Volunteer Spotlight

Volunteer Spotlight Richard Verco

Written by Pamela Newling Photo supplied by Richard Verco Illustration by Lyndon Pike

‘Excellent’ and ‘exhilarating’ are words Richard Verco uses frequently when talking about his busy life. Regular presenter, and occasional programmer, Richard has volunteered with Fine Music for about five years and currently broadcasts for three hours a week. He originally applied to the station to deliver magazines, as a way of adding to his regular walking routine. Not long after, he began programming and presenting, with Maureen Meers as his coach. “She was a very good coach—exceptionally good at languages”, he says. Richard spends about two days preparing to broadcast the music selected by others. This involves assessing the character of the music and style, getting the CD notes and researching what the composer has been thinking. Then he writes a small spiel about it and, ‘the thing that drives most presenters nuts’, getting the pronunciation right. He admits that it is easier to present music he likes, but regardless of that, says it must be presented in a positive light. He often presents Musica Sacra and The Classical Era on Sundays and these are among his favourite programs to present. A 30-year Telstra career provided Richard with great opportunities and challenges. Starting as a country engineer, he then designed telephone exchanges, network planning, sales and marketing, ran a few divisions and was part of the senior management team for a decade. No position was for more than two years and, thanks to frequent promotions, ‘it was a very good career’. One of the pleasures of that time was country service. He spent a lot of time in Armidale and Moree—and ‘loved the flat country’. In Armidale Division conversion of manual exchanges to automatic was a huge task in terms of money and designing networks.

Following retirement from Telstra 17 years ago, Richard ran a few consultancies in the dot.com era, one involving a Swiss-financed consortium with Telstra, China Telecom and other smaller players associated with the optical fibre loop from Singapore to Korea. As a regular listener to Swiss Radio Classical, Richard comments that the broadcasts are excellent quality and is surprised how frequently the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is programmed—more than other Australian Orchestras. He also says that it is amusing to observe how European presenters often struggle with pronunciation of names like Mackerras and Bonynge. ‘Absolutely exhilarating’ is Richard’s description of participating in ChorusOz in 2018 in a performance of Handel’s Saul. The brainchild of Brett Weymark, Music Director of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, ChorusOz gathered 600 singers from around Australia, who paid $300 each for the thrill of singing, to perform in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. Singing with Warringah Musical Choir is on hold during Covid-19. Richard’s other interests include sailing, and regular city and bush walks with friends. A recent purchase of a caravan adds another opportunity for more fun, whenever time and current travel restrictions permit.

CD REVIEWS

Romantic Dreams: Farrenc & Saint-Saëns Ironwood ABC 481 9887

Forgotten Fields Mark Isaacs Gracemusic/MGM

Debussy/Rameau Víkingur Ólafsson DG 483 7701 Louise Farrenc was a highly talented pianist who became Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatoire: she was also a composer who wrote finely crafted chamber music and symphonies. Farrenc’s Quintet for piano and strings No 1 was composed at a time when Romanticism was beginning to establish itself; it has been compared to Mendelssohn and described as “Mozart on steroids”. A male critic once said of her music that it displayed, “all the graces of her sex in her melodies, and all the vigour of ours in her knowledge of counterpoint”. What this CD illustrates is that, regardless of gender, both Farrenc and Saint-Saëns, whose Mark Isaacs is an Australian master composer and improviser. On this latest recording, he displays sublime subtlety, while always keeping one eye trained on the avant-garde, with a compilation of bucolic piano solo miniatures. The piano solo is quite often the window into the artist’s soul and left to his own devices and desires, this pianistcomposer produces music that’s as much about respecting a moment as it is about developing it. Captured on a Steinway Model D Concert Grand piano, these gorgeous cameos provide comfort and inspiration to listeners with a depth Debussy paid homage to Rameau in one of the first set of his Images. He praised the “perfect taste and strict elegance which make up the consummate beauty” of Rameau’s music, and wrote that, despite the separation of two centuries, “Rameau seems to be our contemporary”. The pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, having become familiar only recently with Rameau, here intermingles pieces by both composers in a fascinating program that allows us to appreciate the similarities and synchronicities. We become aware of Baroque models such as toccatas and own piano quintet is also performed, are capable of weaving both grace and vigour through their music. The comprehensive liner notes discuss the historically informed performance practices that have guided Ironwood’s interpretations.

– Paul Cooke and beauty to spare. From the familiar passion encountered in his composition Remembrance to the delicate quietude of Forgotten Fields, Isaacs branches out in myriad directions, utilising rubato romanticism and lush chords to deliver a sonic palette that represents a delightful culmination of his many varied musical explorations.  – Barry O’Sullivan

sarabandes underpinning “Jardins sous la pluie” and other ‘hazy impressions’ by Debussy. We are surprised by the advanced harmonies in the operatic interlude “The Arts and the Hours”, written by Rameau when he was eighty and here arranged for piano by Ólafsson. This is an intelligently arranged recital and a very rewarding listening experience. – Paul Cooke