BY KIYA VAN DER LINDEN-KIAN
Spring Imaginings
Works by composition students at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
Melba Hall, 11 September
If you’re looking for a fun night out during semester, you should keep an eye out for the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music’s student concerts.
The concerts take place in the historic venue of Melba Hall and all are free admission; providing a relaxed atmosphere for audiences to enjoy some newly composed music. It’s a great opportunity to hear the up-and-coming talent in the composition department, while simultaneously providing an interesting glimpse into compositional processes and techniques.
This semester’s concert Spring Imaginings featured five composers who each created a variety of works that showcased diverse instrumental combinations and textures. I thought the composers did a good job of utilising the different techniques available to each instrument and exploited the various instrumentation to create some beautiful moments. Particularly striking was the cello and oboe duet by Laura Abraham which, through employing different articulation across the instruments and serialist techniques, provided an intriguing contrast that captured the audience’s attention.
The instrumentation was one of the most exciting aspects of this performance! Most of the works featured different sets of instruments – some that you wouldn’t conventionally hear together. One of the other works showcased a trumpet and bass trombone duet playing Sleepscape by Claire Higgins (pictured above); a five-movement work detailing the various stages of sleep and wakefulness. Definitely not what you would hear at your average classical music concert!
The concert concluded with Footsteps in the Corridor, a work written by John Li and performed by violinist Jackson Fumberger. Written for solo electric violin with accompanying pedal and animations; the sketch-like animations created by John perfectly matched the looping and reverb effects Jackson created. This work utilised the space brilliantly, and created a very immersive atmosphere into which the audience could be observed.
As someone who has often contributed to playing in these concerts, it was nice to sit and enjoy it from the audience this time. All the composers at Spring Imaginings displayed their own unique stylistic approaches to different methods of composition, and did a great job in communicating their ideas.
I congratulate all the composers and performers on an enjoyable and successful evening.
READ NEXT: Claire Higgins talks debut composition performance
Image supplied.
