BY TRISTAN COELHO AS TOLD TO STEPHANIE ESLAKE
This month, we introduce you to the three Australian composers developing new works with Ensemble Offspring as part of Spectral Tech. The works will be premiered at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music this 29 September. Here, we learn about Tristan Coelho and his work A line is a dot that went for a walk.
My piece is inspired by a quote by artist Paul Klee, which is also the work’s title: A line is a dot that went for a walk. I just found the idea so playful and immediately appealing from a musical perspective. Straight away, I had a mental image of an artist hesitantly starting in one corner of a large canvas, carefully placing multicoloured dots which, over time, give way to sweeping lines and later form bold and blocky patches of colour.
The work is written for Ensemble Offspring’s artistic director and percussionist Claire Edwardes, who will be playing vibraphone as well as a small setup of auxiliary percussion. The piece, in two movements, also brings together two more general approaches, which include a meditative and spacious style of music linked with nature, as well as groove/loop-based approaches working with ideas of glitch and ‘hard cuts’ between ideas which are aligned with technology.
In addition, my work is a nod to the classic vibraphone solo Omar by Italian composer Franco Donatoni.
I’ve found that the most fruitful and interesting collaborations are like those with Ensemble Offspring where I have the ability to workshop with performers over time. It’s mutually beneficial – all involved generally feel more connected to (and invested in) the music, and this can only be a positive in how it all comes across to an audience. It also means interesting and beautiful discoveries can emerge by chance that probably wouldn’t have surfaced otherwise.
In the multiple workshops with Claire, I would often bring simple, rough musical ideas, which formed the basis for improvisation. What came out of this was further material, often taking me down paths that I wouldn’t have found myself on, had I just ‘locked myself away’ and composed.
By working like this, it feels as though the music can live and breathe as it’s being written. Working with Claire has been great, because it’s been a true collaboration. She has played so much freshly composed music that her sense of what works both musically and logistically was incredibly useful to me and helped open my eyes to what’s possible in writing for percussion.
See Ensemble Offspring present Spectral Tech featuring premieres of works by Tristan Coelho, Holly Harrison, and Alex Pozniak at 7pm September 29, Sydney Consevatorium of Music. Check back in again for more interviews with these composers!
Image supplied.
