The Salon had seating for 120 concert goers and I would think there were fewer than 100 in attendance. For this short concert the program was all 20th and 21st Century (apart from a Chopin Barcarolle which Benjamin Martin added at the start as a tribute to his teacher). We heard Bartok, Barber, Ravel, Menotti, Berio, Riley (arranged by Martin) and a composition by Martin himself for piano, double bass and viola.
It was a lovely concert in which accomplished and sensitive musicians gave fine performances. The repertoire was also a nice surprise (and one of main the reasons for attending). What I really want to talk about, though, is how much the Salon itself contributed to the whole experience.
The Salon is a "small" room with no fixed seating. It's long and thin but has a very high ceiling. The piano was against one of the long walls and the chairs were arranged in a U shape around the other three sides. Arriving early, it was easy to secure a front row seat (but there were only 3 rows anyway!). Most people opted for the "finger view" (I always prefer to see the pianists face). As a veteran of many small concerts in churches and chapels, larger venues usually scare me away, and I was delighted to be in this beautiful small room in a major performance venue.
So, the performers were only a matter of a few feet away. This was wonderful for the audience. It must also be quite interesting for the performers, rather exposed, but also very real and intimate. This made for a relaxed feeling which seemed a little at odds with the standard applause, bowing and curtain call procedures of a larger concert hall. Indeed, Benjamin Martin did try hard to keep the program moving (though the appreciative audience really did want to give him a lot of applause!) and he left only very short gaps between movements. Though he didn't seem taxed by the intense repertoire, he did feel the need to abandon the second last piece, his own arrangement of a string quartet by Riley. I had been enjoying this work and, far from feeling cheated out of hearing it, I felt concerned that the pianist hadn't managed to have a short break in this program earlier.
The composers were familiar but the pieces played, apart from some of the Ravel (in which Benjamin Martin achieved an incredible pianissimo), were unknown to me. It was wonderful to be able to hear this "more modern" piano music. The thing I loved most was being able to see, close-up, the way the musicians engaged with the music, particularly in the ensemble piece. Benjamin Martin's composition seemed to reflect all the music which had been played before it, and yet remained fresh and interesting, and the players engaged intensely with the piece and each other.
We were told this would be a roughly one hour concert without interval. With an extra piece at the start (Chopin), a shortened version of one programmed piece (Riley), and one encore (Barber), I think it was more like an hour and a quarter. The ticket prices were roughly half that for a standard Recital Centre ticket. Interestingly, there were more younger people in the audience than I'm used to seeing at classical concerts ...was this due to the modern program, the ticket price, the earlier performance time, the more informal venue?
I found this style of concert, unusual repertoire, earlier time, and smaller venue very successful. Performance venues should be being used, performers should be performing...if this type of concert can continue, if performers can stage viable small scale concerts which don't flounder for want of a large audience, it will be a good thing for classical music and those who love it. I'd also be happy to hear a whole concert of this unusual ensemble. Violas and double basses in the hands of musicians such as these deserve to heard more often.
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| Melbourne, circa 1957 |
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