BY RACHEL BRUERVILLE
‘Where words fail, music speaks.’
It’s an old quote you might know, once said by storyteller Hans Christian Anderson and growing familiar as the decades pass. Despite this, I think it is an excellent, simple summary of what many composers are on about.
South Korean composer Unsuk Chin also expresses this quite matter-of-factly: “Music is almost by definition good in expressing things [that] can’t be expressed with language”.
“Talking about music is difficult; sometimes, it feels nearly impossible,” Unsuk says.
“But it is still important, especially in [the] case of contemporary music, which has not yet been well established.”
That being said, let’s talk about music. Specifically, we are talking about Unsuk’s music, as she is headlining the exciting and innovative 2018 Metropolis New Music Festival coming up in Melbourne. Metropolis is presented as a collaboration between the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Recital Centre and Monash University.
The MSO has previously given Australian premieres of Unsuk’s work, but this Metropolis will be the first time that Unsuk herself is in Melbourne to hear them – and directly contribute to the conversation.
Across the four-day festival from 18-21 April, we will hear nine of the composer’s works, including four Australian premieres. The works which will be presented at the MSO’s concerts, Metropolis 1 and Metropolis 2, will be programmed alongside works by György Ligeti, with whom Unsuk studied early in her career.
“The most important influence from Ligeti is that he opened my mind,” she reveals.
“He required his students to be critical, to hear music with their own ears, to question things and not to cling to ready-made solutions.”
When questioned as to whether we’ll recognise a direct influence from, or contrast with, Ligeti in her works, Unsuk says: “Ligeti’s String Quartet No. 1 is an early piece and there’s lots of Bartók in it; it is an enormously effective and engaging work”.
Performed in Metropolis 1, she says her work ParaMETAstring “is stylistically very different, but this precisely makes it work in terms of contrast”.
“It is a surreal work for tape and electronics, with unusual colours. It plays with illusions and with the microstructures of sound.”
As for Metropolis 2, the same spirit emerges through Ligeti’s Atmosphères.
“Of course, a 20th Century landmark, it’s mysterious music of otherworldly beauty,” Unsuk says.
“It is followed by my Violin Concerto, and I think this is a potent combination: in Ligeti’s piece, time comes to a standstill, which is a very unique aural experience.
“As for my Violin Concerto, it starts out from nothing, gradually evolving and taking on increasingly intricate and lively textures.”
So, what can we expect Unsuk’s music to sound like, and how does the composer go about creating these sounds?
“When I compose a new piece, I set myself a certain goal which I try to achieve. What kind of goal it is depends on the context. I never write for a certain target group, and I don’t think that such a thing as ‘the audience’ has ever existed or will ever exist – for an audience exists of different people who perceive the same thing in very different ways.”
Throughout the festival, we will hear “a representative sample” of her music from across a range of pieces.
“Basically, I just try to write my own music as well as I can. And that is a never-ending process, and also a process that is always prone to changes and new influences.”
Perhaps we will have to attend the concerts in person, in order to specifically discover what kind of sound worlds each of Unsuk’s pieces may inhabit.
Where words fail…
Of her listening habits, Unsuk says: “I do listen to all kinds of music at home, including non-classical music”.
“I study scores, I go to concerts regularly, and I have piles of piano music on my grand piano from Bach to 19th Century piano music to the music of our time. I try to practice piano each day; that’s a great passion of mine. But influences can of course, and very frequently so, also come outside the music.”
And, although composers can be quite easily overwhelmed by the “multitude of inspirations” that contribute to a piece, Unsuk so eloquently summarises below that communication is the key.
“I am convinced that communication remains very important. Although, it’s more like with sending messages in a bottle. You will never know who will pick the message up.”
See the Australian premieres of works by Unsuk Chin at the 2018 Metropolis New Music Festival in Robert Blackwood Hall, Melbourne. Metropolis is presented by the MSO and soloists will include Clark Rundell, Wu Wei, Jennifer Koh, and Allison Bell among others.
We partnered with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to bring you this story about Metropolis! Stay tuned for more – as next up, we chat with a young composer whose work will be presented in a world premiere!
Images supplied.
