Welcome to Con Fuoco, CutCommon’s interview series with young musicians across Australia.
You may have seen Angus McPherson’s byline around here at CutCommon. But did you know our regular contributor is also making waves across the music scene as a talented flautist? The Sydney-based muso recently completed a PhD in Music at the University of Tasmania, in which his research focused on the experimental flute music of Hungarian flautist-composer Gergely Ittzés. Angus received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has performed and taught in Australia, the USA, the UK and Canada. His articles on music have appeared in publications in Australia and overseas. He is on the committee for the Flute Society of New South Wales, and is a staff writer at Limelight Magazine.
Angus McPherson will be performing in The Cabinet of Oddities on September 23 and 24 at the Australian Institute of Music, Melbourne, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. He also enlightens us as to the best sci-fi works for flute of all time in light of the gig.
Your all time favourite piece of music?
Dvořák’s Cello Concerto had me enthralled for many years – ever since I played the flute part in the Sydney Con’s orchestra – and I’ve had brief obsessions with Ravel’s La Valse and various Shostakovich symphonies. But I’ve recently fallen in love with Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok, Op.127. The combination of instruments (soprano, cello, violin and piano) is used so cleverly and the spare, sinuous soprano and cello lines of Ophelia’s Song are devastatingly beautiful.
Most memorable concert experience?
I was about 19 or 20 and I was playing in an eisteddfod – it must have been a fairly small or obscure section, because there weren’t many people in the audience. I was playing one of Piazzolla’s Tango Etudes and I remember it being a performance in which everything just worked – everything I wanted to do musically just happened, and I was able to really relax and enjoy the music. I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since. While I’ve had other good performances, nothing has ever come close to that experience.
Biggest fear when performing?
If I’m performing a piece that requires circular breathing, I become paranoid that my sinuses will start congesting while I’m on stage. Was there dust on those curtains? What if a particularly allergenic plant has chosen this very day to flower and with every breath I’m filling my body with its pollen? What if my anxiety about this triggers an immune response that causes congestion? On most days, these fears are unfounded.
Best piece of musical advice you’ve received?
When I was studying in Sydney, my teacher Alexa Still told me that on days when things just aren’t working flute-wise, and practising becomes a frustrating nightmare, sometimes it can be better to go read a good book, see a good film or go to an art gallery – or some similarly enriching activity – rather than trying to push through it. That has really stuck with me.
How do you psych yourself up for practice on a lazy day?
If I’ve had food and coffee, I usually don’t have too much trouble starting a practise session – although quality can be variable. If all else fails, I have a grindy technical work-out routine that doesn’t require a lot of thinking. Blasting through that tends to give me enough momentum to actually do some real work.
Most embarrassing moment on stage?
At the NFA convention in the United States, I was performing in a recital with a bunch of other flute players. I must have been a bit jet-lagged because I got up on stage at the wrong time – oblivious to the fact that I’d just muscled my way into someone else’s spot. I played my pieces and didn’t realise my mistake until the performer after me got up and very slickly announced that there had been a change in the program.
Favourite post-gig activity?
I don’t like to eat too much before a concert, so I usually come off stage ravenously hungry – the result being that my post-performance habit is to scrabble around desperately looking for whatever restaurant I can find that’s open at that time of night.
What are you most proud of in your musical career so far?
Performing at the British Flute Society Convention 2014 – it was my first solo performance in the United Kingdom and a number of my flute heroes were in the audience. I was also sharing the recital with another flute player, Katherine Kemler. I had played in a masterclass for her in Sydney five or so years before, so it was an honour to be sharing a recital with her as a professional colleague. Backstage, we watched videos of dogs doing yoga before the concert started.
What do you love most about making music?
I love that even the pieces I’ve been playing for years feel different every time in performance. And there are always new pieces, new composer and new sounds to explore.
What’s your ultimate goal?
It’s a pretty nerdy dream, but I would be thrilled to discover a new, previously uncatalogued multiphonic, or discover some sound that has never been used before on the flute. I want to push the instrument to its limits.
See Angus McPherson perform at the Melbourne Fringe Festival this month.
Image supplied.
