BY MARK BOSCH
Ensemble MUSE
107 Projects, Redfern, 2 December
Not one of Ensemble MUSE’s past programs has shied away from bold choices, from Elizabeth Brown to Claude Vivier to the Australian and world premieres respectively of Sarah Elise Thompson’s Refracted and Josephine Macken’s Catch.
Bold. The thing is, I don’t like that word at all. This is just how programming should be. More female composers, more culturally and linguistically diverse composers, more emerging and lesser-known composers. It’s not about identity politics — it’s about equity. How do we ensure opportunities for composers and performers exist on a level playing field? That artists of all walks are lifted up and heard? How do we decondition ourselves of the notion that ‘good music’ means a very particular type of canonical, Western music?
These are three of countless questions that we’ll know won’t have been answered until our biggest orchestras and opera companies are walking a similar walk to groups like Ensemble MUSE and Ensemble Offspring. Not because of some cynically imposed quota system. Not because, eugh, they have to. But because it’s a moral and cultural exigency that, when done in good faith, will ultimately result in a far richer cultural landscape for all of us to enjoy.
Good faith defines Ensemble MUSE’s approach to programming, and their latest program Furor poeticus was no exception. Redfern’s 107 Projects provided a perfectly cosy space for a perfectly capacious program of seven works, not one of them peripheral to the notion of ‘poetic frenzy’ that underpinned it. Indeed, there was so much to be said about the extramusical inspiration behind each work that it’s worth mentioning how well ensemble founder Rachel Drubetsky did to keep her emceeing short and sweet, even if she occasionally appeared unconvinced by her own words – subtly revealed through her tendency to end some sentences with an upward cadence. The four works of the first half all had a story to them, from John Luther Adams’ reflections on the light and dark of the Alaskan wilderness in his The Farthest Place to Lori Ardovino’s equal parts charming and bizarre setting of Nikki Giovanni’s poetry in Vacation Time for narrator and trumpet.
Along with Nico Muhly’s How About Now and Juliet Palmer’s Starving Poetry, the works of the first half were bound together by a strong cinematic feel aided by the use of visuals. Three paintings perfectly suited to the subject matter of the latter three works were projected above the ensemble,while The Farthest Place was accompanied by nature imagery shot on expired 16mm Kodak film.
Whereas the visuals created a good bit of extra interest for the audience in the first half, they would prove indispensable in the second, which consisted of three renditions of graphic scores projected for all to see. It was a great touch, being able to see what was being interpreted. These were Cathy Milliken’s Memorial/Traces for the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Anestis Logothetis’ swirling Verkettungen I, and selections from Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise. It was the ensemble’s beautifully coherent reading of these scores that made me realise just how well they gel together as musicians, although that’s not to detract from their excellent work in the first half. Of particular note was the deft communication between flautist Jessica Scott and clarinettist Claudia Jelic in How About Now; pianist Katarina Grobler’s well-weighted, ever-shimmering tremolando chords in The Farthest Place; and violinist Mateja Primorac’s phrasing the seemingly unphrasable of the highly angular, arrhythmic melodic line of Palmer’s Starving Poetry.
Hearteningly, Sunday night’s event enjoyed a strong crowd, which suggests there’s a strong base on which Ensemble MUSE can build its presence as a group beyond the walls of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. So, here’s to a 2019 season of similarly ‘bold’ programming choices and similarly strong ensemble work. There’s a lot to look forward to.
READ NEXT: Ensemble MUSE wants to see minority composers performed.
Images supplied. Credit: Inkling Productions.
