Baroque Hall. 18 Nov 2024
The Firm comprises concert producers and composers Raymond Chapman Smith and Quentin Grant, and their concert on 18 November was the 140th since their first in 1996. Over their 28-year history, The Firm has been a vital element of Adelaide’s musical life, staging a concert series every year featuring new compositions and works by some of the great composers of the past, and providing valuable opportunities for emerging composers and performers.
Ukrainian-born, Adelaide-raised and now Switzerland-based pianist Marianna Grynchuk is much loved by Adelaide audiences and her return was warmly welcomed.
She opened this concert for solo piano with Franz Schubert’s Ungarische Melodie in B minor D.817 (1824), a delightful piece based on a Magyar dance. It opens with a teasing offbeat rhythm and, as it winds its way through a series of seductive modulations, it seems to take on the character of an inwardly reflective song rather than an energetic gypsy dance, ending quietly with just a hint of despondency.
Next we heard Raymond Chapman Smith’s Mondseeklavier (undated). Mondsee, which translates as ‘moon lake’, is a small town in Austria on the shores of the similarly named lake, and perhaps Chapman Smith’s work is inspired by it. It comprises 14 short pieces that could be described as miniatures or preludes, the kind of pieces that one might compose while on holiday in a quiet, moonlit lakeside resort.
Each piece, though concise, is complete in itself. They have the character of Romanticism, with their quietly intense emotional expressiveness, though some diverge from typical cadence and thus seem unfinished, adding to their intrigue. Each is identified only by its tempo indication. The third, Lento Moderato suggests a lullaby, while the eighth, Adagio, is deliciously poignant. These delightful pieces have, overall, a somewhat melancholy feel, and collectively form a quite hypnotic companion to the Schubert. Grynchuk is an experienced performer of Chapman Smith’s music and knows just how to bring out the gorgeous musicality and charm of his work.
Quentin Grant’s Birds in the Café Braunerhof (2024) is a set of 10 short piano pieces inspired by the popular Viennese café of that name, which is evidently frequented by literary figures. These bright, engaging pieces obliquely reference Viennese Romanticism but are more contemporary, and many of the pieces evoke the sound of birdsong — in the first, Braunerhof, dolce, the tinkling of the piano in the upper registers mimics the sounds of agitatedly chirping birds.
The seventh piece, entitled Walser, presumably refers to the Swiss writer Robert Walser (1878 – 1956), and Grant has previously composed works inspired by or referring to this enigmatic character; Grant’s Walser is itself suitably enigmatic. Two other pieces, Walk 1 and Walk 2, presumably also refer to this writer who was renowned for taking long walks in the country (as was Schubert). It is on such walks that birdsong is best heard — Grant’s Birds in the Café Braunerhof thus connects walking with writing, music and birds.
Emerging Adelaide composer Marcus Kha’s Fried is a short but quite complex and involving piano work which, the composer states, is intended to form the first element of a suite depicting eggs in their various forms, and it opens with a loud note evoking the cracking of an egg and its sizzling in a pan. Even if you are unaware of the culinary reference, it’s most enjoyable, and the full suite will be eagerly anticipated.
This engaging recital concluded with Schubert’s Four Impromptus D. 935 composed in 1827, the year before his death. Collectively, these impromptus constitute one of the great works for piano — with interlinking themes, the four seem to form a single work, taking the listener on a journey that ultimately suggests joyous wonder at life.
Marianna Grynchuk’s performance is entrancing, as she captures these pieces’ emotional character. The technically demanding final piece, the Allegretto scherzando in F minor is energetically jaunty and upbeat, bringing a suitably optimistic tone to conclude this memorable concert.
In this recital, the compositions complement each other, and their juxtapositioning emphasises their character, with each segueing into the next, making for a rich listening experience and educating the audience’s musical palate. Typically, each Firm concert features what they describe as a “posthumous composer in residence”, a past composer whose music is featured, and who acts as a reference point for the whole concert program; in this case, it was Schubert.
Over the years, composers Chapman Smith and Grant have each produced vast bodies of work which deserve to be heard more often, as exemplified by their fine contributions to this concert. Long may they continue.
Chris Reid
When: 18 Nov
Where: Baroque Hall, North Adelaide
Bookings: Closed
