Hi everyone.
At this concert we had our hardy regular photographers, so unless I find I have a different angle or some of my video is of a quality worth putting up on which ever board I use for storage, I will make only a small observation... at least that was my intention. Then Roger posted a request from Hannah on Youtube postings on Raven and in offering my contribution to that I went seriously off topic there and fed into here. So I am writing two responses to two different threads at the same time and can't edit in proper links until they are both up, so bear with me please, for an hour or two.
The link to the preceding post will be here
hwi.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=raven&action=display&thread=4812&page=1#95810.
As an aside, as I have mentioned in other posts previously, I have finally got round to organising an audiometry test. As a printer, as soon as I started my college course, I was tested for colour-blindness (as we used to call it but now probably phrased as 'deficiency in colour recognition)! I have never experienced this for my hearing.
As I suspected, old age is creeping up and I do have some deficiency at certain volumes and certain frequencies. To make amends, geared specifically to my graph line of receptivity, is very expensive. Being in a mode to hear and comment on some of the finest vocal artistes in the world I feel it is probably worthwhile, especially as I cannot reverse the process but the earlier I start the slower degeneration will be, as the purpose is to activate those specific aspects of my hearing that are not responding as alertly as they should.
I then heard Fiona at St James just five days after this testing experience. What I heard on Monday was as clear and distinctive as the test I had trying out the hearing aid recommended for me but without the fine detail of calibration to my need. It has caused me to seek a second opinion.
There are several aspects to this. In Grant's post (lovely report Grant), he says he was early enough that they were still setting up the amplification. No. This was not for the audience. It was a monitor to aid Ian as he could not hear Fiona properly for his cueing when she was bowing quietly and he was hammering the keys. What we were hearing was Fiona without any amplification. Okay, I was in the front row. We know that St James has superb acoustics BUT also there were only 50 in the audience as opposed to the deadening effect of 500+.
I asked if Fiona had changed her violin or her bow since I had last heard her. She hadn't. Yet when she was (I forget the technical name Fiona gave me) 'drumming with the bow' (not pizzicato which is plucking the strings), I could hear every individual string that was struck simultaneously.
In discussing this with Ian he observed that amplification will not necessarily deliver the best sound and my recognition of sound and perception of added clarity since I last heard her (perhaps two to three years ago) was likely to be due to hearing her live and direct. I am convinced Hayley is now of the standard when she could entertain a concert (with accompaniments to rest her voice) without any amplification. To hear her live and direct is what I am begging for. That will probably tell me without equivocation that I am indeed hearing one of the greatest voices in the world today but she needs to pick her venue very carefully. I have observed before hat having re-acquainted myself with Covent Garden, there is a world of difference between even the best amplification and direct delivery.
This was an absolutely superb concert in the best of settings with the best of acoustics. To my thinking the balancing act is a matter of programme, venue and cost. With the larger audience Hayley can cover the costs of Raven. They deliver a superb body of sound, yet as individual performers they are on a parallel with Fiona and Fiona and Ian as a duo are obviously a cheaper option for the smaller venue. With Fiona I have a unique comparative advantage. As I have passingly mentioned previously I am privileged to be vaguely related to one or two world class musicians (due to second marriages).
One of these is the violinist Chris Garrick. Who J J Marshall is I have no idea (although jazz officianados may know him well) but he posted that "John Etheridge had described Chris Garrick as 'the outstanding player of his generation'. Etheridge, Kennedy and Garrick have all played with each other, but not together – imagine that trio . . .
J.J.Marshall"
That last comment may well apply to the thread I started here about Three Sopranos: Hayley, Katherine and Faryl. What a trio that would be!
The background, for general awareness only (as my family life is exceedingly wide-spread and contains aspects best kept private, we are a mix of lonegevity and traumatically short-lived lives due to cancer) Chris Garrick's mother is now my brother-in-law's second wife. Regretfully, I am not a jazz enthusiast, unless Chris is playing and that is usually at a family function when I can respect his total mastery of his instrument. In that experience I can imagine what family life must be like for Hayley's, Fiona's and Ian's families. To have such people perform 'just as an incidental' at a family gathering is a wow that I have been privileged to experience in my own small world.
A short biography of him is here:
www.chrisgarrick.com/ from which you will understand I know I have been subjected to one of the best violinists in the world. It is with that experience that to me Monday night was almost a family affair. It is the sort of family size in which I have heard Chris Garrick withOUT amplification. His music does not appeal to me (unless he is playing and a lot of that too is his own music). Fiona's music is more to my liking but she has the same mastery of her instrument and it is not just the fingering, it is the clarity of sound, especially with the high notes The sound we heard on Monday was absolute purity of all the tones. She was on par with Chris Garrick.
This then leads me to Hannah's request to comment on the Raven Youtube posts. I can say that with Raven you have the advantage of a full body of sound but as individual instrumentalists they are of a par, not only with one another but also on line with Fiona and Garrick.
This was a superb concert and I am sorry I missed the concerts Richard reported on with the Pavao quartet which experience would have served as an interesting comparison. Any comment, Richard?
Peter S.
