St Silas Sundays

Today's outing was to St Silas Anglican Church in Albert Park for 'St Silas Sundays', a concert by the woodwind students of the Australian National Academy of Music. We were driven to South Melbourne by Mr 30, who decided we should be dropped off at the Rising Sun Hotel (the scene of yesterday's 'Riser to Riser' event) for a quick beer and chips before the concert.

A brisk walk through the gracious tree-lined streets of South Melbourne and Albert Park saw us arriving at St Silas just before the kickoff.

The program consisted of three pieces: Mozart's Serenade in E flat major, K375; Nielsen's Wind quintet Op. 43; and Richard Strauss's Suite in B flat major, Op. 4.

All three pieces were lovely and beautifully played. The Mozart was nice and familiar and reassuring, and the Nielsen allowed the individual character of the instruments to shine through. I found the Strauss with its larger (13 piece) ensemble including the sonorous contrabassoon to be the more complex and interesting piece.

Thanks to Philip Lambert, the Librarian of the Australian National Academy of Music, for his helpful program notes.

A visit to St Silas is interesting in its own right. The church was sliced in half in the 1960s to create a hall below and the church above. With the assimilation of the Middle Park parish of St Anselm in 2001 to form the 'Anglican Parish of the Parks', many of the artefacts of St Anselm's church were incorporated into St Silas. Thus the building has a mix of styles and decorations, but is obviously a much loved hub of the community.

The church has a small memorial garden and some nice plantings in its compact grounds. This beautiful Geraldton wax near the Bridport Street entrance seems to hint that spring is not too far away.