John Dowland (1563 – 1626) – Now O Now

Marin Marais (1656 – 1728) – Pièces de viole, cinquième livre, Paris 1725

Rondeau le doucereux

Idée grotesque

Double de L’ ideé grotesque

Sarabande

La Demoi Gigue

Martin Codax (13^th century) – Cantigas de Amigo

Cantiga 1: Ondas do mar de Vigo

Cantiga 2: Mandad’ ei comigo

Cantiga 3: Mia irmana fremosa

Cantiga 4: Ay Deus, se sab’ora meu amigo

Cantiga 5: Quantas sabedes amar amigo

Cantiga 6: Eno sagrado Vigo

Cantiga 7: Ay ondas que eu vin veer

Marin Marais – Pièces de viole, quatrieme livre, Paris 1717

Le Basque

Double

Branle de Village

Anonymous (18th Cent.) – Jeunes Fillettes

Anonymous (13th Cent.) – Byrd one brere

Anonymous – Por aýi  pasó un kavayero

CD Launch – Professor Anna Reid, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Sydney Conservatorium

Program notes

Although John Dowland was known in his lifetime as a virtuoso lutenist and singer,  he was also a gifted composer of great originality. His greatest works are inspired by deeply felt, tragic concepts of life and a preoccupation with tears, sin, darkness and death. He raised the level of English song to new heights, matching perfectly in music the mood and emotion of the verse.

John Dowland

Marin Marais provided the original reason for being for The Marais Project. Jennifer Eriksson formed the ensemble in 2000 to perform Marais’ complete works for the viola da gamba.  These 600 pieces are contained in his five volume Pièces de Violes.  Pieces is increasingly seen by musicologists and performers alike as of vital musical and pedagogical significance: a summary of the musical possibilities of the viola da gamba that stands as equal with any similar collection for other instruments.  As at 2012 The Project is about 80% through the wonderful task of “playing through” Marais.  Over the years The Project has continued to expand its repertoire and musical interests but we always come back to our roots. The first suite today  is one of our favourites.  It also seems to be much loved by the ABC who have broadcast it regularly since “Mara! meets Marais” was released.

Marin Marais

The song cycle Cantigas de Amigo is attributed to Martin Codax, a troubadour who is said to have flourished in Galicia during the late 13^th Century. The cantiga de amigo is a genre of Iberian medieval poetry (written in the voice of a woman, to an absent lover), and this is the only example to have survived with music. Written in the northern Spanish dialect of Gallician-Portugese, which was in common use during the Medieval period, it features seven short poems, six of which were set to music (one appearing with blank staves). The manuscript was discovered in Madrid in 1914, by a bookseller who found it had been used to bind a manuscript of Cicero’s “De officiis”. Shortly afterwards, the manuscript disappeared again, resurfacing when it was purchased by the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York in 1977.  Mara Kiek performed this song cycle extensively during the 1980s and recorded it in 1987 for Hyperion Records with Sinfonye (featuring Stevie Wishart, Andrew Lawrence-King and Jim Denley). The album, “Bella Domna”, was re-released in 2006 by Hyperion on their Helios label.  The sixth poem, which appeared without music, has been set by Mara Kiek.

The first of several “anonymous” songs we perform today, Jeunes Fillettes is a French Bergerette, also known as a shepherdess air.  It dates from the 18^th century.  The bergerette form appears to draw on the earlier 16^th century pastoral song tradition as “bergerette” is the diminutive form of “bergère”, the French word for shepherdess.

Bryd one brere or “Bird on a briar” dates from around 1300 and is considered the earliest English love song.  It was found written on the back of a Papal Bull, an edict of the pope with his seal affixed, dated 1199. It was written in, or at least belonged to, the Priory of Saint James, near Exeter. When it was written, c.1290-1320, the Papal Bull document was about a century old. Mara learnt ‘Bryd one brere’ from Winsome Evans, and performed it with the Renaissance Players during the 1980′s. Since then Mara and Llew have performed it many times as a duo, but never have recorded it except for the soundtrack of the short film ” Moth” by Meryl Tankard in 2011. The version performed today will appear on a new Marais Project CD to be released  later in 2012 or early 2013.

The ballad fragment Por aýi  pasó un kavayero is part of a much older and longer Spanish ballad (formal title – “La Dama y el Pastor” the Lady and the Shepherd), and is related to other “seductress” ballads, and the theme of the serrana, the mountain girl who goes after men.  It is the earliest known ballad text to have been written down without music and it can still be found in much of Spain in oral tradition. Por aýi  pasó un kavayero survived in fragment in Sephardic culture with various tunes depending on where it was being sung, and this particular version is Turkish, or at least Ottoman, Sephardic. The melody we have chosen is an adaptation of a tune sourced by Winsome Evans from an anthology of Sephardic music loaned to her by Rabbi Apple, of the Great Synagogue in Sydney. Llew and Mara wish to gratefully acknowledge the enormous debt they owe to Winsome Evans for her dedication and generosity over many years as musician, colleague, mentor and friend.

Program notes by Mara Kiek, Jennifer Eriksson & Philip Pogson with contributions from Dr Judith Cohen on the history of Por aýi  pasó un kavayero.

• “I hate ‘classical music’: not the thing but the name.  It traps a tenaciously living art in the theme park of the past…The phrase is a masterpiece of negative publicity, a tour de force of anti-hype.  I wish there was another name.”

I could not agree more!  I feel very much a part of a contemporary, tenaciously living art form and do not believe that I belong in a museum – or at least no more than a 65 year old rock musician touring the world playing the “revolutionary” music he or she was famous for circa 1969…

Members of Mara! with The Marais Project

But if conventional classical musicians – those who play in orchestras and in string quartets or piano trios – are pigeon-holed by the “classical” term, how much more early musicians, those like me who have found their niche in the pre-Classical era, that is, in the music written before 1750?

Yet like many of my colleagues I don’t confine myself, my work, my collaborations or my listening habits to those the classical genre.  I am just as likely to be at a jazz or improvised music venue on a Friday night as the Opera House.  I constantly arrange music, have conducted school and church choirs and performed in restaurants, bars, school halls, coffee shops and recording studios as well as modern concert halls.  In addition, I have commissioned and/or premiered more than a dozen new works while The Marais Project has collaborated with a very broad range of musicians and artists including:

• Jazz pianist and composer Kevin Hunt – who has written for us and improvised with us from the key board
• World Music ensemble, Mara!
• “The Early Dance Consort”
• Composers Rosalind Page, Matthew Perry, Stephen Yates, Paul Stanhope, Dan Walker and Christopher Keane
• Finally, earlier this year I performed a new work for two viola da gambas by young composer Alice Chance at the “HSC Encore performance” at the Sydney Opera house before two packed halls of 3000 young people

Some of these collaborations have really stretched The Marais Project and me personally well outside conventional comfort zones and have had the same effect I know on those we collaborated with.

At the completion of the partnership each of us tends to return to our specialty, in my case, viola da gamba music of the late 17^th to mid 18^th centuries, but we are never quite the same for the experience.   Often we become friends and subsequently attend each others performances and work together in other ways.

The upcoming concert on April 29 with three members of the Mara! World Music group will turn the clock back several years to the first time we all performed together.  The central work we prepared and presented on that occasion was a version of Martin Codax’s 13^th century song cycle, “Cantigas de Amigo”.  The arrangement included two viola da gambas – there was no such thing as a viola da gamba in the 13^th century – and modern upright bass played by Steve Elphick, a musician renowned in the jazz world.  I don’t believe what we created was classical music, but neither was it jazz or even world music.  That is the wonder of collaboration – sometimes what emerges cannot be classified.

We subsequently recorded the whole concert for ABCFM and have released this recording on CD.  In the months since the release some reviewers have “got it” but others remained a little bemused as to why we bothered to step outside the conventions.

Mara! meets Marais - CD Cover

In the end I can only speak for myself on this question.  I think I collaborate to stretch myself and to keep from becoming set in my ways.  I also enjoy meeting and working with those I admire from outside my field.  I learn and so do they I am sure.  On April 29 Mara! and The Marais Project will try again and see where we end up!

Jenny Eriksson with Philip Pogson

Mara! meets Marais

3.00pm Sunday 29^th April.

Recital Hall West, Sydney Conservatorium, Macquarie St, Sydney.

Mara Kiek & Belinda Montgomery – voice & percussion

Llew Kiek -bouzouki & gittern

Jennifer Eriksson & Catherine Upex – viola da gamba

Tommie Andersson – renaissance lute & theorbo

Dave Ellis – double bass

Tickets – $30/20 at door; family ticket $80 (2 adults + 2 children); bookings ph: (02) 9809 5185; on-line at: www.maraisproject.com.au

How did your musical life begin and what was the first instrument you played?

My musical life began one morning in kindergarten, when I witnessed a Musica Viva performance, featuring a baroque ensemble with Jenny playing the Viola da Gamba. That afternoon, as Mum and I traveled home in the car, I sat there, wide-eyed and speechless. She cautiously began to ask me if anything interesting had happened that day, but the only response she could get was, “Mum… I want to play the Lopity Gamba…”

Due to the lack of “Lopity Gambas” for sale at the time, I was started on the violin and continued, half-heartedly, for 10 years.

When did you decide to play the viol and what influenced you?

I suppose you could say I made the decision when I was five. However, when the opportunity actually arose, around 4 years ago, it was a very intuitive decision. I was intrigued by the subtle, melancholic tones of the Gamba. and mystified by its historic repertoire. I loved how you could achieve so many different qualities of sound on the one instrument, and I wondered if there were any I didn’t know about yet. I felt so attracted to it, that factors such as the lack of opportunity in an orchestral role, or as a member of a standard ensemble, were not really relevant to me at the time.

Were you supported to play viol at school or was it difficult not playing an orchestral instrument?

I was incredibly lucky to be at MLC School, with the guidance and everlasting support of Karen Carey, who is a viol player herself. Were it not for her, and the entire music staff’s, understanding and enthusiasm for both early music, and the possibility of early instruments in a contemporary context. I would not have had any of the performance opportunities I so fortunately received. There was difficulty, however, in the HSC course. Every Music 2 student was required to perform a ‘core’ piece, written in the last 25 years. Whilst I strongly encourage the performance of new music, it presented difficulties for me, as there really wasn’t much available. We settled on a Stephen Yates piece, “Le Tombeau pour Marin Marais”, written in 2001 for Jenny Eriksson, and Stephen kindly allowed us to make some changes, so it was more “HSC-friendly”.

What ensembles we you part of both at school and as an extracurricular activity?

I’m a very passionate chorister. (Indeed, part of my attraction to the Gamba was its similarity to the human voice), and so I was involved in the School Choir, Chamber Choir, and the Choir for MLC’s tour to Spain in 2010. I’m planning to continue this by joining the Choir at the Sydney Conservatorium, and a separate female A Capella vocal group, “Aurora Australis”,for leisure. I am also really looking forward to being a part of the Con’s renowned Early Music Ensemble. It will be an honour to play with such talented and passionate musicians, and it will be my first time playing the Gamba in a regular ensemble. I am looking forward to joining (or even starting!) more ensembles with the Gamba, in the near future, should the opportunity arise.

What difference do you think it has made to specialize in viol so early in your career?

This question is best answered with a metaphor! I suppose parallels can be drawn with human friendship. Whilst we’re able to form incredibly strong bonds with other people at any stage of our lives, nothing is more special than a friendship formed from childhood. There is something about having grown and developed together, whilst always finding new ways to connect, which I think is very powerful. I guess the Gamba has grown up with me, and I feel that I know the instrument more intimately because of that. However, in the hope I’m not contradicting myself, I also feel that you can start something at any stage of life and still become an expert. Starting from a young age is no advantage if you’re not disciplined and willing to work hard. So if you are disciplined and willing to work hard, age is irrelevant.

What repertoire did you play for your HSC and why did you compose a new work to perform?

I chose to specialise in composition, and so I only had to perform one piece for the HSC. As I said, it was a miracle we found, and had permission to alter the Yates piece, and I have no idea what we would have done otherwise. After the painstaking process of searching for contemporary Gamba repertoire, and the disappointing results, I felt inspired to create some of my own. But I wanted to respect the instrument and its origins. When chatting to an elderly relative, there should be a balance of topics which are relevant to you, and to them – the conversation can’t be entirely about the joys of social networking, nor can it be entirely about how licorice used to cost a penny, ‘back in my day’. In the same way, an instrument as historic as the Gamba doesn’t sound comfortable in a contemporary context, without some links to its past. That’s why I based my piece, ‘O Pastor Animarum’, on a 12th century plain chant (of the same name) by Hildegard of Bingen.

When has, and will, your new work be performed?

I’ve been very lucky to have my work performed by two viol virtuosi, Jenny Eriksson and Daniel Yeadon, at the Marais Project’s “Ossenbrunner Twins” concert in October last year. I also feel honoured to have been selected for the HSC ENCORE performances in March this year, where Jenny and I will perform my piece in the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House.

Where to now? What are your plans for the future?

My ambition is to be a composer, and I would consider it huge privilege to make a living out of doing something I love so much. I’m about the start a Composition degree at the Sydney Conservatorium, whilst also doing an Arts degree at the University of Sydney, majoring in Linguistics. My long-term goal with the Gamba is to enlighten others about the beautiful sound world it has, the majestic repertoire that already exists for it, and the endless possibilities of its use in contemporary music. When the next Gambist sits the HSC, and begins to search for a ‘core’ piece, it’s a lovely thought that he or she might be utterly overwhelmed by all the choice.

Australian Viola da Gamba Society Newsletter, Issue 46-47, Spring 2011 & Summer 2012.  Used with Permission

This is an unexpected mix of instruments, styles and eras, brought together by the personal chemistry of the performers, and their sense of the common factors in the music of a remarkably diverse programme. It combines medieval, renaissance and baroque music from England, France and Spain. The instruments are from the same eras: baroque (bass viol, theorbo) renaissance (lute) medieval (gittern) and modern (double bass) together with some percussion. The two singers, Mara Kiek with her well-known and very compelling chesty declamation of the medieval songs, is joined by soprano Belinda Montgomery, who has a more conventional technique, with a clear, true sound, beautifully in tune, with a light vibrato. Anachronisms abound, and are embraced with glee by the performers. As the booklet notes put it, they aim to share the music they love rather than seek authenticity. In recent times, this word has become almost a derogatory term, implying a lack of sincerity, yet why else would one play a lute, viol, or seek a different vocal timbre unless one was seeking authenticity. Perhaps a better way of expressing it is that these are all performers with a long history of experience and passion for the music of these eras, and are using this experience to set themselves free in their expression of the music.

Members of Mara! and The Marais Project

All are very accomplished performers, and bring an easy assurance to each item in the programme. Dowland’s ‘Now o now’ uses the 4-part vocal tenor and bass to add to the lute accompaniment for some verses. The Marais F major suite from the fifth book has a double bass added to the accompaniment. There is a lovely elevation motet by Pierre Bouteiller, a contemporary of Couperin, in which the very stylish soprano of Belinda Montgomery is accompanied by theorbo and two bass viols. Completely new to me, and I’m supposed to know about French music of that period. The songs of the 13th century Portuguese Martin Codax take up the latter half of the recording, and are the most satisfying unity. Here the players are free to improvise – with the lute, viol and double bass introducing ideas which are sometimes medieval, sometimes almost jazzy, but with a unified approach which supports Mara Kiek’s compelling declamation. Every now and then, in a refrain, she and Belinda Montgomery sing in octaves, beautifully tuned, and a lovely contrast in sound. Authentic? Who cares. Does it hold together? Not for me, but an enjoyable recording.

Review by Robert Oliver – Australian Viola da Gamba Society Newsletter, Issue 46-47, Spring 2011 & Summer 2012.  Used with Permission

This new disk is due for its official launch on Sunday 29th April (see Concert Diary), but I’d be surprised if you can’t score a copy before then.  The Marais Project for this recording comprises Jennifer Eriksson and Catherine Upex, violas da gamba; Tommie Andersson, lute & theorbo; and Belinda Montgomery, voice & percussion. Mara’s ensemble is Mara Kiek, voice & percussion; Llew Kiek, bouzouki & gittern; and Steve Elphick, double bass. The title might sound like a collision of sorts, but in the product, each ensemble retains its identity whilst sharing resources.

Mara ensemble’s  use of percussion, plucked instruments and bass are easily recognizable, as is Mara Kiek’s crusty voice. Their music delivers a substantial sound, fattened here with gamba fill. The 13th century pieces – seven cantigas from the Martin Codex, and a character laden anon Spanish ballad, sung by both Belinda and Mara, are distinctly flavoured.

The cantigas tracks, in succession, total around 28 minutes and could have easily tended to sameness, but the instrumental and rhythmic variations work as saviour.  In the more recent  works – Marais, Dowland and Bouteiller – gamba and lute/theorbo are to the fore, with double bass reinforcing the bottom end.

Marin Marais, of course, is included via the Suite in F Major (Pieces de viole, 1725). Here the recording quality is obvious, where the bowing is the breath of the work. The double bass adds depth and growl to the continuo but still leaving ample space for the theorbo’s heartbeat.

Dowland’s Now, O now, I needs must part, is left to Belinda, lute and a little gamba support – it is balanced and serene. The motet, O fidelis et dilecte commensalis, by Bouteiller, although religious, is similar to the Dowland, but with more room for expression and an instrumental focus toward the gamba.

The disk is recorded in the Eugene Goossens Hall using the ABC’s resources. It captures both ensembles at their best – creamily blended, precise and as they would be pleased and proud to be depicted.

From “Early Music News” Feb-Mar, 2012 by Neville Olliffe. Reprinted with permission

“Twins usually look alike and sometimes behave alike, but they can also be as different as cat and dog. In this concert’s union of the two violas da gamba made by Reinhard Ossenbrunner, we saw and heard an amazing pairing and co-operation. Daniel’s instrument spoke with lovely resonance in its lower range, and Jennifer’s revelled in the mid region, but the blend and clarity of tone could well have suggested a single instrument. I really wasn’t expecting it to be quite this remarkable – a tribute to Ossenbrunner’s craft and also, the performers.

The Ossenbrunner Twins before the concert

The opening Adagio, and later, the Sarabanda, of the first performance – Sonata IX from “Le Nymphe di Rheno”, by Johann Schenk – perfectly indicated the lilting, melancholy abilities of these Ossenbrunners. A flavoursome Aria and bright, skipping Giga then displayed their dexterity and clarity.

Sainte-Colombe’s Concert XXI “Le Villageois” emphasised gentleness and expression, and drew to an enticingly lovely, fading conclusion. The movement endings in Marais’ Suite in G Major, 1st Livre, pursued this elegance. Also in this piece, ornamentation added brightness; while bow stroke and attack illustrated the dance, and theorbo suggested audible steps. Bottom end leanings and swelling further enhanced flavour and detail.

I had always thought John Coprario’s viol compositions a trifle monotonous, but the playing of his Fantasia for two bass viols and organ (the theorbo was the organ here) was an exception. An elegant, clean performance.

Belinda Montgomery proved an excellent vocal choice to combine with the weaving viols in two verses of the carol, Une jeune fillette. For the concert’s conclusion, at the request of Ossenbrunner, the vocal trio – to viol and theorbo accompaniment – took us for a short, chugging ride on their Ossenbrunner Express – more recognizable as The Chattanooga Choo Choo. I suspect it isn’t easy delivering those rhythms via underhand bowing. Slick and entertaining!

But what most had been hanging out for was the freshly composed piece by HSC student, Alice Chance. Her inspired, O Pastor Animarum, via the 12th Century’s Hildegard von Bingham, was intuitively realized. The underlying consistency and modal structure melded comfortably with the gamba’s capabilities, and the melodies supported both ancient and contemporary idioms. The work’s more or less two blended movements was short and satisfying. The performers adored the piece and rendered it lovingly.”

Delicious, and note perfect.”

Review by Neville Olliffe; reprinted with permission from “Early Music News” Vol 11 No. 6

This CD had its beginnings back in 2008 when The Marais Project, combined with 3 members of the Award-winning World Music/Folk ensemble Mara! in a cross-genre concert the climax of which was a performance of 13^th century troubadour Martin Codax’s song cycle, Cantigas de Amigo.

ABCFM were so impressed with the concert that they invited Mara! and The Marais Project into the studio for a day to record the music played for broadcast.  We have now licensed that recording for release as a budget CD.

For more than 20 years Mara! founders Mara and Llew Kiek have defied categorisation as they engage in multiple projects across a virtual kaleidoscope of musical styles from mediaeval ensembles to Bulgarian folk music, jazz, film music, choirs and orchestral works.  Llew and Mara Kiek share something of their musical heritage and interests below.  Below is an edited version of an interview I conducted with Llew and Mara back in 2008.

The cover of "Mara! meets Marais"

Philip Pogson (PP): Llew and Mara, how did you find your way into the early music scene?

Mara Kiek (MK): My first real introduction to early music was through “Aquila Alterra” in the early 80’s. The group was a kind of offshoot of the Renaissance Players. I had a background in dance and was asked to research early dance forms which could be incorporated into their performances. Around 1983, about two years after the formation of “Tansey’s Fancy”, (precursor of the Mara! Band), Winsome Evans asked me if I would like to audition for the Renaissance Players.  She wanted me to audition as a percussionist as she had a full complement of singers at the time. I passed, and performed with the group regularly prior and subsequent to my 1988 study trip to Bulgaria.

Llew Kiek (LK): My early music interest was spawned through the Renaissance Players with whom I began performing in the early 1990’s. Sometime after, Winsome asked me to produce the first 6 CDs that she recorded for Walshingam Classics, which went on to be re-released on Celestial Harmonies. The sixth of these was an ARIA nomination for best classical CD in 1996 – the first of several nominations I have since received for my CD productions.

PP: On the CD, Mara! consists of a trio, yourselves with jazz legend Steve Elphick on double bass.  How does that work?

The performers

MK: We already knew lutenist Tommie Andersson and Jenny Eriksson, of course, as well as soprano Belinda Montgomery.  The performance and CD gave us the opportunity to explore some traditional and medieval repertoire that we wouldn’t normally perform with the Mara! quintet. The fact that The Marais Project also features instruments of the same families enhanced the texture.  We did make Steve tune down to 415 by the way!

PP: Looking at the WWW site (http://www.maramusic.com.au/) I am amazed by breadth of your musical interests.  Mara, how did you get involved in Eastern European folk music?

MK: My introduction to music from the Balkans came via Linsey Pollak who was playing with Renaissance Players when I joined them in 1983. Linsey had recently returned from a study trip to Macedonia where he studied (gaida) bagpipes. He joined Tansey’s Fancy and taught us a body of Macedonian traditional folk music and dances. Thus began a lifelong passion for the music of this region.

While I concentrated on Bulgarian music and particularly the traditional female singing voice, Llew focused more on Turkish music, particularly long and short necked lutes. He studied for a number of years with Sabahattin Akdagcık in Sydney and made numerous trips to Turkey to research and collect instruments.

PP: Mara, what is different in your sound production from an opera singer or even a rock artist?

MK: My singing technique has always been folk based.  Although I studied classical singing privately in the late 70’s and early 80’s, the classical timbre was not instinctive to me. I always tended towards a ”folk” sound and was irrevocably drawn to the arresting power of the Balkan voice when I first heard it.  I badly wanted to achieve the Bulgarian-style timbre but could not easily or consistently access it during those early days.  The quest for mastery has lasted 25 years and continues still. While I have gathered a great deal of information about the Bulgarian singing technique, there are still many unanswered questions about this particular voice.

Comparisons between Bulgarian traditional and “classical voice” are perhaps the easiest because the two techniques use different mechanisms of vibration of the vocal folds. The classical voice is produced with a short “closed phase” of vocal fold vibration (the vocal folds are usually closed for no more than 30% of each vibratory cycle), while Bulgarian appears to feature a long closed phase (thought to be over 60%). A long closed phase results in greater sound pressure levels and perceived ”loudness” and a greater intensity of high frequency harmonics within the sound spectrum. In some ways the Bulgarian vocal mechanism is actually closer to that employed by rock singers or the “belt” quality used in music theatre.

PP: What does the future hold for you as individual artists and for the various Mara Music projects?

MK: The promise of many diverse projects, the main one being the Martenitsa choir with whom we have already performed, recorded extensively and toured internationally.  Add to this some theatre, film music and youth projects.  I also intend to continue my studies and voice research including undertaking a doctorate. This will involve more time overseas, and provide further opportunities for the Mara! band to tour in Europe, traditionally our most receptive audience base.

LK: The Mara! band has several ongoing Musica Viva commitments and is completing (in 2011) a new CD for release early in 2012.  I am also producing several other CDs including a second recording for The Marais Project which will follow up “Love Reconciled” which I also produced.

The process of making a recording has little relationship to a conventional performance.  There you are, sitting in an air conditioned room behind two sets of doors to keep extraneous sounds out with no audience to win over except each other, the sound engineer, the producer and any one else who has nothing better to do with their time.  With some exceptions such as classical guitarist John Williams and pianist Glenn Gould who both claim(ed) to enjoy the studio, musique concrete practitioners and electronic composers, “classical” musicians typically view studio recording as a means to an end rather than an end in itself.  In this we are more akin to our jazz colleagues than many rock musicians who are happy to spend months or even years hard at work in the studio putting down the great “Album”.  Given that, a wonderful classical recording will often reflect years of patient, frustrating workouts in the Practice Room but that is another question.

For this reason, the recent rush to release live recordings by some symphony orchestras and opera companies is probably a good move.  John Elliot Gardiner’s recording of all of the Bach cantatas has taken the same approach – record a final rehearsal one day and the final performance the next so as to have another set of takes from the former to patch into what our Producer Llew Kiek calls “the hero take” from the day of the performance.  Classical music is best experienced live – glitches and all – rather than dead and notionally note perfect.

So why continue in the studio?

As far as The Marais Project is concerned, we rarely have the opportunity to perform the same program twice in the same venue which is a necessity underlying the “two take” live recording approach.  Secondly, whether live or studio-based there is in any case a discipline involved in recording which is good for us: tuning, ensemble, starts and finishes, balance etc.  When you have a microphone in front of you all performers start to think in terms of permanent record of their efforts.  Then the reality is, the studio does give extra control and additional microphone options.  In a live context audiences should not have to crane their necks to catch a glimpse of the performers through a tangle of wires and attendant microphones.  Finally, a good live recording requires a top class venue and all the costs involved in attracting an audience which we still have to meet along with Producers, engineers and traveling sound equipment.

But if someone pays us to record live, we will do it!

Our final Marais Project concert for 2011 is a celebration of our instruments as much as the music we are presenting.  Back in 2002 I became the proud owner of a viola da gamba by Reinhard Ossenbrunner, one of the world’s finest living instrument makers.  Reinhard is a wonderful human being and when I flew over to pick up my new instrument he and his wife made me so welcome.  I was the first Australian they had ever met and simultaneously the first Australian, I believe, to own on an Ossenbrunner.

It is difficult to convey Reinhard’s elite status amongst professional gambists but perhaps one story will illustrate what I mean.  Several years ago Wieland Kuiken, who alongside Jordi Savall is arguably the greatest living gambist, toured Australia.  He was travelling without his instrument and borrowing instruments each time he was due to perform.  When Wieland arrived in Sydney it had been organised for him to make use of my instrument. I had played in master classes for Wieland several times in Europe so I delivered it to him one evening.  He took up the instrument, began to play and almost immediately his face looked puzzled.  “This is a lovely viola da gamba,” he muttered under his breath. He then looked at the label and exclaimed, “I don’t believe it, an Ossenbrunner in Australia.  Now I am very happy to play this concert!”

Recently Daniel Yeadon also purchased an Ossenbrunner and of course we wanted to put the “twins” on stage so as to hear them together.  Both our instruments are copies of an original ca. 1695 viola da gamba made by Michele Colichon, a renowned 17^th century French maker.

We have chosen some of our favourite music for two bass viols to show our instruments off.  We are also excited to be premiering a new work for two viols by young composer and gambist Alice Chance.  The final work for today, “The Ossenbrunner Express” is an arrangement of a song specifically chosen by Reinhard himself.  I asked him earlier this year what he would like to us to play in his honour and we have fulfilled his rather unusual request!

Program

• Sonata IX from “Le Nymphe di Rheno” (The Nymphs of the Rhine) – Johann Schenk (1660–1712).
  • Adagio
  • Aria (Allegro)
  • Tempo di Sarabanda (Adagio)
  • Giga
  • Bourée
  • Menuet

• Ma bell si ton âme – Anon. (published by j-B Besard in 1603).  Arranged by Tommie Andersson drawing on an arrangement by Jordi Savall.

• Concert XXI “Le Villageois” – Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (1640 – 1690).
  • (Ouverture) Le Villageois
  • Menuet
  • Courante
  • Sarabande

• Fantasia for two bass viols and organ – John Coprario (1570-1626).

• O Pastor Animarum – Alice Chance (1994- ).
• Suite in G major for two viola da gambas and continuo (1er Livre – Paris 1686) – Marin Marais (1656-1728).
  • Prélude
  • Allemande
  • Courante
  • Sarabande
  • Gavotte en rondeau
  • Chaconne

• The Ossenbrunner Express – Music by Harry Warren (1893-1981), words by Mack Gordon; arranged for The Marais Project by Dan Walker (2011)

Background to Marin Marais and The Marais Project

Marin Marais (1656-1728) was one of the greatest viola da gambists of all times, a virtuoso and composer whose music is still performed more than 350 years after his birth.  The son of a shoe maker, Marais rose to great heights based solely on his musical talents.  He was employed as musician at the Court of Louis XIV in Versailles during the great era of the “Sun King” and wrote more than 600 works for the viola da gamba that are published in five books.  I formed The Marais Project in 2000 with the aim of playing Marais’ complete works as well as music by Marais’ contemporaries and other music for the viola da gamba.  We are currently about 80% through our task of presenting all of Marais, but then we have taken many delightful detours along the way!  The Marais Project has released two CDs and will release a third titled “Mara! meets Marais” later in 2011.