BY SAMUEL COTTELL
There’s a certain quality to chamber music that makes it one of the most beloved mediums for classical music. The interplay between the musicians, the sense of intimacy. Some of the greatest pieces in the repertoire have been composed for chamber groups of various shapes and sizes. Some composers have even created their own instrumental combinations for which to write new works (think Schoenberg’s ‘Pierrot’ ensemble format). Chamber ensembles make up a large portion of Sydney’s classical music scene and each brings a unique stamp to performances.
Enter the newly formed Hourglass Ensemble. The group formed this year and is preparing a diverse program of music. The idea to form the Hourglass Ensemble came about when artistic director Andrew Kennedy decided he wanted to do concerts that were more appealing to the audiences than your average chamber concert.
“My goal has been simply to play the best music with my friends and to give audiences an informal way to experience a variety of music, especially to make contemporary music less abstract and threatening. I was doing so many gigs, I wanted a way to tie them together and to help audiences identify us,” Andrew explains.
The Hourglass Ensemble is planning on doing things a little differently in their concerts. For one thing, there will be lots of interaction with the audience, making it a friendly and connected experience for all those who attend. “Many Australians don’t spend much of their time or money on ‘art music’, and sometimes they find the experience exciting but intimidating,”Andrew observes. “I have taken feedback from my non-musical friends to improve their enjoyment. During the concert, I will explain the context, meaning, narrative and history of the composition, the difficult parts, the symbolism, and the interesting techniques. We ensure that things the players know implicitly are made explicit to the listener. And, of course, we pick music we love and play with our friends, so the audience really notices how we play with passion, togetherness, and fun.”
In chamber music, the interplay between the musicians is what creates excitement and drama in the music. Selecting the right combination of players can be crucial to the success of an ensemble. The members of the Hourglass Ensemble are highly skilled and unique musicians who each bring their own style and experiences to the group. “Each person from past or present Hourglass Ensemble concerts is quite distinct. I might enjoy playing with someone because of their sound, communication, stage presence, sense of humour, or attitude to new music, and many other factors,” Andrew says. “In the case of the October 2015 series, the combination is a bit more traditional – flute, clarinet, violin, piano, plus baritone and soprano. Recently, I met some lovely new players on oboe, bassoon, and other instruments, so you’ll be hearing woodwind combinations next year.”
At the core of the group is Beata Stanowska (violin), Ewa Kowalski (flute), Gregory Kinda (piano) and Andrew (clarinet and artistic director). These players have all been prize winners in Australia and overseas and bring with them a wealth of knowledge, expertise and commitment to music. For their upcoming concert at the Utzon Room, the Hourglass Ensemble will be joined by baritone Andrew O’Connor and soprano Suzi Stengel. Finding the right musicians for a chamber ensemble can be a challenge itself. “It’s always been a very spontaneous thing: I meet a musician on the same wavelength, or I enjoy watching someone play. Once we chat and realise we can do some great work together and we have compatible personalities onstage and off, we plan a gig together.”
The name for the ensemble came about after a long process of reflection by Andrew. “I wondered about all sorts of ‘Australian’ or ‘musical’ names but nothing was adequate. I came up with ‘Labyrinth Ensemble’ first, which had a nice connotation of the inner and being lost in music, but that has recently been taken by a similar European group. Then when I was looking at libretto for my 2015 song cycle, I decided to name the piece ‘Hourglass Beach’, after a line from my brother’s poems. From there, ‘Hourglass Ensemble’ leapt out! I think what it suggests is gentle flowing, transparency, and style – and it has a very satisfying sound.”
The philosophy behind the Hourglass Ensemble is that “every musician is a storyteller and the sound itself must at all times be beautiful”.
“The other main philosophy of the Hourglass Ensemble is a spirit of connectedness with each other. It’s quite easy to achieve this because I pick people I admire and get along well with – those who work constructively together and enjoy a good laugh!”
Their upcoming concerts will feature a program as diverse as the players of themselves, with music from Poland to Australia from a period between 1900 and 2015. Andrew explains: “‘DreamTracks’ for clarinet, violin, and piano, is one of the most stunning chamber works of Peter Sculthorpe, using ancient Aboriginal song lines. There’s also a brand new cheeky, stylish piece by Polish-born Australian Michal Rosiak called ‘Contrasts’ for flute, clarinet and piano. There’s another song cycle by Sydney composer Margery Smith, ‘White Shadows’, which deals with loss and memory, very much more personal compared to the existential in ‘Hourglass Beach’. And we have a piece for solo flute and one for solo piano by prominent modern Polish composers, to show Australians a new flavour.”
The centrepiece of the concert is ‘Hourglass Beach’, a new work by Andrew composed after he had spent some time in poorly developed African countries. While there, Andrew says he “started to feel passionate and uncomfortable about the disparity between our luxurious safe life and the daily trials of billions of others. So, ‘Hourglass Beach’ is about the guilt of a young man who decides he cannot face, control, or fix the sins of the first world.
“Instead, he picks up a special shell from his childhood, listens to the waves inside it, and magically transforms into an hourglass dolphin (a rare black and white species), swimming to a distant island, completely lost to society, to live out his days. On the island he bonds with different animals, and remembers a lullaby his mother used to sing. We can’t ever be sure if he has gone mad, or he really fled, and we won’t know what his fate is.”
I asked Andrew what he sees in the future for the Hourglass Ensemble. He replied: “I want to continue to meet and invite interesting and diverse people to the ensemble in the next two years and cross-pollinate styles and repertoire.
“We want to have a successful tour to Poland in 2016, and make lots of new artistic and professional connections. And in the medium to long term, we would hope to be performing several times a year in each of the capitals, plus taking one regional and two international tours. We are also undertaking a tour of Poland called the ‘PolAus Arts Project’ for April 2016. That’s the big dream!”
Catch the Hourglass Ensemble in their inaugural launch concerts featuring a program of diverse chamber music, Australian premieres and audience engagement at the Flute Tree on October 16 and at the Utzon Room on October 23. For further info click here. You can also like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hourglassensemble.
Image supplied.
