BY MARK BOSCH, LEAD CRITIC
Forbidden Things
BackStage Music
The Newsagency, 24 October
BackStage has really hit its stride with a tasty and colourful program in Forbidden Things.
The broad and vivid colour palette of the evening was set out with a solo set from violist and 2019 Ensemble Offspring Hatched Academy Associate Artist Henry Justo (whom I had the great pleasure of interviewing earlier this year!).
Justo played with gentle and naïve expression, drawing the audience totally into the vulnerable soundworlds of Melbourne-based Matthew Laing’s Liebeslied and Tristan Murail’s beautifully shaped (and named) C’est un jardin secret, ma sœur, ma fiancée, une fontaine close, une source scellée (1976).
Justo closed with the premiere of Angus Davison’s lapidary Garden Suite, a terrific little peek into the more-than-human world of suburban Sydney. From bush turkeys to backyard childhood imaginaries, this was an evocative and youthful piece perfectly suited to Justo. Full disclosure, though: Angus and I are friends!
BackStage has always been filled with the friendliest vibes, anyway. At interval a soundtrack of Rhapsody in Blue accompanied the warm din of conversation and glass-clinking, and I felt right at home.
An attenuated Ensemble Offspring (Claire Edwardes, Jason Noble, plus Clayton Thomas on bass) were joined after the break by extraordinary Berlin-based violinist Biliana Voutchkova, in Sydney for the first time.
Voutchkova is a sensitive and serious performer, wonderfully suited both to the barely-there sul tasto textures of Rebecca Saunders’ Hauch (2018) and the all-too-present high drama of Claude Vivier’s Pièce pour violon et clarinette (1975), a staple and darling of Voutchkova’s repertoire for the past 20 years.
The highlight of the night was an extended improvisation that started with Voutchkova, who occasionally vocalised as she played to build some remarkable sonorities. Thomas was added before too long, followed by Noble and Edwardes. It was intense, vulnerable, violent, vital stuff. In particular, Thomas’ practice of jamming rods between his strings always sticks to the brain, even though I’ve seen him do it once before.
It’s a shame there was only one more concert left in BackStage’s 2019 calendar after this event, because I would love to make Thursday night trips to The Newsagency in Annandale a weekly ritual. Nonetheless, this sensorily-gratifying concert will surely stick in my mind for a good while to come.
Image supplied.
