BY LEWIS INGHAM
On June 28, Parma Recordings and Navona Records released an album from the Australia Piano Quartet, featuring the two piano quartets of Australian composer Andrew Anderson.
Andrew notes the importance of collaboration between Australian composers and performers in order to “shape the musical voice of the country” – but has also fostered his own collaborations between artists through co-founding the University of Melbourne Artists Register.
We chat with Andrew about his latest release, and his efforts in community engagement with music performance.
Andrew, this is an album featuring two new works by an Australian composer, performed by an Australian ensemble. How important is it that local ensembles want to perform new works by local composers?
Very important, especially from a composer’s point of view!
Most commissions and performances arise from some form of relationship between the composer and the performers, and so for Australian-based composers, a large proportion of these relationships would be expected to be with local ensembles. If these ensembles are not interested in performing Australian works, a significant proportion of most composers’ opportunities for commissions and performances will disappear.
From a performer’s point of view, I think an interest in performing Australian works is important as it provides an opportunity to help shape the musical voice of the country. In addition, it often allows the performers to discuss ideas with the composer in person, both as the work develops and in the final preparation stages for performance. There really is no substitute for being together in the room, discussing and trying out ideas!
Your Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor maintains a natural fluidity whilst feeling embedded in a well laid-out formal structure across four movements; whereas I’ve noted a much slower and more expansive development of ideas in your Piano Quartet No. 2, which is in two parts. How did you approach the formal structure of these piano quartets, and is form an important part of your compositional process?
Having an eye to established structures was useful in guiding the development of the first quartet, and was certainly something I actively thought about during its composition. As a reasonably long work, having formal structures was also useful in helping to achieve a balance across the movements so as to help sustain a listener’s attention.
The second quartet has four distinct sections, with the first two and the last two joining into a continuous part, which possibly helped with the slower development you note. Having said that, the sections themselves are quite separate, and so the actual time to develop ideas in each section is not dissimilar from that in my first quartet.
It is also possible that the relaxing of formal structures in this work also helps; when stripped of the traditional signposts of where you are in a piece – exposition, development, recapitulation, etc. – maybe a sense of slower evolution arises.
Piano Quartet No. 2 was composed in 2018, eight years after your first piano quartet. How different was the process of composing a piano quartet the second time around?
Quite different, indeed! Whilst the first quartet was written piecemeal over a very long period – many years – the second quartet was written more systematically over a smaller period of time, probably over the course of a bit over a year. I also deliberately attempted to be freer in terms of musical form, compared with the first quartet.
Your first piano quartet was premiered by the Australia Piano Quartet, and you dedicated your second piano quartet to this same ensemble. What does this ensemble bring to your music, and what have you appreciated most through working with them?
As a dedicated piano quartet, the Australia Piano Quartet has a deep understanding of the unique voice this chamber ensemble structure gives. The APQ is also capable of great virtuosity, which expands its expressive range substantially. The musicians are keen to explore new ways of interpreting a score, and so make a performance very much their own.
When I compose, I always have a definite idea about how a work will sound, and so a key thing I appreciate from the APQ is its ability to stretch my thinking regarding the range of parameters – in terms of tempi, dynamics, and phrasing – that might work in performance.
You are the co-founder of the University of Melbourne Artists Register, a platform designed to encourage community engagement in music performance. What led you to found this artists register, and what has this platform achieved since its inception?
It is not uncommon that people who go to university have also had some musical training when they were growing up. Whilst many of these people would like to continue playing music in some capacity whilst studying at university, one of the challenges is finding other like-minded people to perform with – particularly in a non-residential university environment where people disperse at the end of the day; in contrast to the residential college system I, and register co-founder Peter Tregear, experienced during our time at Cambridge University. The register was set up to allow people to list their musical aptitudes and interests, and so facilitate arranging musical activities with other like-minded people.
Since its inception, the register has hosted two concerts a year that provide musicians with an opportunity to get together and perform before a supportive audience of friends and colleagues. Such musical activities also provide a wonderful opportunity for both performers and audience to momentarily step aside from what can otherwise be a rather unrelenting academic schedule.
The scope of the University of Melbourne Artists Register seems that it would allow a lot of cross-discipline artistic collaborations. Why is it important that artists, particularly those involved in tertiary institutions, are exposed to a community broader than just their own single discipline?
Academia has become increasingly specialised, which can also breed increased isolation. However, an interest in music tends to cut across disciplines. As a result of contacts made through the register, I regularly get together with a group of friends to play chamber music: the pianist has a zoology background, and the cellist is from education. It is only the flautist who studied music performance at a tertiary level, and is now a performer as her full-time career.
Hear it all come together on Andrew Anderson’s new album Piano Quartets 1 & 2 as performed by the Australia Piano Quartet. You can check out this Navona Records release on Spotify.
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