BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Ingrid Martin seems to find her audience just as interesting as the music she conducts. When she’s on the podium, she will speak directly to her listeners — a rare treat for those who may be more familiar with the tradition of a conductor bringing the piece to life without uttering a word. But to Ingrid, a concert can also be a way to invite everybody into the orchestra’s “musical world”. And in her next engagement with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, she puts down her baton entirely to spark an in-depth discussion about the music of one composer: Clara Schumann.
In Ears Wide Open, players of the MSO will perform excerpts from Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor — the only one she finished, and which she wrote and performed as a teenager. Now, this magnificent work will fall under the hands of pianist Aura Go, and conductor Jen Winley, in the Melbourne Recital Centre. We ask Ingrid — who will this year conduct the Queensland, Melbourne, and Tasmanian symphony orchestras (among others) — why she wanted to set down the baton and pick up the mic for Ears Wide Open.
Ingrid, you’re usually on stage as a conductor — but this time, you’re presenting the event! Tell us a bit about what this role entails for you, and why you like the idea of engaging in a dialogue about music.
Music communicates so much without words. Yet there’s so much more beyond the sound that can enrich our listening experience. The purpose of Ears Wide Open concerts is to take audiences behind the scenes to understand more about the background of a piece of music to help you hear the music differently.
Even though conductors are often silent — at least, in concerts! — we have a lot to share about the music. When I’m conducting, I love speaking from the stage and bringing the audience into our musical world. Presenting a show like this is really an amplification of that desire to share and inspire. I get to write the script, decide what we’ll play, and speak without the pressure of having to then turn around and wave the stick!
How do you think that guiding listeners through the program can help boost their enjoyment of the music itself?
Like most things, music is perfectly fine to enjoy on its own, without any extra information. Yet I find I listen differently the more I know about a piece. Just like I pay attention differently to a sport if I know the rules, the players, the rankings, and so on compared to one I don’t. When you have more context, it deepens your experience. Knowing what and how to listen to a piece can make us listen more actively, and feel like we have some secret insider knowledge!
When we understand the incredible stories and artistry behind the music and musicians, it brings an extra dimension to our listening. For me, it creates more awe and wonder.
So let’s talk about the program! Why is Clara Schumann’s music meaningful to you?
Before this project, I didn’t know a lot about Clara or her music. What I discovered in preparing this show is what an incredible woman she was, and how precocious and daring she was as a musician and a woman living in a very different society to today.
She was a trailblazer, both as a composer and as a woman at that time. To find out exactly how, you’ll have to come to the show!
Clara performed her concerto at 16 years old, which is in itself pretty amazing. What was happening during this time of her life?
She learned piano from her father, whose unique teaching style was focused on her becoming a well-rounded expressive artist. You can really hear this in her concerto, which was finished when she was just 15. She wrote it as a showpiece for herself to take on her tours as a concert pianist. Far from being a fluffy display of hollow technique — which was quite common for other child prodigies at the time — you can really hear she’s written something as a vehicle for deep expression.
There are plenty of compositional innovations that Clara included in this concerto. Her dad’s teaching style was essentially [to] learn the tools, so then you can put them to expressive use. In the concerto, she applies this mantra to compositional choices. She borrows a whole swath of cutting-edge ideas from other composers, and, for the first time, combines them all into a single work. It’s pretty remarkable experimentation, and I think the result is really exciting.
With your expert musical ear, why do you think this concerto is a particularly magnificent one? What do you like about how it sounds?
I love the way Clara transports us through different moods with each movement, from stern authority to impassioned romance to fiery drama.
One of the special features of the concerto is it’s played in one unbroken span[…] I particularly like the transitions and how she bridges the gaps between very contrasting emotions. The second movement, written only for piano and solo cello, is also a very special, intimate musical moment. It’s no surprise it inspired later composers to copy the unusual pairing!
Which pieces would you recommend to listeners who would like to go on to explore more of Clara Schumann’s music after they get a taste of it in Ears Wide Open?
This concerto is Clara’s only complete work for orchestra that survived. The majority of her surviving works are, unsurprisingly, for solo piano. The Romances Op.11 are lovely, especially on Isata Kanneh-Mason’s album of Clara’s piano music. However, I most enjoy her Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op.22, which capture the same lyrical beauty heard in the second movement of the concerto.
I’d also recommend listening to the later piano concerti that were inspired by Clara’s innovations. Written [up to] a decade later, her husband Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor borrows material and harmony from Clara [and] Johannes Brahms became very close to Clara later in her life. His Piano Concerto No.2, composed nearly half a century after Clara’s, utilises Clara’s device of the solo cello in the second movement.
