Ben Apfelbaum

SARAH GRUNSTEIN IN RECITAL @ THE UTZON ROOM

I have just returned from hearing Sarah Grunstein play Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann at the Utzon room in the Sydney Opera House.

There is no nicer venue than this room, with its panoramic vista of Sydney harbour and intimate atmosphere. To sit back in the beautiful afternoon light, unique to Sydney and luxuriate in the tones of the Steinway piano is surely one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Sarah Grunstein is one of our most seasoned performers. She grew up in Sydney but is now resident in New York. A graduate of Juilliard, she has had a long career in teaching and performing  and recording in the United States , Europe and Australia.

Tonight’s program was both complex and engaging. The first work was Beethoven’s Sonata no. 30 in E major, op 109 – the third last of his great piano sonatas. I particularly enjoyed the third movement, atypical of a Beethoven sonata, it was a very dignified set of variations on a theme based on a dance known as a saraband. It was beautifully executed and played with a great deal of control and dignity.

The main item of the first half, however was a set of seven pieces of Brahms, Fantasie, op116. These were gorgeous, full of subtle syncopated rhythms and lovely sensual European melodies – I found the Adagio particularly hypnotic.

After interval we heard Robert  Schumann – Fantasie in C major, op 17. This fascinating and highly romantic work was first commissioned as part of a commemoration to Beethoven and dedicated to Franz Liszt. In this work Ms Grunstein was able to display her great emotional range putting power into the march of the second movement and then switching to a beautiful lyrical tone in the haunting third movement of this enchanting work.

In a recent interview in Limelight Magazine, Ms Grunstein emphasised the intimacy of the concert, describing these pieces as ‘friends’ whom she got to know more deeply each time she engaged with them. She expressed the hope that listeners would leave the concert knowing a little more than when they came. I believe that tonight, she achieved far more than that, giving each listener a beautiful, sensory experience as well as a better understanding of these truly great composers.

She will be performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the same venue on October 29th . I would urge you to go as it also promises to be a treat.

Pics by Ben Apfelbaum

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.