BY MADELINE ROYCROFT
‘From Sorrowing Earth: A Symphonic Celebration of Australian Composer Nigel Butterley’s 80th Birthday’
Arcko Symphonic Ensemble with pianist Zubin Kanga
Iwaki Auditorium, 31 October
The Iwaki Auditorium is buzzing as supporters and collaborators of Melbourne’s lively contemporary classical music scene gather for an exciting musical celebration of Nigel Butterley’s 80th birthday. In the program are three contrasting works spanning almost 30 years of Butterley’s prolific career, alongside the eagerly awaited premiere of Elliott Gyger’s ‘Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra’, commissioned especially for the occasion by Timothy Phillips and Arcko Symphonic Ensemble.
London-based Australian pianist Zubin Kanga opens the concert with ‘Uttering Joyous Leaves’, Butterley’s 1981 sonata for piano. Kanga’s sublime combination of genuine emotion and prodigious skill is showcased in these five minutes of miniature (albeit complex) piano music, which introduces the structure and thematic material that form the basis of Gyger’s concerto.
Between the entwined works is ‘In the Head, the Fire’, Butterley’s 1966 radiophonic composition written during his time working in the ABC programming department. The symbolic Iwaki Auditorium elicits countless layers and textures from the Prix Italia winning piece, allowing the audience to become steadily engulfed in contrasting spheres of acoustic sound.
Elliott Gyger’s ‘From Joyous Leaves’ expands upon the musical framework of Butterley’s piano sonata, overlaying extreme levels of structural and textural organisation into a seemingly spontaneous dialogue of compositional styles. Arcko is in fine form, expertly contrasting the delicate opening of three violas with soloistic dovetailing that develops across the ensemble. While his palpable expertise is captivating from the beginning, Kanga’s performance becomes utterly hypnotic at the astonishing reveal of Gyger’s magic trick – the prepared piano. Kanga’s expressive interpretation of the complex material, in which 22 prepared keys are diligently avoided, becomes all the more remarkable for several unsuspecting members of the audience who, like myself, have elected not to read the program note until after the performance. We have no idea the piano is prepared until about 10 minutes into the piece, and all keys are pressed!
Bulldog clips, pencils and other contents of the stationary drawer extract a rare body of sound from the piano, adding further depth to the already inspired palette of colours evoked by the skilful musicianship of Arcko. A sudden mood-change introduces angular phrases and a sparse texture, from which pizzicato strings drive towards an innovative and electrifying ending. Repeated instrumental hammering from two percussionists, combined with the instrumental contributions of celesta and prepared piano, creates intense reverberation from four courners of the orchestral setup. The audience is rendered temporarily speechless by the resounding effect, which is eventually replaced by an appropriately torrential wave of applause.
The substantial program closes with ‘From Sorrowing Earth’ (1991), a large-scale orchestral work that exquisitely reinforces Butterley’s style that was so influential on Gyger’s ‘From Joyous Leaves’. Conductor Timothy Phillips admirably harnesses the power of an expanded Arcko in this extensive work for orchestra which has sadly become under-represented in the modern repertoire. The expressive capability of Arcko’s augmented woodwind and brass sections are particularly superb, enhancing the ensemble’s emotive delivery of Butterley’s poetic imagery.
While it may have been more effective to place ‘In the Head, the Fire’ where it did not disrupt the programmatic link between ‘Uttering’ and ‘From Joyous Leaves’, the concert was nonetheless a tumultuous success. The presence of both composers ensured this was a truly special celebration of Australian music at its highest calibre.
About the reviewer
Based in Melbourne, Madeline Roycroft engages with music across a variety of performance, academic and educational settings. Maddy holds a Bachelor of Music and Diploma of Languages from the University of Melbourne and has recently completed an Honours degree in Musicology. Her thesis is on the reception of Dmitri Shostakovich in France. Maddy fills her spare time by teaching oboe, patting dogs and baking cakes.
Image supplied. Credit: Graeme Farr.
