Yass Music Club was delighted to welcome back the Grigoryan Brothers, Slava and Leonard Grigoryan, for its fourth concert of the 2019 season.
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The weather was bleak and cold outside on Sunday, August 11 but the Yass Soldiers' Memorial Hall was comfortably warm and it was a full house!
The artists began their program with Fantasy on a Theme by William Lawes, written by Slava and Leonard. It was the perfect piece with which to open the recital.
Their playing was fluent and compelling as always and the work itself proved to be an ideal introduction to the delightful items of classical and contemporary works.
All their music depends on their father, Eduard Grigoryan's increasingly imaginative arrangements for two guitars from works originally written for different instruments, including voice.
Tchaikovsky's None but the Lonely Heart was the next piece they played and the audience was totally charmed by the beautiful melody.
Their ability to swap parts so seamlessly, maintaining a consistent cantabile line where required while orchestrating the most affecting dynamic and timbral accompaniments was most impressive and their bond was in their blood as well as in the music.
One piece that they have not yet recorded was from a Suite in Four Movements by George Frideric Handel and it is their intention to include much more of Handel's wonderful music.
A Suite in Three Movements by the American guitarist, Ralph Towner, with his My Foolish Heart association, was the delightful piece which drew the first half to a pleasant conclusion.
The Yass Hospital Auxiliary served up a very tasty afternoon tea and the CD, which the Grigoryans had donated, was won by Katrina.
The second half began with This Time, written by Leonard and as if in a play, it blended many themes and moods into a sort of dialogue between the artists alternating the scenes as they gently faded into each other.
Anton Dvorak's Song My Mother Taught Me was next, from the set of four, and was lovingly constructed by the artists to revel in its familiar tranquility.
The next piece was one from the Brazilian composer, Radames Gnattali's in Retratos (Portraits), consisting of four musical tributes to fellow Brazilians: Pixinguinha (Choro); Ernesto Nazarath (Valsa); Aniceto de Medeiros (Schottisch) and Chiquinha Gonzaga (Corta Jaca), with gorgeously expressive rhythms and colour.
Music from the film soundtrack of A Boy Called Sailboat provided their next offering and was again a piece with a Latin inspiration about a boy who found a tiny guitar. It focuses on his innocent view of life with lots of scintillating light and shade.
The concert concluded with a magical rendition of Bach's Arioso and Slava and Leonard received a well-deserved standing ovation from a very appreciative audience.
Attention was drawn to another concert, Where Song Began, which the Music Club is supporting in the Yass Soldiers' Memorial Hall on Friday, August 23 at 7.30pm.
Our final concert for the year is on Saturday, October 12 at 7.45pm and will feature The Idea of North in a very welcome return. General admission is $50 and on the following day we will feature a gold coin concert for our RAG Holmes Scholars in St Clements Church at 2pm. It is guaranteed to be a lovely occasion for the Music Club to give them a performance.
Crisp Galleries will be hosting a Yass Music Club benefit concert in November and it will feature an outstanding jazz artist and a delicious afternoon tea. More details in due course.
Our program for 2020 has been finalised and is: pianist Clemens Leske on Saturday, February 22 at 7.45pm; The Canberra Back Ensemble on Saturday, March 28 at 7.45pm; The Sarah Maclaine Jazz Trio on Sunday, June 21 at 2.00pm; Ay Pachanga on Sunday, August 16 at 2.00pm; and The Acacia Quartet on Saturday, October 24 at 7.45pm.
