Cat Hope is establishing a formidable reputation as a concert
curator. On Saturday the Anime concert as part of Tura's Scale Variable series
showcased the genre of animated notation which combines graphic notation (traceable
to the 1950’s and even the medieval era) with computer animation. The intriguing
concert featured eight premieres with the scores projected on a screen and the
performers interpreting the colour, size, patterns and codes of the images.
Each piece displayed a different facet of Decibel, an electro
acoustic six-piece ensemble with an ever-expanding capacity for persuasive improvisation.
In Lindsay Vickery’s ...with the fishes... the violin,
viola, and cello sounds were electronically manipulated to create a murky,
bubbling depiction of sea pollution as represented by the industrial structures
and paint splashes on the score.
Hope’s bee-inspired Erst required performers to respond to tiny
scattered squares and the delicate sounds were layered over an electronic drone
with overtones thrumming like the wings of swarming bees. Dane Yates’
politically inspired [under] had a decaying, strangled sound world while Stuart
James’ Existence éphémère
created a humming gentle sheet of sound. Felicity
Wilcox used footage of a train journey as her score for EXIT resulting in a
plaintive piece built around the rumble of bass guitar and occasional pulses of
percussion.
Some works had a playful element: Ryan Ross Smith used the
motion of a cursor landing on dots to draw spatterings of sound from the
instrumentalists and Bergrún
Snaebjörnsdóttir invited two guitarists to
interpret light patterns on the floor.
The piece that lingers in my mind is Jonathan Mustard’s
Primorph. Each performer was allocated a clay-like shape on the screen and the sliding,
tapping and blurting of the alert instrumentalists gave personality to
the images as they twisted, sighed and sagged above them. Here image and sound
met; composer and performers united to create compelling spontaneous art.
I'm still savouring WASO's magnificent August Brahms festival but there's more to come from Asher Fisch; this weekend he conducts Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and the premiere of James Ledger's Simpler Times.
The following two days will be a piano feast with Bernadette Harvey performing at the University of WA on Sunday 6th and Paul Lewis in recital on Monday 7th for Musica Viva.
On Thursday 10th Alexandre Da Costa (WA Academy of Performing Arts) presents operatic favourites in a violin recital titled Stradivarius at the Opera
On the 16th the Australian Chamber Orchestra present Olli Mustonen conducting his own Sonata for Cello and Orchestra with Timo-Veiko Valve as soloist.
Some of WA's most exciting music students are on display this month. Firstly WAAPA percussion ensemble Defying Gravity present a percussion extravaganza on 17th in collaboration with Marcus Perrozzi and Tao Issaro Mott. And the WA Youth Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony under Chris van Tuinen on the 18th. Finally Voyces youth choral will give a
concert of contemporary sacred works called Pilgrim on the 12th with
music works by Eric Whitacre, Paul Mealor and Morten Lauridsen.
On the 26th Sep an operatic special at the Perth Concert Hall will feature some of Australia's most popular operatic talent incl Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Greta Bradman, Lisa McCune and David Hobson in a concert called From Broadway to La Scala.
Finally on the 29th Tura new music will showcase the collaboration resulting from their 2015 regional Reflection Tour.
The music world has marked the passing of British/Australian composer Roger Smalley this month. Smalley died from Parkinson's on 18th August 2015. He was well known in Western Australia because he was lecturer of composition at the University of Western Australia for three and a half decades and among other things founded the WASO 20th Century Ensemble. In 2004 he was proclaimed a State Living Treasure.
Vincent Plush in The Australian credited Smalley with putting Perth, the most isolated capital in the world, on the musical map.
WASO artistic planning manager Evan Kennea who studied composition under Roger Smalley agreed.
“Through his association with WASO, his brilliant music, his significant
academic career, his exceptional performances and recordings as pianist
and his inspirational support of young and emerging talent, Roger
Smalley was a galvanising influence on the music world of Perth,” Kennea
said.
Smalley's funeral was on 26th August in Sydney, his home since 2007. Several eulogies were shared including one by WA French horn player Darryl Poulsen which has been reprinted below with permission. There was a request made that any floral tributes at the funeral be replaced instead with donations to the Australian Music Centre - a fitting tribute for a man whose life was all about music.
Roger Smalley Eulogy by Darryl Poulsen
Darryl Poulsen read this eulogy at Roger Smalley's funeral
celebration in Sydney on 26 August 2015.
My name is Darryl Poulsen. I am fortunate to have been a friend
and colleague of Roger
Smalley's for more than three decades. I was his academic
colleague at the University of Western Australia, and have
performed with Roger many times over those years.
There are many people who have been a large part of Roger's life,
and I would like to acknowledge some of them here. Roger's
family: Rachael and Davey, daughter and son; their mother and
Roger's former wife Sarah; and Peter, his brother. They have all,
from afar in the United Kingdom, been a very special part in
Roger's life. I had the good fortune of meeting a number of his
UK family, either over there whilst on tour with Roger, or at
special occasions here in Australia. I was struck on those
occasions by the obvious love and affection between them,
undiminished by the many thousands of kilometres separating them.
Roger lived for many years in Western Australia, and no doubt
there are many colleagues and friends there, many of whom are not
able to be here today.
Finally I would like to acknowledge Roger's partner Pattie
Benjamin and her children James, Sarah and Tim. They have all
been a significant part of Roger's life here in Australia. Pattie
has provided unfailing support to Roger over many years. Support
which has endured both the good times as well as the challenging
times, such as his several recent bouts of ill-health. This
enabled Roger to focus on his music, providing him with both a
secure domestic base, as well as a keen interest and support, in
all aspects of his musical career.
To all of Roger's family and friends, I extend my deepest
sympathies.
To talk about Roger the person, one has to talk about Roger the
musician, for they really were one and the same. Composer,
pianist, chamber musician, conductor, educator, and music critic:
Roger was all of these, and his contributions to each were
distinguished.
Extensive details of Roger's background and achievements are
readily available elsewhere, so I shall not use this occasion to
recount them here. Suffice it to say, the list of musicians with
whom he studied; prizes won, both as composer and performer;
prestigious commissions; and significant honours and awards
speaks for itself.
A self-effacing person by nature, the honours and awards are all
the more appropriate recognition of the profound importance of
Roger's contribution to the arts.
Prior to coming to Australia, Roger was enjoying much artistic
success in the UK and Europe. Fate of another kind, however,
visited him, in the early 1970s. Professor Frank Callaway, then
Head of Music at the University of Western Australia, contacted
Roger during a visit to the UK seeking a meeting with him. Sir
Frank, as he later became, was indefatigable when it came to
enticing distinguished, talented international musicians to visit
his Music Department in the most isolated capital city in the
world, Perth.
The rest of that story is now history. Roger accepted Frank
Callaway's invitation for a three-month composer in residence
position at UWA, arriving there in 1974. Three years later, he
returned to Perth to take up an ongoing academic appointment at
UWA. Naturally, his work as composer and performer was closely
linked to his academic work. Roger spent three and a half decades
at UWA, during which time he became a Professorial Fellow.
One can only begin to imagine the initial cultural readjustment
Roger must have had to make when arriving in Perth from London.
It seems however that, ultimately, this geographical and cultural
displacement provided Roger a unique opportunity to seek new
musical inspiration.
One such example was the stimulus he derived from his interest in
visual arts, especially paintings and installations. His
collaboration with artist Brian Blanchflower inspired the piece:
Diptych: Homage to Brian Blanchflower, which, I am
advised, Roger considered one of his finest. A similar
collaboration with the printmaker Lesley Duxbury, also resulted
in his
piano quartet, both named and structured, after her artwork
Crepuscule.
In Roger's own words, he described the influence of visual art in
an interview with William Yeoman:
'….. up until the time I moved over here [Perth], I had never
written anything at all with a visual stimulus. All of these
pieces have been written here. So I think that being in a country
where landscape and vastness and distance are all part and parcel
of existence, obviously awoke a side of me which hadn't been
obvious before.'
Looking back now, one must acknowledge that Australian music is
indeed the richer for the foresight of Frank Callaway all those
years ago.
I would now like to offer some brief reflections on Roger. Two
colleagues, Alan Bonds and Cathie Travers, recently shared their
thoughts and recollections of Roger with me. Alan Bonds, violinist/violist, reminisced with me about Roger,
when he first arrived in Perth, and when Alan himself was an
undergraduate student in a number of Roger's classes. The
following are a few random recollections:
Although Roger's interest, and indeed reputation, was firmly
based in electronic music, we were all amazed that he would be
interested in playing in regular chamber music sessions.
Sight-reading substantial works, piano quartets and quintets, of
Schubert, Schumann, Brahms etc., we were astonished that Roger
would not only sight-read anything, but also play flawlessly. His
intuitive grasp of music made for an enthralling experience for
his musical partners. Although coming with the extreme intellectual tendencies of
the Cologne and Darmstadt Schools, he still enjoyed playing the
beauty in the music of Schubert and Brahms. He was just a great
musician who importantly, knew where he came from. Studying and playing the music of the Second Viennese School
with Roger was a formative influence. In particular, performing
Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire with Jane Manning and Roger
was unforgettable, the performance was transformative. Interestingly, like Stockhausen, Roger also discovered that
humans make better music than machines. He wrote very challenging
music. Roger was a modernist through and through, and he held his
faith to the end. His teaching was as rigorous as it was spontaneous and
inspirational. He had a unique ability to see into the very heart
of the music, and communicate it.
Cathie Travers offered the following insight into Roger's
influence at UWA:
Roger was not an especially good 'piano' teacher in the sense
of helping to develop an advanced instrumental technique. But he
was a great teacher about music. His sight-reading skills were
fabulous. At the piano, Roger automatically started collecting
and collating information on the elements of the score and the
way the musical structure hung together [or failed to do so, as
the case may be]… his hands responded to the flood of musical
information pouring out of his brain, and his fast physical
responses meant his read-throughs of complex scores were
astoundingly accurate. He tended to drive a car in a similar
manner: information in, and quick response reactions out; it
could be a bit harrowing in the passenger seat of the car
though. I think it's fair to say that his fascination with musical
structure informed his every moment of existence as a musician,
whether he was performing, educating, arranging or
composing.
My own first recollection of Roger goes back to 1981. Returning
to Australia from studying and working in Europe, I first met
Roger when enrolling as a postgraduate student at UWA. I was
extremely fortunate to have had Roger working with me performing
in a number of recitals and chamber music concerts, as part of my
postgraduate program.
No sooner had we commenced our musical projects, Roger decided to
expand the horn literature by writing a new work for me. This was
Echo IV. Written for horn and tape delay, it was the
last in a series of works for solo instrument and tape delay.
This was the pre-digital era, when electronics were still largely
analogue.
Performing the work set considerable challenges. In particular,
mastering the logistics of a tape delay system, comprising two
reel-to-reel recorders stretched some distance across the
auditorium, syncing the resultant time delay with an independent
click-track, was fraught with unanticipated irregularities. So
much so, that on the day of the premiere of Echo IV, it
was decided to prerecord the two echos, which would then be
played back with the live horn, and click track.
This too, however, proved challenging in performance.
Synchronisation of the click-track and the recorded tracks parted
company, leaving me with the invidious choice of deciding to play
with either one or the other, rather than all together, as the
composer intended!
Technological limitations of the day were never an impediment to
Roger's creativity. I remember Roger very distinctly saying that
future advances in technology would one day make the playing of
this piece, as well as other similar works, easier to realise. He
was right of course. Some years later, with the benefit of the
arrival of digital delay devices, we were able to perform
Echo IV again, this time without click track, and more
in the manner that the composer had conceived it.
Eventually, I joined Roger as an academic colleague at the
University of Western Australia. During this extended period,
more new works were commissioned and premiered.
A notable occasion with Roger was a tour we undertook of the
United Kingdom, and Western Australia. Aptly called 'Crossing
Continents', it was an innovative composition and performance
exchange between British and Australian musicians. The concerts
featured new works by British composers Dorothy Ker, George
Nicholson and Adrian Moore, together with music by Roger, and
James Ledger from the University of Western Australia.
Of particular note was the recognition Roger received in the UK.
Interested musicians and public simply appeared from everywhere,
seeking out Roger Smalley, even as we performed and gave
workshops in some of the smaller places like in Surrey, for
example. The reverence for Roger and his music was palpable.
Despite his long illness, I do not recall Roger ever complaining.
Even in recent times, the world of music still occupied his
being. The radio in his room at Lulworth, permanently tuned to
ABC Classic FM, broadcast without interruption. I am sure that
the presence of this music went some way to transport him from
the terrible illness which had overtaken his body.
During a recent visit, I was able to talk with Roger about a
composer whose music I had just heard performed in Vienna. The
composer was the French Canadian, Claude Vivier. Interestingly,
Roger's body moved in recognition of the name as it was spoken.
In a few precious but muted words, Roger was able to share with
me his enthusiasm for Vivier's music, and also relate the common
ground they both had with Stockhausen. It was like a brief moment
of musical conversation with the old Rog., I knew so well.
Two years ago, I had the good fortune of attending Roger's 70th
birthday celebration. At that event, I was asked to offer a few
words about him. I chose to conclude my comments with a quote,
which I would like to share once more. The musical idea expressed
in the quote, in my opinion, deeply reflects the very essence of
the Roger we know so well. The quote, from the journal, The
Listener of 12 August 1971, is Roger in his own words,
describing the compositional process of his work entitled
Beat Music which premiered at the 1971 Proms concert
with the ensemble Intermodulation:
'I am continually trying to get away from the feeling that I am
composing the music, and closer to the sensation that the music
is composing itself. This sensation, which I experienced more
strongly than ever before while writing Beat Music, is
extremely difficult to verbalise, but I could describe it as the
feeling that if you descend deeper and deeper into the materials
of music until you reach the smallest and most
insignificant-sounding object (say a C natural so low that it is
no more than a click every second), you will merely have to
disturb it slightly with the point of your pencil - push it
around on the manuscript paper a little - and it will release the
most phenomenal amount of energy.'
This month we acknowledge the loss to the musical world of Roger Smalley and it seemed timely to feature another outstanding composer James Ledger. Once a student of Smalley's, Ledger now carries on Smalley's legacy as lecturer of composition at the University of Western Australia. He has been resident composer with many institutions and orchestras including the Australian National Academy of Music, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the WA Symphony Orchestras. Ledger is one of Australia's most commissioned composers and on September 4th WASO will premiere Ledger's newest work Simpler Times.
What music gets your heart
racing?
I’m not sure any music gets my heart racing, but there
is music that gets my mind racing. I really enjoy discovering new pieces and
composers. Just recently I’ve been getting into Messiaen’s “Des Canyons aux
Etoiles” (From the canyons to the stars) - a piece of his I didn’t know, but
it’s remarkable.
It took me a little while
to figure out what aspect of music I wanted to pursue. I graduated with a music
degree in performance but always had a hankering to write. It was only after
graduating that I gave composition a go. The French horn and I are now both
moving on with our lives.
You are in a rare and privileged position where you
are earning an income as a full time professional composer. Where did you learn
the skills that enabled you to carve out a niche as a professional Australian
composer?
It was studying music of the 20th century
in my third year at UWA that really captivated me. Charting the course of music
in that century is something I find endlessly fascinating. After graduating, I
moved to London and got a job at a classical record company, which was also
incredibly informative.
Paul is incredibly down to earth, and working with him
was a lot of fun. It was surprisingly inspirational to meld our two different
musical worlds together.
You are currently lecturer in composition at UWA. Do
you have a particular methodology or process for teaching composition?
Obviously, there are aspects to composition that can’t
be taught. All I try to do is offer advice on various technical aspects.
On September 4th your orchestral work
Simpler Times will be premiered by the WA Symphony Orchestra. How did this
commission come about and what is the piece like?
This work was commissioned by WASO through the
generous patronage of Geoff Stearn. He commissioned a violin concerto from me
in 2013, and so this is our second work. Simpler Times is a bit of an ironic
title – the piece is a reflection of how we perceive time; that is, we sense
that it speeds up as we get older – but of course it doesn’t. The piece
probably isn’t that simple though.
You also wrote War Music which
was premiered in April as part of the ANZAC commemorations. There has been a
lot of commissions given out over the past 18 months to recognise Australia’s
involvement in war. How do you find an angle you are comfortable with in this
‘war genre’?
You’re right, there have been a lot of ANZAC
commissions over the past 18 months. It is an uncomfortable subject, and in
way, perhaps that helped the composition. I deliberately chose the more broader
aspects of war rather than focus on specific events at Gallipoli. I worked with
Paul Kelly on this project too. He wrote an incredibly moving text for the
choir.
You have a soft spot for
orchestral music – an amazing 17 orchestral works since 1996. What is the
appeal of this repertoire?
I didn’t realise there were
that many. Yes, I do enjoy writing for orchestra, and feel incredibly lucky to
have been given so many opportunities. The appeal for me is the amount of
colour that is available, both in terms of instrumental sonorities, and the
vast dynamic range. I love the energy that can come from of an orchestra – it
can be like a juggernaut.
I often marvel when listening to your compositions at
the detail of the writing and complexity of ideas. What is your writing process
to arrive at that point?
Each piece evolves in a different way, there is no set
process. I might start out by improvising on the piano, or I might have a sonority
in mind. I tend to ‘see’ a score more than I ‘hear’ it. For example, with
Simpler Times, I knew that the piece was going to speed up over its entire
length. I imagined huge waves of energy for the final section, even though
early on, I didn’t have a clue what the notes were going to be.
What is it you would hope audiences
experience when they hear your music?
When I write music, I try to be as honest as possible.
If what I write resonates with someone on any level then that’s a very
satisfying thing.
How would you advise young musicians wanting to pursue
a career in composition?
There is no set career-path to be a composer. You just
have to keep your eye out for any opportunity, as well as have extremely good
time management skills.
Do you have a soft spot for
anything else in life or is it all about the music?
I like to play music, and
just recently I bought a guitar to learn. It’s a very blurred line as to where
a pastime ends and work begins though.
Evan Kennea interviews James Ledger in 2012 after the premiere of Two Memorials, a composition inspired by John Lennon and Anton Webern.
Thank you James Ledger for making the time for Celebrity Soft Spot. For more info on our famous local composer go towww.jamesledger.com. To buy tickets to hear Simple Times on September 4th & 5th go here.
Perth audiences have heard the London Philharmonic’s pristine
version of Brahms’ First Symphony (2009) and the Berlin Philharmonic’s lush Second
Symphony (2010). Most recently the WA Symphony Orchestra gave a perfunctory,
rather aimless performance of Brahms’ Second Symphony (2013). Brahms' music can be so bleak and as WASO's two week Brahms Festival began I wondered would it be grim
or glorious?
On Friday night under principal conductor Asher Fisch the densely
packed First Symphony unfolded with clarity. The orchestra’s cohesion was breathtaking
as they eased in and out of phrases and negotiated the gear changes where
Brahms’ juxtaposing ideas dive, rush and halt. Fisch delineated between
foreground and background layers to avoid muddy texture. His genius became
apparent as he contoured both the micro spaces between phrases and the macro
sweep of the symphony to shape Brahms that was tender, life-affirming and
majestic. Add to this the golden sound of the strings, the heart warming horn
solos and the organ-like wind section and the result was quite simply glorious.
Brahms’ Second Symphony the following night seemed less well-rehearsed.
Entries were less coherent and the presto movement was not intact. But then
there was the delicate pianissimo opening, the thrilling race to the end and in
between the finely sculpted adagio where a fierce inhalation from Fisch summoned
thick swells of sound from the violins. Neither perfunctory nor aimless, this was
a lyrical and visceral performance revealing how much Fisch has shaped this orchestra.
Zukerman and Forsyth
Brahms’ Violin Concerto was performed by Pinchas Zukerman
with an extraordinarily bold, flexible sound. The heart of the performance was
his seemingly effortless cadenza with its smooth scales and feather-like high
trills. He was joined by cellist Amanda Forsyth on Saturday night for Brahms’
Double Concerto. The husband and wife team were synchronised and Forsyth’s
extroversion gave a dance-like energy to the work.
Brahms’ remaining two symphonies and two piano concertos will
be performed this weekend; expect landmark performances that could sit proudly
on any international platform.
The St George’s Cathedral Consort gave an unsettling performance of Brahms’ German Requiem on Friday night; mostly I think it was intentional.
Brahms completed the Requiem in 1868 after the death of his mother. He constructed the text from the German bible rather than the Catholic mass and the minor tonality, fugal writing and densely chromatic harmonies give the work a luxurious Romantic bleakness. Conductor Joseph Nolan brought to this a restless intensity with quick tempos and only brief pauses between movements.
The choir has a prominent role in the Requiem, involved in every movement with brief appearances from a soprano (Sara Macliver singing with amber warmth) and baritone (a lyrical Andrew Foote). The Consort was augmented to 26 singers plus 17 trebles and produced an exciting, sometimes strident sound. The ensemble’s trademark dramatic contrast ranged from hushed mourning to a spitting accusatory “Death where is thy sting?” The sense of ensemble wasn’t always coherent but the trade-off was an impassioned resonant intensity.
Brahms’s piano duet arrangement was used to accompany the singers and while it lacks the lushness of Brahms’ orchestration the assiduous Mark Coughlan and Caroline Badnall played with thunderous volume at times. Nolan maintained the momentum even in the final movement so that the closing bars had a sense of resignation rather than peace.
The Rhapsody for alto and male choir delivered far more balm. Brahms’ favourite voice was the alto and Fiona Campbell demonstrated why with her rich depth and capacity for soaring radiance. With smooth leaps and controlled power she shaped an arresting opening and pleading middle section. As the tonality changed to major the male choir added their glowing harmonies for a comforting finale. Coughlan accompanied attentively from piano although he could have been more prominent to match Campbell’s volume.
My publisher Fremantle Press have updated their website to a flashy new user-friendly version.
They are celebrating with lots of deals and specials. If you are a subscriber to the enews you can get a 10% discount by using the code GOFREO when purchasing.
Cat Hope is establishing a formidable reputation as a concert
curator. On Saturday the Anime concert as part of Tura's Scale Variable series
showcased the genre of animated notation which combines graphic notation (traceable
to the 1950’s and even the medieval era) with computer animation. The intriguing
concert featured eight premieres with the scores projected on a screen and the
performers interpreting the colour, size, patterns and codes of the images.
