Dido's Lament
Joe Chindamo/Zoe Black
Melbourne Recital Centre
July 30 2014
The Age, Sydney Morning Herald - Joel Carnegie
In a concert breaking out of the confines of 20th century musical composition compartmentalisation, pianist Joe Chindamo and violinist Zoe Black combined forces for a mixture of original and arranged works at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Chindamo, as a prolific arranger and orchestrator from a jazz idiom background, constructed these new works, and intertwined original motifs and thoughts of Bach, Elgar, Scarlatti and others, with a contemporary sense of spaciousness and sparkle.
The sense of ease of his performance was complemented with an elegant display of violin virtuosity from Black. In presenting a number of world premieres in this concert, the dynamic duo’s raison d’etre is its commitment to presenting new music, in particular, an expansion of the authentic repertoire for violin and piano.
In this concert, two major additions to the repertoire were presented – a three-movement Sonata for Violin and Piano depicting the human experience of an ever-changing modern world, as well as two Bach inspired installments from a forthcoming book of preludes by Chindamo. The first of the two preludes offered an airily light working of Bach styled fragments with Chindamo and Black combining in pleasant fashion, while the second enabled an abstraction of Bach’s Prelude No. 2.
Two other arrangements/compositions by Chindamo included Sketches of A Blue Moon (inspired by popular jazz tune Blue Moon) and Dido’s Lament from Dido and Aeneas. While both works were of particular note, Chindamo and Black excelled in Purcell’s Lament, offering tenderly sad interplays and mournful harmonies in this popular work.
SEDUCTION & SURRENDER
Zoe Black and Joe Chindamo
Melbourne Recital Centre, September 18
Clive O'Connell The Age
It might seem an unlikely duo: a violinist formerly occupying a leading role with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Freshwater (now Firebird) Trio, playing with one of the country's top-layer jazz pianists. But partners Zoe Black and Joe Chindamo have collaborated for the last two years in a genial and mellifluous style of music, for the most part a hybrid, but informed by a thorough musicality and wide-ranging originality.
What they played at Wednesday's recital was Chindamo's work, chiefly in deft arrangements. On a few occasions the composer enjoyed the mildest of manipulations, a standout being the recital's last piece: Variation 13 from Bach's Goldberg Variations which Chindamo played straight while Black's violin added a stylistically consonant extra line.
Against that came Puccini's Nessun dorma aria which ambled along for some time before the first familiar fragments emerged. Both performers took their time in the sun, working through a diet of Handel's Ombra mai fu, When I am laid from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, the Chopin E minor Prelude transformed into a tango, and Schumann's Traumerei taking on unusual harmonic complexity.
Interleaved with these popular classics, Chindamo displayed his inventiveness in versions of Weill's September Song and the Earle Hagen/Dick Rogers standard Harlem Nocturne, which featured brilliant headlong unison work from the executants. But the standout proved to be Chindamo's own Spiegelhaus, an extended rondo-like revel marrying exuberance and placidity with admirable skill.
LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
DIDO'S LAMENT CD REVIEW
Francis Merson, editor of Limelight Magazine
Fabulous violin and piano disc, just don't ask what genre it is. Joe Chindamo is a jazz pianist with the chops of a Russian virtuoso; Zoë Black is a versatile classical fiddler who has played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, inter alia. The opening track of their third album forms a manifesto of sorts. Scarlatti’s Sonata in G Major is given a sparkling re-arrangement: the violin ostensibly takes the “melody”, but really plucks voices from the stave and tosses them back against the piano. This isn’t jazz; it’s just having fun with music. The titular Lament gets a thorough update with some seemingly improvised passages – perhaps a coy allusion to the ornamentation native to a da capo aria.
Jazz gets its own guernsey in Gershwin’s It Ain’t Necessarily So – a rather André Previn-y arrangement, with all the dazzling pianism that suggests. Then out of the blue arrives a totally straight, but rather lovely, reading of Prokofiev’s Five Melodies for Violin and Piano. Instead of breaking down boundaries, this duo appears not to notice them. I wouldn’t even label this “crossover”: the brilliantly eerie version of Nessun Dorma – occupying a conceptual space somewhere between muzak and Messiaen – is anything but a nod to popular taste.
I did often find myself wanting to boost the volume on Chindamo – a shame in music where interplay between instruments is all. Still, this recording is so brimming with creativity it’s a delight to hear, and the duo must be lauded for forging a style entirely their own.
Reimaginings CD Review - Zoe Black Joe Chindamo
Joe Chindamo is an internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and arranger while Zoe Black is one of the leading classical violinists of her generation. Their collaboration on Reimaginings is a beautiful collision of musical styles resulting in a new genre that defies definition. The result is the product of two artists creating a musical dialogue with a combined language. It is tempestuous, passionate, romantic and full of surprises - largely the re-invention of works by the great classical masters such as Bach, Mozart and Chopin. These tracks sit comfortably alongside the country classic Jolene and two Chindamo originals including Zoe, which Joe wrote for his partner.
Dr. Chris Dench
Australian Chamber Music Festival Townsville Review
Standout concerts included It Ain’t Necessarily So, a collaboration between stunning violinist Zoe Black and virtuosic crossover pianist Joe Chindamo, who demonstrated how other people’s music can be reimagined and reharmonised. The approach was as refreshing as the gusty wind that blew across the crowd and pummeled the marquee’s roof in Jupiter Hotel’s manicured garden. Chindamo’s revamp of Dido’s Lament was particularly persuasive.
Gillian Wills
Daily Telegraph
Musical and life partners Zoe Black and Joe Chindamo
have released their first album on their own label
Mo'OzArt, Dido's Lament (MOZ001).
This follows on from their highly acclaimed Reimaginings. The couple blend classical, jazz and original music in a refreshing and exciting way which, unlike many ``fusion'' or ``crossover'' projects, manages to take the best from each genre to create anew.
It helps that both are consummate musicians - Black is best known for her regular appearances as a violinist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and pianist Chindamo is equally at home on the classical and jazz stage.
He is an ARIA-winning composer and arranger, both of which skills he brings to the table on this excellent new album.
Zoe Black and Joe Chindamo's album Dido's Lament has been released on the new Mo'OzArt label.
The classical components are varied. They cover Baroque masters Domenico Scarlatti (two superbly executed keyboard sonatas), Handel's evergreen Ombra ma fui and the swooningly melancholic title track, from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, as well as a fresh take on Puccini's Nessun Dorma.
At the heart of the album is a straight, untickled version of Prokofiev's Five Melodies for Violin and Piano.
Spiegelhaus is a substantial new work by Chindamo. The title translates as Theatre or Playhouse and it is an episodic 10-minute piece with frequent musical scenery shifts.
Two works by jazz giants George Gershwin (It Ain't Necessarily So) and Duke Ellington (Harlem Nocturne) bring the disc to a satisfying close.
Joe Chindamo/Zoe Black
Melbourne Recital Centre
July 30 2014
The Age, Sydney Morning Herald - Joel Carnegie
In a concert breaking out of the confines of 20th century musical composition compartmentalisation, pianist Joe Chindamo and violinist Zoe Black combined forces for a mixture of original and arranged works at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Chindamo, as a prolific arranger and orchestrator from a jazz idiom background, constructed these new works, and intertwined original motifs and thoughts of Bach, Elgar, Scarlatti and others, with a contemporary sense of spaciousness and sparkle.
The sense of ease of his performance was complemented with an elegant display of violin virtuosity from Black. In presenting a number of world premieres in this concert, the dynamic duo’s raison d’etre is its commitment to presenting new music, in particular, an expansion of the authentic repertoire for violin and piano.
In this concert, two major additions to the repertoire were presented – a three-movement Sonata for Violin and Piano depicting the human experience of an ever-changing modern world, as well as two Bach inspired installments from a forthcoming book of preludes by Chindamo. The first of the two preludes offered an airily light working of Bach styled fragments with Chindamo and Black combining in pleasant fashion, while the second enabled an abstraction of Bach’s Prelude No. 2.
Two other arrangements/compositions by Chindamo included Sketches of A Blue Moon (inspired by popular jazz tune Blue Moon) and Dido’s Lament from Dido and Aeneas. While both works were of particular note, Chindamo and Black excelled in Purcell’s Lament, offering tenderly sad interplays and mournful harmonies in this popular work.
SEDUCTION & SURRENDER
Zoe Black and Joe Chindamo
Melbourne Recital Centre, September 18
Clive O'Connell The Age
It might seem an unlikely duo: a violinist formerly occupying a leading role with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Freshwater (now Firebird) Trio, playing with one of the country's top-layer jazz pianists. But partners Zoe Black and Joe Chindamo have collaborated for the last two years in a genial and mellifluous style of music, for the most part a hybrid, but informed by a thorough musicality and wide-ranging originality.
What they played at Wednesday's recital was Chindamo's work, chiefly in deft arrangements. On a few occasions the composer enjoyed the mildest of manipulations, a standout being the recital's last piece: Variation 13 from Bach's Goldberg Variations which Chindamo played straight while Black's violin added a stylistically consonant extra line.
Against that came Puccini's Nessun dorma aria which ambled along for some time before the first familiar fragments emerged. Both performers took their time in the sun, working through a diet of Handel's Ombra mai fu, When I am laid from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, the Chopin E minor Prelude transformed into a tango, and Schumann's Traumerei taking on unusual harmonic complexity.
Interleaved with these popular classics, Chindamo displayed his inventiveness in versions of Weill's September Song and the Earle Hagen/Dick Rogers standard Harlem Nocturne, which featured brilliant headlong unison work from the executants. But the standout proved to be Chindamo's own Spiegelhaus, an extended rondo-like revel marrying exuberance and placidity with admirable skill.
LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
DIDO'S LAMENT CD REVIEW
Francis Merson, editor of Limelight Magazine
Fabulous violin and piano disc, just don't ask what genre it is. Joe Chindamo is a jazz pianist with the chops of a Russian virtuoso; Zoë Black is a versatile classical fiddler who has played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, inter alia. The opening track of their third album forms a manifesto of sorts. Scarlatti’s Sonata in G Major is given a sparkling re-arrangement: the violin ostensibly takes the “melody”, but really plucks voices from the stave and tosses them back against the piano. This isn’t jazz; it’s just having fun with music. The titular Lament gets a thorough update with some seemingly improvised passages – perhaps a coy allusion to the ornamentation native to a da capo aria.
Jazz gets its own guernsey in Gershwin’s It Ain’t Necessarily So – a rather André Previn-y arrangement, with all the dazzling pianism that suggests. Then out of the blue arrives a totally straight, but rather lovely, reading of Prokofiev’s Five Melodies for Violin and Piano. Instead of breaking down boundaries, this duo appears not to notice them. I wouldn’t even label this “crossover”: the brilliantly eerie version of Nessun Dorma – occupying a conceptual space somewhere between muzak and Messiaen – is anything but a nod to popular taste.
I did often find myself wanting to boost the volume on Chindamo – a shame in music where interplay between instruments is all. Still, this recording is so brimming with creativity it’s a delight to hear, and the duo must be lauded for forging a style entirely their own.
Reimaginings CD Review - Zoe Black Joe Chindamo
Joe Chindamo is an internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and arranger while Zoe Black is one of the leading classical violinists of her generation. Their collaboration on Reimaginings is a beautiful collision of musical styles resulting in a new genre that defies definition. The result is the product of two artists creating a musical dialogue with a combined language. It is tempestuous, passionate, romantic and full of surprises - largely the re-invention of works by the great classical masters such as Bach, Mozart and Chopin. These tracks sit comfortably alongside the country classic Jolene and two Chindamo originals including Zoe, which Joe wrote for his partner.
Dr. Chris Dench
Australian Chamber Music Festival Townsville Review
Standout concerts included It Ain’t Necessarily So, a collaboration between stunning violinist Zoe Black and virtuosic crossover pianist Joe Chindamo, who demonstrated how other people’s music can be reimagined and reharmonised. The approach was as refreshing as the gusty wind that blew across the crowd and pummeled the marquee’s roof in Jupiter Hotel’s manicured garden. Chindamo’s revamp of Dido’s Lament was particularly persuasive.
Gillian Wills
Daily Telegraph
Musical and life partners Zoe Black and Joe Chindamo
have released their first album on their own label
Mo'OzArt, Dido's Lament (MOZ001).
This follows on from their highly acclaimed Reimaginings. The couple blend classical, jazz and original music in a refreshing and exciting way which, unlike many ``fusion'' or ``crossover'' projects, manages to take the best from each genre to create anew.
It helps that both are consummate musicians - Black is best known for her regular appearances as a violinist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and pianist Chindamo is equally at home on the classical and jazz stage.
He is an ARIA-winning composer and arranger, both of which skills he brings to the table on this excellent new album.
Zoe Black and Joe Chindamo's album Dido's Lament has been released on the new Mo'OzArt label.
The classical components are varied. They cover Baroque masters Domenico Scarlatti (two superbly executed keyboard sonatas), Handel's evergreen Ombra ma fui and the swooningly melancholic title track, from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, as well as a fresh take on Puccini's Nessun Dorma.
At the heart of the album is a straight, untickled version of Prokofiev's Five Melodies for Violin and Piano.
Spiegelhaus is a substantial new work by Chindamo. The title translates as Theatre or Playhouse and it is an episodic 10-minute piece with frequent musical scenery shifts.
Two works by jazz giants George Gershwin (It Ain't Necessarily So) and Duke Ellington (Harlem Nocturne) bring the disc to a satisfying close.