BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Head along to Dots+Loops this week and you’ll hear a new piece of music for chamber music and synthesiser.
Wait – what?
Australian composer Allison Wright doesn’t care that chamber music is traditionally associated with the ‘classical’ world. She’s fusing this instrumentation with electronic music in her new work Polymath, and you’ll get to experience it at Cupo on March 16.
Allison finished up her performance studies at the Australian National Academy of Music and performs as an orchestral trumpet player. She’s also the founding creative director of Kammervolk Collective, and her own works have been performed at Bang on a Can Summer Festival and by Australian groups including Solstice Trio, Yarra Brass Quintet, and Ensemble Kammervolk.
The Melbourne artist first intended to team up with Dots+Loops as a performer. But she was working on her own project at the time, which she tells us brought together her “two composition disciplines – electronic and the more ‘formal’ practice of pen to paper”. Kieran Welch, the curator and founder of Dots+Loops, instead offered Allison a commission – and here we arrive.
Allison. Your new piece. Tell us EVERYTHING.
Kieran is a great curator, and a really supportive, trusting collaborator. It was my intention for this piece to begin writing it ‘backwards’ to my usual compositional practice, which in my case meant starting at my synthesiser and computer, making sounds before touching a pen and paper. I was really curious as to how the process would change the outcome, and it proved to be a really interesting experiment. When I told Kieran I was going about everything ‘backwards’, he was excited – definitely not nervous like most other curators could have been in such a situation! So, Polymath was born!
I think there’s something for everyone in this piece; especially if you’re a fan of analogue synths (the Korg Minilogue features heaps!), quartal harmony (think Joe Hisaishi’s writing for Studio Ghibli films), and rockin’ cello lines (just watch Hannah: she’s having a heap of fun).
Chamber music and synthesiser. Why does it work?
Why not? For me, it’s definitely the best of both worlds. You get to pair the artistic command a chamber musician has over their instrument with the infinite sound-world possibilities of synthesis. Sounds like a win-win to me. Plus, things get to be properly loud. Maybe that’s a bit of my brass player personality coming out, but I definitely love the impact of electronics and amplified sound within a more formal concert discipline. The dynamic range you can get out of this kind of ‘instrumentation’ is far greater, especially in the low frequency range.
Why is electronic music something that you’ve been interested in?
Electronic music of all genres has always been a form of escapism for me, both as a listener and a producer. All the way through my tertiary performance studies, I was always going home and making tracks as a way of decompressing from the rigidity and boundaries of the classical discipline. When you’re studying music – particularly orchestral performance – there is a set way things have to be done and the path to achieving goals is very linear, with many people having walked the same path before you. Making electronic music was always my way of taking back a bit of artistic control.
Things began to change once I became more and more interested in performing new music, and I started feeling the similarities between the avant garde pop scene and the various contemporary new music scenes. Anyone who knows me knows about my completely tragic obsession with Björk. The crossover is clear with her music; heck, you can even watch her interview Arvo Pärt on YouTube. Going on a bit of a tangent here, but I like to think that one of the similarities between the two approaches – new music and avant garde pop – is the inclusion of more human elements in their artistic practices. They’re not afraid to embrace topics such as sexuality, grief, or humour.
You’re also a trumpet player, gigging in major orchestras and production companies. So how do you feel about synthesiser as an instrument in the ‘classical’ realm? Should we embrace it in the concert halls, or honour its popularity in the domain of contemporary and popular music?
I think we can do both, as they’re not mutually exclusive. This is kind of a similar discussion that was had around the turn of last century about the trumpet vs the cornet. The trumpet hadn’t really ‘taken off’ as a soloist’s instrument yet, as it was really only used in major symphonic works. There’s this really hilarious letter from Herbert L Clarke (one of the most famous cornettists and educators of his time) talking to Elden Benge (who was, at the time, just a student, but went on to be the principal trumpet of Detroit Symphony and later the Chicago Symphony and an accomplished instrument maker). Always gives me a bit of a chuckle about how wrong he was, particularly about how jazz pollutes the art of music with the Devil. This is the same sort of thing. The ultimate downfall of classical music will be reluctance to accept change. Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely a place for purism in the industry, especially with the performance of the great masters. But it can’t be the only approach the industry takes.
Also, this isn’t a new conversation: Stockhausen was doing all flavours of crazy in the 1960s, and the Italian Futurists and Oliver Messiaen before him in the early 1900s. We need to debunk the myth that the concert stage is reserved only for art that preserves tradition. All the greatest art galleries and museums take risks, why can’t our arts organisations?
With that in mind, what advice would you give to listeners of classical music who might be fearful of embracing contemporary sounds in a traditionally conservative environment?
There will be plenty of familiar elements to hold your attention; there will be extremely talented instrumentalists performing expressively, emotional and sonic landscapes being explored through tonality, rhythm and orchestration. Especially in Dots+Loops; I believe Kieran’s best intention in his curation is to take his audience with him in this exploration of new sounds, and not to leave them behind.
Any parting words before Dots+Loops?
The post-genre approach behind Dots+Loops is something I’m incredibly passionate about. I strongly support the abolishment of any divisions – social, financial – between forms of musical expression. Music is for everyone! Come have a beer with us, and if you’re an artist, come and tell us about your artistic practice; we love to collaborate. See you on Friday!
See Dots+Loops Synthesis on 16 March in Cupo, Fortitude Valley. Dots+Loops Ensemble performs music by Allison Wright, Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly (who you can also read about right here), and more. Tickets online or at the door.
This event is a pop-up venue in our national Roving Launch, so be sure to rock up and pick up your very own copy of CutCommon issue #1 in print!
Images supplied.
