BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
The pandemic has taught us many things, but one of the more contradictory lessons is that it has somehow, against all the odds, brought us closer together.
As audiences undergo various stages of lockdown, and musicians are forced to rework their entire approach to performance in 2020, there is still beautiful music to be played and heard.
For Kirsty McCahon, this is a time to nurture the friendships we have made through music. The double bassist is cherishing her time with local composers and performers, who she has gathered together for a concert with the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall.
The October 29 event is fittingly named Kirsty McCahon & Friends — Elena and the Trout. Kirsty is looking forward to playing two pieces: Adrift by Elena Kats-Chernin, and the Trout Quintet by Schubert. Joining her on the Sydney streaming stage will be friends Tamara-Anna Cislowska (piano), Katherine Lukey (violin), Virginia Comerford (viola), and Rowena Crouch (cello).
In this interview, Kirsty opens up about the relationships that help her find joy in one of our most challenging times — and the magic that Australian music can bring to us all (yes, Elena, that’s you).
Thanks for the chat, Kirsty! I once had the great opportunity to watch your colleague Tamara-Anna Cislowska perform an Elena Kats-Chernin work in Hobart. After, the composer joined Tamara-Anna at the piano! It brought a feeling of warmth and friendship to the concert. How would you describe your own relationship with Elena – whether that be through friendship, or through your performance experiences of her music?
Warmth and friendship is exactly what my relationship with Elena is all about!
Elena oozes generosity of spirit with her huge heart and authentic love. We share a strong, firm friendship based on similar values and interests, essentially infused by music.
Elena is a woman and an artist that I admire immensely, and cherish even more! Performing her music has given me little insights; other little glimpses into her soul. She is courageous and fragile, strong and tender, sincere and witty. Elena embodies her music.
You have returned to Elena’s works a lot throughout your career. Why do you feel so personally drawn to her music?
My first encounter with Elena’s music was through her 1996 double bass quartet Charleston Noir commissioned by Belinda Webster at Tall Poppies. An extremely dark, brooding, edgy work — based on the major 7th, with clusters of 2nds and 9ths which all clash and jangle with anger and despair — it reaches deep into the heart and twists it.
With only brief moments of light, the tango form is constant but obliterated, exploring ominous emotional corners with a vast palette of complex colour. I was instantly attracted.
Like all great artists, Elena’s music weaves and changes as she does. The Witching Hour, Elena’s Concerto for 8 Double Basses for the Australian World Orchestra could not be more different. It is infused with a playfulness, a lightness of being, an otherworldliness that sees the basses almost dancing with delight and mischief.
Collaborating with Elena during this process, particularly as we explored ethereal harmonics and line in the exquisite cadenza, was a time that I will always hold dear for both its intimacy and glorious output. Elena’s constantly curious mind and heart spill out onto the page, with an openness and honesty that I am both intrigued by and drawn to.
There is an abundance of Australian music from which you could have curated your program. You decided to include Elena’s Adrift for double bass and piano. Why this work, specifically?
Ah, great question! Yes, there is an abundance of Australian works I could have chosen from. I am extremely fortunate to work with many talented and dedicated Australian composers, all exploring the range and colours of the double bass with insight and passion.
I deliberately chose Adrift because, for me, it is a musical reflection of this strange, discombobulating, almost incomprehensible space we seem to be living through in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adrift wasn’t written with this in mind; Elena adapted it for me from the solo piano work of 2016. However, in this form it takes on a meditative quality. Based on the A minor triad, looking deceptively simple on the page, there is a constant pulsing energy. Quiet and restless. A stasis that can’t be escaped. A reiteration of subject over and over again, in different registers with only slight change and ultimately, no resolution as the opening rhythmic minor 3rd disappears into the ether, fading, fading, fading.
It is a song-like-length work that ebbs and flows, with moments of light and others of murkiness, not sure whether it is pulsating forward or falling backward. Both unsettling and beautiful. A reflection of the odd feelings of here and now.
While other artists performing on MDCH have chosen to curate a range of smaller pieces, you are performing just two works throughout the full 60 minutes. To me, this signals that each work holds particular significance. How would you describe their meaningfulness?
How could I not program Schubert’s Trout Quintet? This monumental work, infused with a singular joy and spirit that is both so uplifting and a balm for the soul, is a Romantic bass player’s dream. An opinion that is echoed around the country as voted number one favourite chamber work in ABC Classic’s Classic 100 Chamber Music.
Having performed this work seemingly endless times with so many incredible musicians in concerts and festivals around the world, the Trout sits in a very special place in my heart. Every single time we all come together to rehearse and prepare this work, every musician discovers something new. A new articulation, a new phrasing, a different bowing creating a different colour here, another special nuance there. It is always a true journey, together, with all exhilarated at the end.
Music-making is about community, about giving and sharing, unspoken communication, knowing when to come to the fore and knowing when to support. Just like life. The 22-year-old Schubert’s exuberant work expresses exactly these sentiments; it is teamwork. My friends onstage for this concert are my friends in life, so making music with them is an extension of all of our relationships. Steeped in trust and joy, with all of their implicit challenges, humour and support, this kind of music making celebrates life.
Why does Adrift pair well with the Trout?
The Trout and Adrift feel like a natural pair. Both of these works share rich similarities in texture and tone, but are aurally very different. I love the sensation of Adrift’s A minor tonality being exploded by the rich opening A major chords of the Schubert. For those who have no knowledge of how harmony works, it is something that sits within the body as a release of joy and light. So that make me smile.
How do you feel streaming has influenced concert programs when it comes to performing Australian music? For instance, do you feel musicians are free to perform less-familiar works when audiences are listening from home in a more relaxed environment?
Live streaming is a very odd beast. It is absolutely and completely different to live performances with an audience. Yet, streaming has opened up opportunities to explore musical connections that may not have been possible otherwise.
The possibility to introduce Australian music to others that may not be familiar to it is endless. Pairing a work that may not be as familiar to an audience with one that is gives all the opportunity to explore without feeling threatened. If you’re not enjoying it as a listener, you have the freedom to pour another glass of wine, go for a wander, and come back to listen again without feeling constrained, which is completely different to modern live performances.
What do you feel is the power of a live streamed performance in shaping the type of music audiences might listen to, as well as the way they listen?
There is an absolute wealth of opportunity with live streaming to positively affect the way we perform, potentially making it more intimate as it provides an adjunct to live performance.
In many ways, live streaming is television, with all of the intimacies and intricacies that involves. We need to hear from audiences on what it is that works for them and what doesn’t. What we can do better, where we can improve our delivery, and what audiences want is crucial knowledge at this time.
We need to all work together at this incredibly crucial and fragile time for our sector, asking what is our role and how can we best deliver it. Audiences are as diverse as individuals, and we want to cater for all, nurture all, and be a stronger, more empathetic society because of it.
A musician can program an Australian work, but what do you feel is the responsibility or even the obligation of local audience members to engage with this music?
Local music is like local food. Or local wine. It reflects who and what we are as individuals and communities. Our ‘terroire’ will always be reflected in our musical storytelling, be they old musics or new.
Music and musicians do not sit in some kind of strange vacuum. We may feel a deep and intimate connection to our local music, or absolutely nothing at all. And all of that is okay. The most important thing is to taste it. Give it a go. Be adventurous, challenge oneself, be curious, and see what rises to the top for your tastes.
Excite people with new possibilities, draw them in, and we are all the richer.
On a broader level, what role do you feel the MDCH plays in the Australian arts industry and the future of live Australian music?
MDCH is literally a lifeline between Australian artists and our audiences during this crazy, crazy time.
Co-founders Adele Schonhardt and Chris Howlett will go down in the pantheon of legends for their initiative and drive as they jumped into action at the speed of light, facilitating live music to still be made and heard. They have built a platform and an audience of devotees, enabling quality live music to be beamed into our lounge rooms. They have fundamentally changed the way we can experience ‘live’ music and the way we remunerate musicians. They must literally never sleep!
Join Kirsty McCahon & Friends at 8.30pm October 29. The concert is part of the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall’s live streamed Sydney Spring Season.
Images supplied.
