Cambridge Gamelan Society Lunchtime Concert

Today Kirsty, David and I went to a lunchtime concert at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge.

I had found it was on when I was looking for things to do today when we visited Cambridge. Kirsty was enthused as she is just starting to learn Debussy's Pagodes, which is inspired by gamelan music. You can read about that influence here.

This was how the concert, entitled "North American Responses to Indonesian Gamelan Music" was described....

"The Cambridge Gamelan is a Javanese tuned percussion ensemble of gongs and metallophones based at the Faculty of Music. The group is a mix of students and local people. This ensemble is joined by various soloists and will feature works by Lou Harrison for violin, cello, saxophone and gamelan, Colin McPhee's two piano transcriptions of Balinese Ceremonial Music, and examples of traditional Balinese and Javanese gamelan music."

This was the programme.

Here are a few photos taken during the concert.

Rob introducing the concert.

Some shots of the players in action. I found it interesting to try and differentiate the sound of the different instruments. I was also struck by the interesting tuning, which I then investigated later (see below). Although a pentatonic scale, it has differing intervals between the notes from the Western classical scale.

We got three movements from Colin McPhee's Balinese Ceremonial Music on double piano. Here the intonation is constrained by the equal-tempered tuning of the pianos, as is the Debussy piece Kirsty is learning.

Rob Campion and Victoria Major playing the Balinese Gendér Wayang Tulang Lindung. 

Imaan Kashim (violin) and Raphael Herberg (cello) in the Lou Harrison Double Concerto. I think they were also playing their notes in equal temperament, but the overall sound was still harmonious.

The final piece, also by Lou Harrison, featured Jonathan Parapadakis on soprano saxophone. Note that "Cornish" in the doesn't refer to Cornwall but the Cornish Institute of the Arts in Seattle.

It made a great combination. It reminded me of another wonderful fusion of styles - Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble. (Hear an example here).

You can hear and see a performance of this piece here and see the score for it here.

After the concert we went up to the stage to get a closer look at the instruments.

We really enjoyed the concert. Afterwards, Kirsty asked David "What was your favourite?", meaning which piece did he like best (mine was the last one) and he replied "The giant bathplug". Ha ha.

After I came home I did a bit of research. Here are some of the things I found.

Balinese Gamelan: An Introduction

Pitch and Tuning

Pelog tuning

Slendro tuning

Gamelan Tuning systems (video)

Tuning of Gamelan and Sensory Dissonance

Javanese Gamelan Instruments

So I can now tell David the instrument he was referring to, the biggest gong, is called an Ageng. Having learnt a bit about the instruments and music structure, I would love to hear the ensemble again. Thank-you to all the performers today.

You can see more of my photos from the concert on my Flickr album for the day out here.