‘BODHI BEATS’CAPPUCCINO CONCERT SERIESThe Bodhi Tree Bookstore Cafe (416 Oxford Street, Mt Hawthorn)

“CAFE 1930” Sunday 27th November 2011

Program

Abing (1893-1950)Er Quan Ying Yue (Moon Reflected on the Second Spring) arr. for piccolo and harp

Michio Miyagi (1894-1956) Haru No Umi (Ocean in Springtime) arr.for flute and harp

Claude Debussy (1826-1918) Syrin, for solo flute, L.129L’apres-midi d’un faune arr. for flute and harp

Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975)

Rhapsodie for harp

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

from L'histoire du tango, tango cycle arr.for flute and harp L’Bordel 1900

Café 1930Nightclub 1960

Jacques Ibert (1890-1962)

Entr'acte for flute and harp

Emily Clements FluteYinuo Mu Harp

*Patrons, please note that there shall be no interval during this performance. Coffee and cakes shall be available in the cafe before and after the concert.

The MusicHaru no UmiHaru no umi is one of the most celebrated works by a member of the group known as Shin Nihon Ongaku (New Japanese Music Movement). Blind koto master Michio Miyagi (born 1894 as Suga Wakabe, changing his name when he married in 1913) was a co-founder (with Seifu Yoshida) of that movement, which sought to add European means and devices to works composed for Japanese instruments. 

Haru no umi is his best-known work. It was originally written for koto and shakuhachi (the distinctively breathy Japanese flute). The work is tripartite, in ABA form. The opening section is a flowing and reflective melody with a restrained poignant feeling. The central section is in the character of a Japanese folk dance, lively and with strong accents. 

While the shakuhachi plays mainly material that does not much deviate from traditional Japanese music, the koto part is unusually active and mostly traces the notes of European style harmonies, arpeggio style. The harmonies are similar to the enriched chords commonly used by Debussy and the other French impressionists. The entire effect is, to western listeners, quite Japanese and exotic, though the use of Western scales and chord patterns makes it listenable by all. With the melody part adapted for western violin, Haru no umi became an internationally successful work. Isaac Stern, for instance, played it frequently.

SyrinxAsked by his frequent correspondent, the poet and dramatist Gabriel Mourey, to provide a score for his adaptation of the Psyche myth, Debussy expressed his reluctance thus: "What kind of genius is required to revive this ancient myth from which all the feathers of the wings of love have been plucked?" In the end, however, the composer sufficiently mustered his creative powers to produce a short incidental work for Mourey's play. Although Syrinx (1913) may seem relatively uncomplicated on the surface, especially since it calls only for a lone flute, its modest appearance belies its substance. In its simplicity of utterance and highly emotive language, Syrinx immediately recalls Debussy's Prelude à l'après midi d'un faune (1892-1894), and, likewise, evokes that work's sensual Symbolist resonances, inspired by the poetry of Mallarmé. 

In both works, the composer's musical language is immensely cultured and, at the same time, in the forefront of contemporaneous musical modernism. This is most powerfully evident in the use of whole-tone scales and other devices that lend the music a strange ambiguity. In Syrinx, Debussy de-emphasizes, even dispenses with, conventional tonal centers; much of the work's potency instead derives from its delicate, fragmentary melodies and highly seductive timbral effects. Scholar Edward Lockspeiser points out that, significantly, given its implied association with the first of Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis (1900-1901), Syrinx was originally titled "Flûte de Pan." He further opines that "it is as exquisitely and lovingly designed as the flute solo for Mallarmé's mythological faun. It was the one project that was not allowed nebulously to float about in Debussy's mind during his long friendship with Mourey."

L'après-midi d'un fauneThe composition was inspired by the poem L'après-midi d'un faune by Stéphane Mallarmé, and later formed the basis for the ballet Afternoon of a Faun, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. It is one of Debussy's most famous works and is considered a turning point in the history of music; composer-conductor Pierre Boulez even dates the awakening of modern music from this score, observing that "the flute of the faun brought new breath to the art of music." It is a work that barely grasps onto tonality and harmonic function.About his composition Debussy wrote:“The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarmé's beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it. Rather there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams of possession in universal Nature.”

Paul Valéry reported that Mallarmé himself was unhappy with his poem being used as the basis for music: "He believed that his own music was sufficient, and that even with the best intentions in the world, it was a veritable crime as far as poetry was concerned to juxtapose poetry and music, even if it were the finest music there is."

However, Maurice Dumesnil states in his biography of Debussy that Mallarmé was enchanted by Debussy's composition, citing a short letter from Mallarmé to Debussy that read: "I have just come out of the concert, deeply moved. The marvel! Your illustration of the Afternoon of a Faun, which presents a dissonance with my text only by going much further, really, into nostalgia and into light, with finesse, with sensuality, with richness. I press your hand admiringly, Debussy. Yours, Mallarmé."The opening flute solo is one the most famous passages in musical modernism,[citation needed] consisting of a chromatic descent to a tritonebelow the original pitch, and the subsequent ascent.

Entr'acteThis brief but brilliant Entr'acte is one of his most well-recognized works and a direct product of his love for Spanish literature and music. In 1935 Ibert wrote incidental music for a French production of Pedro Calderón's El médico de su honra. The entr'acte of that music was published that same year for flute or violin and guitar or harp. It has been transcribed for and recorded with many other instruments since its original publication. It opens with a breathless, whirling dance with propulsive accompaniment, inspired by flamenco guitar music. The opening is then repeated after the briefest of pauses, the music vividly calling to mind a dancer as he or she improvises a variation on the theme. That image of an animated dancer, showing off his or her footwork, continues in the following serenade-like solo for the guitar. That, in turn, leads into a cadenza for both instruments and a final, brief statement of the theme, ending, so obviously, with the dancer's arms in the air and a final stamp of the feet.

LʼBordel 1900 and Café 1930Astor Piazzolla was keenly aware of the changing style of the Argentine national dance over his lifetime. It was entirely natural that he should seek to remind his critics and fans alike of the fact that tango had begun in the process of musical evolution and altered its sound and mood through that same process. Histoire du Tango is the vehicle by which he did so. It is not written for the standard tango band, but is a kind of abstraction of that sound into a classical suite, originally written for flute and guitar. (There is also a version for violin and guitar, as well as other arrangements, and the work's title is sometimes given in Spanish, La Historia del Tango.) The music is a little over 20 minutes long and covers the evolution of the dance through the twentieth century. Tango evolved from an earlier popular dance called the milonga, which is itself evolved from the Cuban rhythm known as habañera. Tango was initially regarded as a low dance. Like North American jazz, it originated in bordellos, and so the first movement is entitled "Bordel 1900." The relatively genteel milonga is depicted here as having been jolted into a new form by a heavy injection of eroticism. The dotted habañera/milonga rhythm is exaggerated and in this form not accepted in polite society. The second movement is called "Café 1930." By now, tango was the favorite dance of all classes in Argentina and was known as a daring dance around the world. Piazzolla is now writing directly from his memories of the type of tango played in cafés in Buenos Aires. This is a respectful depiction of the full-blown traditional tango.

Introducing….The MusiciansEmily Clements – Flute

Emily Clements is a 26 year old flutist from Perth. After graduating from the University of Western Australia with first class honours, she moved to Finland to complete a Master of Music at the Sibelius Academy.

A strong interest in the French 'École de flûte' led to further study in Paris under professors Patrick Gallois and Catherine Cantin, principal flute of L'Opéra de Paris. She was awarded a ʻPrix de Perfectionnementʼ in 2009 from the Conservatoire National de Musique, Aulnay-sous-bois.

As a finalist in the 2004 Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards, Emily performed as soloist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in the Australian Youth orchestra as well as Scandinavian programs such as Orkester Norden, Arctic Youth Orchestra and Aurora Masterclasses.

Emily has spent the past two years performing with Finnish orchestras Oulu Sinfinia and Joensuu Kaupunginorkesteri, developing orchestral skills as well as a certain taste for salmon and ice-swimming. She has a strong interest in education and bringing classical music to new audiences.

Yinuo Mu – Harp

Harpist Yinuo Mu has performed concerts in a wide range of venues in Asia, Europe and the United States. Yinuo is the First Prize winner of America String Associationʼs National Solo Competition as well as American Harp Societyʼs Ann Adams Award.

She is also a finalist in both the USA International Harp Competition and the Lily Laskine International Harp Contest in France. Yinuo has been featured as a soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra and the Oberlin String Orchestra, and has participated as a key performer at prestigious festivals including Tanglewood Music Festival, SpoletoUSA and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.

An accomplished ensemble and orchestral musician, Yinuo has worked as Principal Harpist with the Florida Grand Opera, and has also performed as guest harpist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, China National Center of Performing Arts Orchestra, and with distinguished conductors including James Levine, Valery Gergiev, Fabio Luisi, Hans Graf, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, David Zinman, Jahja Lin and John Williams.

Yinuo received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She also holds a Graduate Performance Diploma from Boston University.

Introducing ... The HarpWhat is a harp? Is it the instrument played by angels floating on clouds? Or is it that tall, golden, half-hidden thing in the symphony orchestra? Maybe it's that squat and broad instrument in an Irish band or the stringed instrument accompanying an African storyteller.

The harp, in fact, is all those things. It can accompany a voice, a silver flute, or be backed by jazz bass and drums. It can have a body carved from a single chunk of wood, or one precisely constructed from 2000 hand-crafted or machine-tooled pieces. It can be played with only the hands or with both hands and feet, as in the case of a pedal harp. It can be played solo or as part of an ensemble. But no matter where, or what kind, or how it's played, the harp remains one of the most beautiful and fascinating instruments in the world.

The harp is one of the world's oldest musical instruments, with evidence of its use dating as far back as 3000 B.C. Modern harps have the largest range of all the instruments in an orchestra. The Great Seal of Ireland includes a harp, which is a symbol of the country. Harps are shaped much like bows, and it is thought that the first harp was based on the weapon.

The modern concert harp includes 47 strings, seven pedals, a frame, a soundboard and a base. Most modern concert harps are made of maple wood. Harps can be as large as 6 feet and weigh 90 pounds. Tuned correctly, the pressure placed on the harp's soundboard by the strings is more than 4,000 pounds.