What a day!

Saturday was a big day.  Let's call it a tale of two concert halls.

I played for a graduation at the Melbourne Town Hall, which was great fun.

I enjoy this instrument, because every time you come back to it, there's something else to find.  Moreover, of all the electric and pneumatic actions I've dealt with down the last few years, this would have to be the most responsive.

There have been some amazingly silly squabbles about this instrument in the Melbourne organ scene.  The heritage people think the rebuild / refurbishment / whatever of 2001 was a complete disaster that resulted in the destruction of the original Hill, Norman & Beard instrument of 1927.  Be that as it may, I don't think a narrowly regulated restoration would have enhanced the organ's integrity as a musical instrument.  What really galls me is that some people on this side of the argument refuse to even attend concerts here, as if their presence would somehow register as endorsement of the work.  It really tells more about their estimation of themselves than the quality of the instrument.  I could go on, but...

The graduation finished -- and that with a bang, or at least the Widor Toccata -- I whizzed up the hill to East Melbourne to attend the first concert of the year with the Australian Youth Choir at the Dallas Brooks Centre.  I've been working for the AYC this year, and it's been quite an experience.  It's a very big organization at the national level, and Victoria has a very large choir.  The concert went off very well; a few parents from my rehearsal centre said hi as they passed me in the foyer on the way to collect their bundles of joy.

I've never been in the auditorium of the Dallas Brooks Centre before, although I was given a guided tour of the lodge rooms about a glacial age or two ago.  The room is surprisingly intimate, although the decor is showing its age.  There's been talk of the building being demolished, but no sign of any imminent work in that direction.  I think it would be a pity if it was taken down, as the building is quite distinctive on the outside and not entirely without its charms on the inside.

After all those weeks of telling the younger choristers that they should pay attention to good stage deportment, it was quite good to see that some of it had sunk in!  Some of the choristers I work with noticed me sitting nearby and waved frantically to get my attention.  Apart from that, they were a picture of innocence and tranquility.

The concert over, I repaired to the nearby fleshpots of Victoria Street, Richmond, for a well-earned Vietnamese soup.