Noosa Chamber Music enthusiasts get ready for an unusual treat at the end of this month– a
concert featuring woodwind players only performing works by renowned French
composers like Gabriel Fauré and Jacques Ibert.
Venue is the Good Shepherd Hall in Noosaville and the programme has been arranged by
the Chamber’s artistic director and clarinet player, Sacha Gibbs-McPhee. He has
called it Mistral Melodies after the powerful wind which blasts the south of France in Springtime.
Sacha, of Peregian Beach, told Noosa Today, “I thought it was an appropriate
name for a concert featuring French wind music. It is the first time I have organised a concert
with exclusively woodwind players, though it has been my aim since I started running
chamber music concerts.
“The reason it took so long was that I needed to gather five extraordinary players of
different instruments who were all available on the same weekend.”
Sacha said French composers at the turn of the 20th Century were lucky to have some of the best wind players
in Europe at their disposal..
“We will perform Mason Jones #39– arrangement of Maurice Ravel #39;s Le Tombeau de Couperin,
works by Jacques Ibert and Gabriel Fauré all brought to life by Brisbane based professionals:
Monash Lal (flute), Ruby Cooper (oboe), Trestan McMillan (French horn), and Sam Battock
(bassoon) and myself, on clarinet.”
Asked why a wind quintet includes a French horn Sacha said: “Many musicians think the
horn sounds more like a bassoon than a trumpet. For this reason, composers from Mozart to
Strauss routinely added horns to their compositions for wind instruments. If the budget was
tight, the flute got the flick, not the horn!”
Noosa Chamber Music's Mistral Melodies, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Hall.
Noosaville, 2pm, Saturday January 31. Tickets $40 or $35 for concessions, including
students.
