SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Villa-Lobos, Ponce, Malats, Albeniz,Tarrega, Kyuss,Piazzolla, Rizolya: Clair Wenborn (guitar) Lina Chegodaev (bayan), Milica Canak (accordion) The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 18.11.2007 (ZT)

Villa-Lobos:  Choro No.1& 2
Ponce: Sonatina Meridional
Malatas: Spanish Serenade
Albeniz: Asturias, The Purple Tower
Tarrega:  Recuerdos da la Alhambra
Kyuss: Amur Waves
Piazolla: Libertango
Rizolya: Polka

Walking into the central room of the Old Courts, Art Gallery of NSW, reminds one of the challenge such a venue can be for a classical guitarist; a cavernous area with three open-arched walls, and a ceiling that disappears in the clouds.

Guitarist Clair Wenborn was the key featured artist for this free concert.  Arriving early to secure a front-row seat, I contemplated the event with modest expectations and a kind of apprehension; the kind that might have also enveloped the great Spanish guitarist Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909) who, as was the custom of the day, never ventured outside the salon environment when giving recitals.

Clair took her seat and commenced playing in competition with the numerous gallery patrons who milled, often noisily, around the adjacent rooms. Some then entered the recital area to sit down and the twenty-odd rows were soon filled to capacity.

Despite the incessant quest by the younger generation of guitarists for louder instruments, nowadays recitals frequently employ amplification so that those in the remote areas of the venue are able to hear the player. Considering the sonically hostile environment, on this occasion I was surprised to see no amplification equipment. In the front row,  every detail and nuance of the music was clearly audible but I wondered how those in the back rows were faring. So when item five of the programme, Albeniz’s Purple Tower, was imminent I quietly retreated to the back of the hall. The sound from this vantage point was surprisingly as loud and clear as the front row; the harmonics were all lucidly audible. Such effects can only be attributable to the combination of a very capable player equipped with a fine instrument.

This was an atypical concert for a guitarist of Clair Wenborn’s vintage. She was born in the N.S.W. mining town of Broken Hill in 1980, and graduated with a Master’s Degree in performance from the Australian Institute of Music in 2004. For her programme Clair chose masterpieces from the repertory which, when played well, never fail to impress an audience. This is a welcome change from programmes seeking to be ‘different and modern’ but often at the expense of entertainment value. It would be difficult to conceive a programme with greater general appeal and concomitantly demonstrate the player’s musical and technical credentials.

Pleasantly surprising was Clair’s choice of instrument. Often shunned by the modern generation of guitarists because they are purported to be relatively too difficult to play, her instrument was made by Jose Ramirez III (1973). When played by a capable guitarist, his instruments demonstrate all the qualities that made them first choice among concert guitarists for almost four decades until, unjustifiably, fashion turned its back.

The true mettle of a classical guitarist is best judged in the context of live concert. Clair Wenborn faced the ultimate test: a sonically hostile environment; a technically and musically challenging programme and an instrument that, despite its intrinsic qualities, demands much from the player. I recall very few guitar concerts, big names included, that have impressed me more.

Enjoyable as the later three support items were, they exemplified the invidious position of a ‘hard act to follow’.

Zane Turner


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