BY ZOE BARKER
Syzygy Ensemble
Our Space
Melbourne Recital Centre, 11 August
Some of the most exciting new music-making and composition in Australia is facilitated by independent mixed chamber ensembles. Based in Melbourne is the Syzygy Ensemble, an internationally renowned group bringing together five fine performers. Their recent concert Our Space was a triumph for the performers and Australian composers whose works were featured. The program was highly varied, showcasing the independent voices of five composers in varying stages of their careers. Worthy of mention is that four of the composers included in this program were female – and all five living.
Commissioned by the Melbourne Recital Centre for this concert, May Lyon’s new programmatic work Ode to Damascus established an intriguing sound world from the outset. Emerging from nothing, the mysterious cello line was matched with a robust lower register violin solo powerfully performed by Jenny Khafagi. This introductory passage to the first movement was followed by a more rhythmic section, imitating the bustling of the ancient city. The second movement Water saw a shift to more tonal chords, with a flowing cello solo performed effortlessly by Blair Harris towards the end.
The next work on the program reflected a more academic style of composition, with America-based Australian Annie Hsieh creating a work deriving pitch material from multiphonic sequences. The work drew from a rich palette of tonal colours through various extended techniques including having the piano play pizzicato, de-tuning the stringed instruments, and including multiphonics in the woodwind instruments. All were executed with perfect clarity by flautist Laila Engle and clarinettist Robin Henry. The overall impact of the fragile soundscape was introspective and meditative, drawing the audience in for the duration of the work.
An abrupt change of pace came about with Kate Neal’s exhilarating Piano Trio No.1, Dead Horse Gap. Scored for a traditional piano trio, Khafagi, Harris, and pianist Leigh Harrold attacked this fiendishly difficult work holding very little back. The opening measures of cascading triplets set the pace for the work, which was relentlessly rhythmic and held together by Harrold’s precise mechanical playing. Communication between the players was key, with the strings often having to catch Harrold’s triplets away from the downbeat. These chasing patterns left the audience with a heart-in-mouth, edge-of-seat feel, with the excitement of the music having a visceral impact. When the runs were punctuated by Harris’s powerful lower register chords, I had to look up to remind myself I was at a chamber music concert, not a hard rock gig.
With hearts still racing from the previous work, guest artist Daniel Richardson joined Syzygy for the world premiere of Mary Finsterer’s Cicadian Tale IV. Harrold began the work with a hypnotic, cyclical ostinato figure, demonstrating his control as a performer in remarkably executing a complete drop in intensity from the previous work. This pattern was overlaid with held chords in the rest of the ensemble, with Richardson’s bowed vibraphone adding an interesting resonance. The work’s overall calm and drawn-out development proved a pleasant listen.
Closing the program was a new work by Peter de Jager titled Mosaic. Beginning with a deceptively simple jig shared by the piano and vibraphone, the work moved into darker territory with a lengthy winding quartet performed by the violin, cello, flute and clarinet. Bringing the sextet back together, de Jager took snippets of previously heard material and worked it through a passage of extreme development, passing through every key. Elements of contrapuntal development were particularly effective. The performers clearly drew out the different musical strands of this epic collage-like work, aptly described by Harrold as “a perfect metaphor for the diversity, the inter-connectivity, and the beautiful cacophony that is Our Space”.
Image supplied. Credit: Sarah Walker.
