BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
You may have read our recent interview with Nicholas Vines. The Australian composer has penned a suite of 12 preludes called Indie Ditties. Each prelude is about a different aspect of “hipsterdom”, from skinny jeans to black-framed glasses.
Now, we talk with the musician who will bring the narrative into the Sydney Opera House. London-based Australian pianist Rob Hao is about to set off on his inaugural solo tour of Australia, and is taking Indie Ditties along for the ride. The piece and the pianist will make their debut at the SOH this April, and the program is more diverse than you’d imagine: alongside this 21st Century piece of music, Rob will power through some of the absolute classics from Schubert and Chopin.
So how do these contrastingly old and new works fit together on the same program? And how do hipsters and classical music lovers fit together in the same venue?
Let’s find out.
Rob, yours is the most amusing concert program I’ve explored in a while. Tell us why you wanted to bring hipster subculture into the SOH.
I think many of us can be (secretly) sympathetic to many facets of hipsterism. On some level, we think about the latest trends and fads, so it’s interesting to ponder what is or isn’t superficial, or what will have lasting value from our time. Presenting these concepts in the concert hall is just one way of examining some of these ideas.
As this will be an Australian premiere, I’d like to know about the relationship you’ve formed with this piece. How’d you find it in the first place, and what resonated with you?
This concert has already been postponed twice due to the pandemic! But I’m also lucky to be able to sit with a new work for such an extended period of time. I first played one movement of Indie Ditties while the entire cycle was still being completed. Nick Vines had offered it to me at the time, and ever since, I’ve been fascinated by the almost-familiar musical language he employs, and how he finds new sounds and gestures within that context. It’s easy to be led to believe that tonal language has been exhausted, but I think Nick has found some uncharted territory — definitely assisted by his satirical take on various trends.
Each movement in Indie Ditties tells a story. Do you see yourself in any of them?
Maybe in some of them. But never completely.
Overall, I probably sympathise more with the satirical side of Nick’s stories. But there are also ideas in these pieces that aren’t exclusive to a social group. Indie Ditties does look at things like love, smartphones, processed food, and pop culture, which are things we all think about from time to time — if not all the time!
True. Now, your event is in a major venue, and your program features some classics — Chopin and Schubert. I feel like there’s a massive culture clash between the expected audience for this relatively conventional program, and the audience for the odd-ditties-out. Is there a risk that hipsters and classical music lovers might not always be one and the same?
Yes, there’s always a risk in programming contemporary music, especially a 50-minute one like Indie Ditties!
I do think the musical language and extra-musical content of Indie Ditties is a great introduction to new music while also keeping with the idea that contemporary music really is substantial and relevant to all of us today.
But otherwise, the ‘culture clash’ is something I welcome and, for me at least, heightens the artistic experience in both halves.
Can we see any similarities between the Vines, Chopin, and Schubert?
I sometimes like to think that what Italian opera and Polish folk music was to Chopin could potentially be what contemporary culture is to Vines’ Indie Ditties. Although, interacting with today’s more popular cultures as a serious composer demands, at the very least, a smidgen of irony and humour.
As for Schubert, I’m playing some Impromptus and Liszt song transcriptions, which all have dramatic narratives similar to Indie Ditties, in one way or another.
And where do you fit into all of this, Rob? One of Nicholas’ ditties is about a hipster with perfect sight wearing black-framed glasses. Time to get real — how strong is your prescription?
Rather unfortunate, but my black-framed glasses do have an essential and functional purpose!
Or perhaps they were picked subconsciously for their hipster appeal…
I don’t think I would self-identify as a hipster. But I’m also not sure many people would designate themselves as one. Perhaps being a musician with a foot in both contemporary and older music makes me more of a hipster than I will admit.
What feeling would you like to leave with your audience when they hear you play these Indie Ditties?
I do hope everything that Nick has written in these ditties will come across — all the wit, thoughtfulness, irony — and without sounding too cheesy; the humanity of it, too. But on the other hand, I’m still not totally sure what the reaction to these pieces will be!
And of course, my grand wish any time I perform a contemporary piece is to leave my audience with a curiosity for more.
Before we go, a wildcard question for you, totally unrelated to hipster subculture. Even if the music seems outrageously unconventional, why should musicians in Australia go to the effort of programming local new music in addition to classical music?
I suppose if we want classical music to truly maintain its relevance for the future in Australia, then we need to be encouraging new and local compositions today. Not to mention some of it is just fantastic! And no matter how wacky or jarring, great music is always connected to the grander tradition in one way or another. Sometimes I see ‘new’ classical music completely isolated from our ‘traditional’ composers, when in fact they are often crucially intertwined. I do think these connections are something we should publicise more.
Having said all that, programming contemporary music is one of the big conundrums facing the classical music world, and I can’t provide a quick fix — there are just so many practicalities to consider! But I will say: one of the great oversights in music history was the neglect of Schubert during his lifetime. He wrote some of the most sublime and well-crafted music in history. I would hate for that to happen to any great composer today — it would be a great loss to the composer, but even more so for audiences and performers.
See Rob Hao perform Indie Ditties alongside Chopin and Schubert this 8 April in the Sydney Opera House Utzon Room.
Images supplied.
