BY HARRY SDRAULIG, COMPOSER
Alan Holley is a veteran Australian composer. Having broken onto the scene in the 1970s, he’s lived through it all – from Australian premieres of works by legendary contemporary artists John Cage and Steve Reich, to admiring the role models of his youth including Richard Meale and Peter Sculthorpe.
A lot has changed in the years since Alan started composing, including the evolution of his own skill. Alan’s own work has been presented in leading Australian venues and now, Sirius Chamber Ensemble will perform three of his pieces including two premieres at Twilight Recital. Alan tells CutCommon how the scene has changed since he was an emerging composer.
Alan, you began your career as a composer some 45 years ago! I’m curious what life was like for a young composer living in Sydney in the 1970s.
It was a most exciting time with great energy and innovation. The year I went to Sydney University, the Sydney Opera House opened and there was also the Third National Composers Conference in Canberra. Many of the then-younger generation composers, such as Anne Boyd, Martin Wesley-Smith and Alison Bauld as well as senior figures such as David Lumsdaine, returned to Australia for concerts.
A major influence was the pianist Roger Woodward, and he was instrumental in bringing out to Sydney Luciano Berio and Cathy Berberian, and composer/pianist Yuji Takahashi. His performances of Xenakis were electrifying. Another great few weeks was when John Cage, David Tudor and Takehisa Kosugi toured with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. The world came to us, and all before I was 22 years old.
On the local scene, we had AZMusic led by David Ahern and it was a most unusual group of performers and composers. This group gave first performances of music by, amongst many others, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, Cornelius Cardew.
It is also important to point out that there were more performances of new Australian orchestral music from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra than there are today, and that young composers had major role models in Richard Meale and Peter Sculthorpe.
In the subsequent years, how did you make the transition from being an emerging composer to being an established professional composer?
That was very difficult as I chose to be my own person and not follow the tracks that were being trodden by my colleagues. I stayed well hidden on the northern beaches of Sydney, developing my musical language. I was involved in small-scale concerts, working with like-minded performers. It was the best thing I could have done, and equipped me for the next stage of my composition life when I wrote several works for the Sydney Symphony.
How do you see the state of new music in Australia today, and how do you think it has changed over the years?
I think it is both healthy and also a little tired. In the 70s at the AZMusic concerts, we would regularly have audiences of 200 to 300 people – but I must point out that there were not many concerts of new music being performed each month. Now, there is a lot of activity, but the audience is hardly there.
There seems to be an emerging group of performers and composers who want to break away from the standard concert experience and present music in different places. This can only be good for the future of new music.
Many of your works reference birdlife in some way – especially those for solo instruments. I’m wondering how this came to be, and what special musical significance birdlife holds for you.
Birdsong has fascinated me since I was a child, and I enjoy notating the various calls of my local birds. Their songs informs much of my music, not just melodically and rhythmically but also in a structural way.
How has your musical style or language evolved over the years?
I think my recent music is a little similar to works I wrote about 20 to 30 years ago – just from an older person’s perspective and probably with less notes. Before that, I am not sure as I have destroyed nearly every work written before 1987. I write less now and I don’t want to finish works. I am very happy in the process of writing and less interested in finishing a score.
Is there any advice you can offer to young composers wanting to make a career out it?
It is a very difficult path, and only travel it if you cannot do otherwise. And if you do choose to be a composer, cultivate the interest of others in your art field and probably more importantly, people in other art fields. I spend a lot of time with painters, sculptors and writers. They teach me so much.
And find great performers who like a challenge, and write specifically for them. The rewards can be so good.
Listen to the Sirius Chamber Ensemble perform three of Alan Holley’s compositions at Twilight Recital, 23 June, at Christ Church Lavender Bay.
Images supplied.
