BY ANGUS DAVISON
In February this year, I bid a fond farewell to Hobart and boarded a plane to Sydney.
I was off to study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, taking with me two borderline-over-the-aeroplane-weight-limit suitcases, and some washing powder suspiciously packaged in Ziploc bags. By chance, fellow Tasmanian composer James Tatham had also enrolled at the Sydney Con. Now approaching the end of our Honours years, we decided to join forces and organise a concert. The result is Hot Off the Press, a concert of music by some of the Honours and fourth year students we’ve had the pleasure to meet since relocating.
The composers share a few words about their music with CutCommon readers ahead of this October 5 event.
Ciaran Frame: Point of Sale
What makes an idea worth its weight in gold? Point of Sale is an exploration into markets, currency and music in society today. The work exists online as a webstore, where visitors may submit ideas and attempt to sell them in a competitive marketplace. During a performance of Point of Sale, performers are given a budget that can be used to purchase and print ideas live in the concert. How and when they spend the money is completely up to them – frugal performers might choose to gradually purchase small sketches, whereas big spenders might blow it all on one idea. In the process, Point of Sale explores what industry and currency mean to music, and what currency and music industries could mean in the future.
Elizabeth Jigalin: microcuriosity
microcuriosity is a major revision of an earlier work or concept – a collection of micro movements, each of which embodies a distinct character and aims to activate obscure and rich resonances from the piano. Whilst writing this work, I was particularly drawn to the idea of a ‘Cabinet of curiosities’ or ‘Wunderkammer’. During the Renaissance, ‘Cabinets of curiosities’ (the predecessor of museums!) were collections of often disparate, uncategorised, soon-to-be-defined objects. Similarly, in my own work, I was interested in exploring microcosmic structures through juxtaposing several incredibly short movements (each of which are merely one line in length!) whilst allowing each miniature to ‘breathe’ (time following each movement for the piano to resonate until silence). In unlocking the resonance of each movement, the pianist (in the case of this performance, me!) is required to make subtle preparations to the piano using Blu Tac in addition to pre-programming an expansive chord across the full range of the piano by locking the sostenuto pedal with a small wedge.
I am looking forward to performing microcuriosity at Hot Off the Press. The process of preparing a work of my own for performance has allowed me to gain a better understanding of the work as a whole and character of each movement (though it has also given me the luxury to make last minute changes and consider endless possible additions to the work!).
Fenn Idle: In Memory of the Eastern Suburbs Brass Band
Erected in 1879, the Garden Palace was one of Sydney’s most majestic buildings. It stood in the centre of the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking the harbour, and was several times larger than the Queen Victoria Building. In 1882, it burnt down, destroying thousands of precious artefacts and materials. Included in the casualties were the instruments of the Eastern Suburbs Brass Band. My piece In Memory of the Eastern Suburbs Brass Band is a tribute to the memory of that amateur brass ensemble and the loss they may have felt. It is scored for trombone trio, and begins with a fanfare, quoting colonial music of the 1800s. It then progresses into stranger and darker material, corrupted by the memory of this extraordinary and tragic event. In Memory of the Eastern Suburbs Brass Band was written in time for a performance during Jonathan Jones’ public art project Barrangal Dyara, which showed in the Botanic Gardens from September 17 to October 3.
Angus Davison: After Fanfares
My composition After Fanfares was written soon after moving, and the new surroundings had an impact on the piece. Sometimes the music is fluid, but more often it is fragmentary. Sometimes it is forceful, but more often it is fragile. After Fanfares was written at the request of Tasmanian pianist Jack Barnes, and I’m delighted that he will be premiering it at Hot Off the Press.
James Tatham: Apothic Zone
The title Apothic Zone is the name for deepest layer of the ocean which is located 200 metres below the water’s surface to the bottom of the ocean floor. No sunlight enters the Aphotic zone, therefore making photosynthesis impossible. The only light that can be seen is from bioluminescent deep-sea creatures.
Although I have not been to the aphotic zone, I imagined bioluminescent shapes of different colours moving in and out of focus in the mysterious depths of the ocean. I tried to realise this idea on solo cello, focusing on different timbres and the sonic identity of each timbre. Aphotic Zone was influenced by the music of Fausto Romitelli, Salvatore Sciarrino and Gyorgy Ligeti. However, it was also influenced by genres outside of classical music, with a few sounds borrowed from the playing styles of 1990s alternative rock musicians.
See Hot Off The Press: An Evening of New Music at the Sydney Conservatorium at 6.30pm, October 5, Recital Hall West, Sydney Conservatorium of Music. More info on Facebook.
