Ludovico Einaudi

“You have to concentrate and go deep inside,” is how Ludovico Einaudi describes the process of composition. “You need to have energy to search and if you search you will find. It is like digging in the ground to find a diamond.”

The method must work because the Italian pianist/composer has generated a huge following from his albums and performances and has been recognised with an Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the Italian equivalent of knighthood. His music sounds a little like the process he described: introverted, hypnotic and polished like a gem.

Ludovico Einaudi
 

Einaudi writes from the piano but his music strays into pop, electronics and folk and his fans are equally diverse, ranging far beyond the classical world. Over the past three decades he has released 11 chart-topping albums and has composed a string of film scores including music for the Academy Award-winning Black Swan, The Intouchables and Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar.

For his 2006 album Divenire the composer worked with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Nightbook (2009) was an exploration into the use of synthesized sounds with piano. For his Perth Festival concert Einaudi will be performing with the six-piece ensemble from his most recent album In a Time Lapse. The album was released in 2013 and has the feel of an older man musing on life and the ephemeral nature of time.

“I was reflecting about the way we experience our life in lots of different moments, and the album is about bringing the things we love into a single moment in time,” he says, speaking slowly and thoughtfully over the phone from Milan.

“As we grow older we lose the ability to experience life as we do when we are children where every moment is unique and new. We need to refresh ourselves, so everything becomes as fresh as when we were a child.”

Einaudi drew on a wide variety of sounds to achieve his vision for the album including electronics, piano and orchestra.

“I wanted to bring all my world into one. This album is my world of desires with sounds.”

The track Corale features lush strings swaying moodily between minor and major chords. Time Lapse mixes minimalistic piano rhythms with electronic sounds accompanied by a relentless heart beat pulse. The metallic ring of a glockenspiel opens Life and the piano and strings join to sing a haunting melody reminiscent of Elena Kats-Chernin’s bittersweet music.

 

The rhythmic complexity and darker sounds in Newton’s Cradle reveals a more rigorous composing technique. Einaudi studied at the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan and in the eighties worked with experimental giant Luciano Berio.

“Our music is very different but a good teacher is one who lets you find your own direction. Berio was a very open-minded composer. We would talk about birds and plants and it was always a starting point to talk about music.”

Einaudi’s music has changed since those days. “I was experimenting, connected to the avant-garde. I was writing with a modern language, which is what I had to do in order to understand it was not what I wanted to do.”

In 1983 when he was thirty he began to find his own voice. “It was a process; you discover in a work that you have achieved something, so you follow it.”

He now aligns himself with the minimalist school: Glass, Reich and Arvo Part. And the topic of nature which came up in conversations with Berio remains a strong theme. It is where Einaudi goes to find refreshment.

“I like to walk in the countryside, in the mountains and at Piedmont [the family home set in a vineyard garden]. Whenever I am in a new city I spend time walking around the parks. It is what I do when I compose.”

And you can hear it in his music. In a Time Lapse is full of nature-inspired music: the deeply soothing track Waterways, a spacious meditation Two Trees and Walk which opens with Arvo Part-sparseness.

 

Stravinsky and Bach are important influences and Einaudi adds Mozart, Monteverdi, The Beatles and African music to the list. He loves music that “talks, opens reflection for people in a concert”.

“Music is an emotional experience and a logical process. Music can take you to a complexity of different experiences. It is something that happens to me when I listen to Stravinsky and Bach.

“I like it when the music brings you to a different level of experience. Music makes you think, music brings emotion, bring you to new territory and you feel an illumination in what you perceive. I hope this will happen when people listen to my music.”

Ludovico Einaudi

Saturday 8^th February
7:30pm
Perth Concert Hall

Symphony in the City

 

 The sea breeze floated gently across the river to Langley Park and the blistering heat melted into a balmy summer evening. Classical music admirers picnicked alongside cricket fans and young families in an idyllic concert setting. The WA Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony in the City is fast becoming an established summer tradition.

 



My concert companions

A huge floodlit shell housed the orchestra and choir and a camera crew and audio team projected the performance onto screens around the park. The concert was also streamed live to Northbridge, Albany, Broome, Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Margaret River and Port Hedland.

The logistics alone were impressive. And there was good incentive; an estimated 20 000 people received a season brochure and witnessed a sample of WASO’s 2014 program, all in a relaxed, non-snobby atmosphere.

Actor/comedian Eddie Perfect introduced the orchestra and the concert began with a selection of movie music including themes from Star Wars, Schindler’s List and The Fellowship of the Ring. The orchestra were in festive spirit – the first time I’ve seen a cor anglais player perform with flashing Christmas earings – and played with energy. Assistant conductor Chris Dragon took the helm for The Fellowship of the Ring wearing a bright red dinner jacket and conducting with flair. The Schindler’s List main theme was played with lyricism by assistant concertmaster Semra Lee-Smith.



Matthew gets his first concert lanyard

The WASO Chorus joined the orchestra for stirring performances of Verdi’s Triumphal March and Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. The well-blended sound of the chorus (the legacy of retiring chorus director Marilyn Phillips) was noticeable even in the outdoor setting.

This was the final concert for principal conductor Paul Daniel and Nimrod (Elgar’s Enigma Variations) was an apt farewell, performed by the orchestra with heightened tenderness.

The lesser-known Knightsbridge March from Eric Coates’ London Suite was a tribute to the conductor’s homeland. “This is to remember just how great England is despite what’s happening down the road,” quipped Daniel with a nod toward the WACA grounds.

And of course there were the now-obligatory fireworks, bells and choir for Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture bringing the concert to a spectacular, noisy finale. It was a fitting end to the year for our enterprising state orchestra.

 

 

 

                  This review copyright The West Australian newspaper 2013.

Lior and Nigel Westlake

The pairing of the bittersweet vulnerability of indie-icon Lior with the colourful vitality of the music of composer Nigel Westlake seemed odd on paper. But, like some of the best jazz collaborations, the conversation between these vastly different musicians sparked a unique musical idea. What started as a small orchestral arrangement of an ancient Hebrew hymn grew into a seven-part song cycle reflecting on the noble human quality of compassion.

 

 

Lior delved into his Middle Eastern heritage to collect Islamic and Jewish texts and Westlake, best known for his film scores to Babe and Miss Potter among others, created an orchestral soundtrack to Lior’s voice.

Compassion – Symphony of Songs was performed by the WA Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday night alongside a set of Lior’s original songs arranged for orchestra and four-piece band. The pop songs were well-delivered but light-weight alongside the penetrating intensity of Compassion. Sim Shalom (Grant Peace) began with Lior’s impossibly high falsetto singing in Hebrew as slow orchestral chords rose and subsided in waves beneath him. It was like a beam of light streaming into a dusty synagogue. The audience sat transfixed.

The song cycle continued with the percussion driven Eize Hu Chacham (Who is Wise?) with Westlake’s distinctive cross-rhythms adding an African and Balinese vibe and his colourful orchestrations putting flesh to Lior's haunting melodies.

Lior’s impressive vocal range (he also sang deep pedal notes for the chant Inna Rifqa) was coloured with eastern inflections, Katie-Noonan-esque slides and moments of operatic power. He performed the entire work, including sections of complex changing time signatures, from memory. Sadly the text of the songs wasn’t included in the program so the wisdom of the words was lost on most of us.

The concluding Hymn of Compassion was delivered with a gentle pleading and as Lior’s last note faded the cello picked up the melody and wound the work to its conclusion. It was the perfect analogy for this collaboration, where two artists have become so musically connected they conclude each other’s sentences, and so self-effacing that it is the music that speaks loudest of all.

 

This review copyright The West Australian newspaper 2013.

Sol Gabetta and WASO

Sol Gabetta gives me hope. The young Argentinian-born cellist is the kind of artist who will keep the classical music industry alive. Her performance of Dvorak’s B minor Cello Concerto with the WA Symphony Orchestra was utterly heart-felt and spiced with a good dose of risk taking.

 

On Friday night (November 15th)  the orchestra established the emotional goal posts of Dvorak’s concerto with an introduction that was both delicate (horn and clarinet solos) and energetic (a perky string statement). Gabetta joined in with exuberance, showcasing a bright cello sound with a knotty low register. Her technique was formidable but the edge-of-the-seat moments weren’t the cascades of notes, rather the engrossing moods of the quieter moments. There was the pensive duet with wispy flute and lingering cello entwined, the yearning intensity of Dvorak’s melodies, and the introverted delicacy of the cello’s final moments before the orchestra charged in with a rousing end. Gabetta's artistry took the audience on a profound journey.

Polish conductor Michal Dworzynski was a conscientious time keeper but his lack of sculptural finesse became apparent in Brahms’ Second Symphony. The first movement had bombast thanks to a warmly romantic brass section but – crucially – no space to breath between the long winding phrases. Dworzynski’s slow tempo for the second movement might have allowed for more shaping but instead the movement wandered aimlessly. The finale suffered from lack of delineation and Brahms’ luxurious layers became suffocating.

The concert opened with Smetana’s Vltava (Ma Vlast) which had a gracious start but the slow tempo meant Smetana’s mighty river became sluggish. Bookended by these two perfunctory performances, Sol Gabetta shone like a dazzling star.

This review copyright The West Australian 2013.

Radio Portraits of Australian Composers

When was the last time you were introduced to a composer?

ABC Classic FM is presenting 29 of Australia's more prominent composers and their music in a three day Composer Portraits series. The series begins today (Friday 15th Nov). It's a great concept and I'm hoping by Monday everyone will be whistling music by George Dreyfus or Elena Kats-Chernin!

Five of the composers in Women of Note are featured in the line-up: Margaret Sutherland, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Miriam Hyde, Elena Kats-Chernin and Mary Finsterer.

But where are the rest?

25% of our composers are women, yet only 5 of the 29 composers presented here are women. It is difficult to select a representative group when we have so many wonderful composers, but 17% is hardly a fair sample.

What about Liza Lim, Ann Carr-Boyd, Betty Beath, Moya Henderson? Poor form ABC!

Here is the ABC's list of composers.

For a more definitive list of our composers (and LOADS of music samples) go to the Australian Music Centre Website. You could create your own list of 29 of our legendary composers. Who would you choose?

La Boheme

WAOpera’s self-proclaimed Year of the Divo is coming to an end. The year started with baritone hunk Teddy Tahu-Rhodes as the Alpha-male Don Giovanni, followed by Rosario La Spina’s resplendent Alfredo in La Traviata. But the best 'male moment' was provided by not one but four ‘divo’s’ in the current production of La Boheme.



The four 'divo's'

Puccini’s famous operatic depiction of 1830’s bohemian Paris is constructed around the love between Rodolfo and Mimi but much of the energy comes from the youthful antics of Rodolfo’s artisan friends. The easy-flowing banter between Rodolfo and Marcello (a painter), Colline (philosopher) and Schaunard (musician) feels even more natural in this highly entertaining production thanks to director Simon Phillips’ 1990’s updated setting.

Stephen Curtis’ set design celebrates the recontextualisation without sacrificing the intent of the original opera. Rodolfo’s grotty bachelor pad is scattered with dirty dishes and milk crate furniture; a rap dancer and ghetto blaster replace the traditional fife and drum band in a riotous market scene (with the WA Opera Chorus bustling with activity) and the toll gate from Act Three is a warehouse alley.

 

The Opera Conference production was last in Perth in 2007 and has plenty of depth to warrant this revival (smoothly orchestrated by rehearsal director Cath Dadd). For example the recurring rose motif, first seen painted on the flat window. In Act Three as Mimi and Rodolfo’s relationship is threatened decaying roses spill from a rubbish bin and in Act Four the louvre windows are open and the rose image is fragmented as Mimi dies.

 The thought-provoking directorial concept was matched by an outstanding cast. American tenor Garrett Sorenson’s emotion-laden, untamed voice gave a boy-next-door appeal to Rodolfo.  Australian-Armenian Natalie Aroyan brought a fragile naivety to Mimi, with moments of voluminous soprano splendour. Her conversational ‘Mi chiamano Mimi' was full of shy smiles and expressively stretched phrases. As the lovers sang their duet ‘O soave fancuilla’ the apartment floor lifted and the entire set was winched above the stage; their youthful infatuation lifts them momentarily from the squalor of poverty.

 

Jose Carbo’s brooding Marcello was the perfect match for Rachelle Durkin’s charismatic Musetta and their squalling relationship – including a fistfight resolved by love-making – was highly entertaining. Adrian Tamburini was a noble Colline and Andrew Foote was in top form as the Benoit the tipsy landlord. James Clayton was loveable as the loutish Schaunard, dancing erotically with a bean bag, peeing into the grimy toilet and procuring a surprise feast for his mates on Christmas Eve.

The robust playing from the WA SymphonyOrchestra under Joseph Colaneri overwhelmed the lovers during key moments in Act One but the orchestral colours were vibrant, with sassy winds and velvety strings lending moodiness to this engaging production.

La Boheme continues Nov 2, 5, 7, 9. Tickets here

This review copyright The West Australian 2013

Marina Prior

Marina Prior is one of the most elegant divas in the music theatre industry with her luxurious brown hair and a voice rivalling Julie Andrews for sweetness. Yet rumour has it she started her career as a busker.

“Yes it’s true,” Prior confesses over the phone from her home in Melbourne. “Busking was my part-time job while I was studying music at Melbourne Uni. I would sing everything from Elizabethan love songs to Joni Mitchell and Puccini. It was very eclectic, a bit like this concert tour.”

Prior’s first national solo tour showcases the soprano up close and personal. She will be singing hits from her three decades in music theatre including her career-making role as Christine in the first Australian production of Phantom of the Opera. The 24-venue tour includes performances in Perth, Bunbury and Albany this weekend. 

Prior snared her first lead role when she was just 18 as Mabel in the Victorian State Opera’s The Pirates of Penzance. The dream run continued with roles in productions like Cats, Les Miserables, West Side Story and Showboat. It was the eighties, the golden era of musicals in Australia.

“In the theatre I found my tribe, where I belong. I have a light coloratura soprano so it suits me more. And I love the depth of dramatic theatre; I can be a cat, a Bronx stripper (in Guys and Dolls), and a daffy English lady in Mary Poppins.”
 

Prior has recorded five albums and ventured into stage plays and operas including an Australasian tour with tenor Jose Carreras. She stars regularly in Melbourne’s Carols By Candlelight and worked as a judge on Channel Seven’s It Takes Two. Most of her career has been spent working under a director so Prior is relishing the creative freedom of a solo show. 

“I have the chops to do it now,” says the 49 year old. “I love being able to construct the evening, tell anecdotes and make people laugh. It is liberating.”

The intimacy of a solo show is also appealing. Prior will be accompanied by pianist David Cameron and will occasionally strum a guitar, the instrument she first began singing with as a nine year old.

“You have to expose the real you on stage, that vulnerability is crucial. If you are real then people warm to you.”

The program spans Prior’s creative life and there is no shortage of material to choose from.

“The program is made from the songs we couldn’t leave out! There are music theatre songs and some Celtic music, plus songs I grew up singing by people like Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell.”

Another bonus is the performing schedule which allows Prior to return home to her five children during the week.

“Being a mother is the defining factor of my life and I love being able to be home for canteen duty and making lunches. And then I run away to the circus on the weekends!”

Marina Prior ‘Encore’ tour Friday 18^th Astor Theatre, Saturday 19^th Bunbury Entertainment Centre, Sunday 20^th Albany Entertainment Centre.

 

This article copyright The West Australian newspaper 2013.