lights. We turned into a fancy area: Municipality of Woollahra. As I'm aware from Australian literature studies, this is a FANCY area. Like Toorak. Like Peppermint Grove. Like the Upper East Side. (Sorry, I can't give any more analogies). Just by the bay, lots of nice cafes and homes and stuff. We were driven to right outside our hotel in Double Bay (which is next to the suburb of Woollahra), which Wikipedia tells me is sometimes referred to as "Double Pay". We had been booked a hotel room EACH (how luxurious!) into this boutique 3 1/2 star hotel which is kinda exciting when you've been living in student accommodation for a long time. We checked in ("Your rooms have already been paid for, so anything extra, like breakfast, you pay, right?") and found our rooms.
Awaiting me was a hotel room woo! A double bed - the BIGGEST double bed I have ever seen in my entire life. I could have fit at least one and a half times diagonally. Doing the biggest starfish I could, I couldn't reach the edges. Crisp white sheets, tucked in ever so tight. Amazing. A TV (unfortunately not digital...), an ensuite with dispensers of stuff, a hairdryer, fluffy white towels. Space for me, my daypack and a 7kg piece of hand luggage. Plenty good. And a window overlooking a cosmopolitan street with cafes, shops and exciting things that I could walk out the door and go to (unlike Canberra...)! A long hot shower later, I felt much better and refreshed post-two flights and travel eyes. TV and reading and chatting with KD to organise the next day, and general resting was in order. Bliss. We ventured out in Double Bay briefly foraying for food, which we found at a nice (though slightly pricey) cafe. It was such a beautiful Sydney winter day: sunny and not too cold - I was almost regretting only bringing thick layers but thankful I brough cotton socks, not just the woollen ones. What pleasant weather we had all weekend, even in Canberra (almost perfect: even though freezing cold, it was sunny and crisp!!).
At the appointed time, the driver was waiting downstairs, (yes, right at the doorstep) in the luxury German car with leather seats to drive us to the Polish consulate to have a warm-up and scope of the venue. The Polish consulate is in that suburb of Woollahra, as I found out later, next to the German and Serbian consulates. The driver apologised "Sorry, I said it was five minutes away. I was wrong. It is two minutes away!". We were ushered into what seemed like a large house into this reception room, which held about 100 or so guests. There was a little stage with a piano. Lights all set up, chairs all waiting, and tables with champagne glasses.
The Sydney concert was very similar to the Canberra one, though slightly elongated (a bit more poetry. Apparently the Polish ambassador in Canberra is a concise man...) We were in a waiting room, behind two locked doors in the offices of the Polish consulate, in a sort of meeting room with a large wooden table and various Polish consulate merchandise....a painting, and champagne glasses with the Polish consulate emblem. The thankfully went without a hitch and we were free to mingle with the guests afterwards at the reception. We were given some very lovely flowers which unfortunately I was unable to take into Victoria because one can't bring plant material into the state! As we passed the kitchen on our way to the 'dressing room', we were able to peek in and see the enormous amounts of food....yay! Plates and plates of all sorts of things were served. Amazing. We met lots of really interesting people, including Wanda Wilkomirska, who I had never heard of until that night. So apparently she is a super-amazing violinist who is of Polish ethnicity (which explains her being there..!) and lives in Sydney (also explains stuff..). She really enjoyed our playing, which is extremely high praise! We also met a film-maker, and a nuclear weapons activist whose favourite composer was Gorecki. We met lots of lovely people who really enjoyed the music, and had lots of photos taken (some by an over-enthusiastic photographer). We were saved from the (as it turned out, overly-enthusiastic) filmmaker who was so keen to go out to dinner with us when the driver insisted that we had to leave as he had to drive somebody else home so it was either now or another forty minutes. We went with the former option, while the overly-enthusiastic photographer kept trying to take last photos. We quickly escaped and headed back to the hotel to don some comfortable pajamas! Feeling it too early to go to bed, we donned more comfortable clothes and settled in for tea and biscuits and channel surfing, stumbling upon a very strange movie.....
I slept so well in this MASSIVE bed that night, though I do recall thinking "If I want to roll over, I could, several times over!". First world luxuries.....
Part 3 to come, encompassing my lovely day with KD...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
