Marimba Galaxy

This concert was on Wednesday, September 4, 2013 at 7pm in the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University Ian Hanger Recital Hall.

This is a marimba showcase of different colours mixing with violin, cello, flute and clarinet. The title came from the image of having a marimba in the center as the sun surrounded by other instruments in the universe.

The astronomer in me thinks this is more a solar system and less a galaxy but I understand the metaphor. In any case, it was a wonderful presentation.

My daughter and I arrived early. We were waiting outside the hall when we were joined by Sarisha and a friend of hers (whose name escapes me but she wants to learn guitar). Sarisha is another student of Laura's. I believe Laura told all her students about this recital but Sarisha is the only other student I recognized. It may be no surprise since many of Laura's students are young children.

The performers were Nozomi Omote on the marimba, Laura Thomson on violin, Nick Hamsen on clarinet, Dan Curro on cello and Hayley Radke on flute.

Nozomi appeared to be either very nervous or very shy but she was so endearing. She even went to the trouble to find galaxy pants for the occasion :) She also asked each of the performers to do some of the presentation of each work.

First up Nozomi was accompanied by Laura for "Legal Highs" (in three parts) by David P Jones. The three sections were Mr. Coffee, Menthology and Sweet Thing. Being a violin student I really wanted to focus on Laura (who is also my teacher). It's the first time I have seen Laura perform live. She was great. I saw some techniques I knew already and quite a few I am yet to learn. That was exciting to me because I have lots to learn and I am going to enjoy every minute of it. I said I wanted to focus on Laura but it was hard not to watch Nozomi (until I remembered Nozomi would be playing the whole time). This is a modern piece, so as far as the violin is concerned, there are more techniques and sounds used than you might normally see in a classical piece. In fact, all of the music tonight was from 1987 and afterwards.

Next was Dan and together he and Nozomi played "Mariel" by Osvaldo Golijov. Dan seems to be a bit of a clown judging by how he introduced this piece. Apparently the composer wrote notes such as "play like an asteroid gliding through space". According to the composer the piece is meant to capture the short instant before grief when you learn of the sudden death of a dear friend. Looking back I can see where that came into the music, but at the time the asteroid metaphor seemed very appropriate. I think I am developing a crush on the cello and double bass. Not the cellist (who I will say had a magnificent bald head but I digress). I love the tones those instruments can produce, such as in this clip. One thing I remember is that when they finished I was holding my breath. It was amazing.

Hayley "sucked it up" and introduced "Kembang Suling" by Gareth Farr. This Asian-influenced piece was very pretty too. I will admit the flute is not my favourite instrument so for this performance I was really able to focus on Nozomi and how she played. Even when she was playing calmer slower music, she looked like she was ready to leap from one end of the marimba to the other. It is quite a large instrument too and she moved about it very gracefully.

Laura was back with the final piece for the evening with Nick. This was "And Legions Will Rise" by Kevin Puts. As the composer puts it, this music was a showpiece for a remarkable marimbist and eventually became equally virtuosic for all three parts. The inspiration for the work is the indomitable power of the human spirit to transcend in times of crisis. It started off slowly but definitely finished with a rush. By this time I was looking equally at the violin and the marimba. It was as fascinating to watch as it was to hear. The rest of the audience loved it as much as I did and the three of them came back twice for bows.

All of the performers came back for a final bow and Nozomi made a little thank-you speech. My daughter and I really enjoyed the show. Everyone played splendidly and the music selection was great too. My daughter plays percussion at school and she was paying close attention to Nozomi. I was so happy I was able to bring her along with me.

As we were leaving Sarisha said "maybe we can play like that one day". That's certainly my plan at this point. I've said before I don't want to be "like" anyone. I just want to be the best violinist that I can be.Tonight showed me how much more the violin can give than what I know so far. Finding out just how I can do that is going to be very exciting for me.