When Spain Meets Melbourne: Andrew Blanch

BY UMA MUTHIA

 

The warm Spanish sun sets over the sound of lively castanets, passionate serenades, a clicking of heels and the whirling of flamenco dancers. These are the evocative and colourful images that will be musically painted by award-winning guitarist Andrew Blanch in his Melbourne concert on December 10.

A PhD candidate at the Australian National University, Andrew aims to share his emotional affiliation for Spanish guitar music with Australian audiences to raise funds for his upcoming CD.

Describing his program as “emotionally sensitive” and spirited in character, the performance will include some of Andrew’s personal favourites by Albeniz, De Falla, Llobet, Scarlatti, Tarrega and Tedesco. Emerging as one of Australia’s leading young classical guitarists, Andrew gives us a little more insight into his life, career and love for music.

 

Many guitarists these days are strongly influenced by mainstream pop and rock music. How and what made you get into classical guitar performance?

I learnt guitar as a child, and that was steeped in the classical tradition. By the time I hit high school, I started really listening to music and got interested in things like Metallica, System of a Down and all those other things you might expect a teenage boy to listen to. From that, I got really into the electric guitar and, for a period, wanted to be an electric guitarist. Fast-forward to year 10/11 and I properly discovered classical music as a listener; the symphonies, concertos, pianists, violinists, classical guitarists. I fell in love with classical music; I found it immensely beautiful and it had the power to really move me, so that’s what I wanted to play.

Your upcoming concert features a Spanish-influenced program. What is it about the national sound that appeals to you?

I think the appeal of this music is ultimately in its emotional power; it can reach in and touch those really soft spots, but also just completely sweep you off your feet with frenzied, uninhibited passion. If anyone reading this is not familiar with this music, I’d like to introduce Enrique Granados and Manuel de Falla. For the touching and the delicate, see Alicia de Larrocha (pianist) playing ‘Quejas, o la maja y el ruiseñor’ from the Goyescas. And for a display of that extraordinary passion and fire with something akin to a full-blown musical orgasm, listen to Larrocha playing ‘Nights in the Gardens of Spain’ by Manuel de Falla.

As an artist, what are your biggest influences when choosing a program?

Music can work in many different formats. If it’s done well, you can pull off anything, but you have to bite off only what you can chew. Some artists can pull off a whole program of J.S. Bach, most others emphatically cannot. I define myself as half-student/half-professional so there’s a slightly selfish aspect to my programming for the time being that sees me challenging myself and trying to improve. This is only a small aspect; I wouldn’t give a performance if I didn’t think it would be enjoyable for the listener.

What constitutes a good live performance? What’s your approach to performing on stage?

I actually try to think about the audience experience quite a lot. I want the audience to walk away thinking ‘I really enjoyed that, and I’m glad I took the time to do that’. The starting point is that I need to genuinely enjoy, and mean every note that I’m playing. I think there’s a lot of different successful ways to program a concert, but if you don’t care about what you play then you can’t expect the audience to be interested.

What’s your view on the classical music scene at present? Is there a need for younger generations to help keep classical musical alive?

As a principle, there is absolutely no need for anyone to keep classical music alive. If people don’t want to listen to it, then we should just let it die. But of course, it’s not that simple. The majority of people don’t ‘want’ to listen to anything; they are told what to listen to. The Top 40 charts are determined by two key factors (and this is the same for the classical ones): how good was the marketing, and how much money was spent on the marketing? Mainstream music is a business first, art form second. Then again, no one’s going around putting up billboards of H. G. Wells or releasing sex tapes of Charles Dickens – but people still read their books. Quality inevitably endures.

Did you have any inhibitions or face any obstacles in pursuing a career in music?

Despite having my inhibitions, the actual decision to be a musician ended up being relatively easy. In my opinion, the decision not to be a musician sounds much more difficult: what then would I do with my time? What constant in my life would I have that I could be sure of, and base all else around? Why should I get out of bed and try at all?

The bigger problem for me is those obstacles you talk about, and gosh, there are a lot of them. Getting gigs and building a profile is really hard and takes a lot of work outside the practice room. Thanks to the internet, people don’t have to pay for entertainment anymore, whether it’s Game of Thrones, Kanye West or hardcore pornography – it’s all out there for your consumption, free of charge – and chances are, it’s got more pull than Andrew Blanch Plays Classical Guitar.

If you hadn’t continued with music, what would you be doing right now?

I probably would have just followed the predetermined Sydney private school, insert-into-microwave-three-minutes-on-high type of existence. I would have graduated law school, called on nepotism, got straight into a job I didn’t deserve, got rich and voted liberal.

 

Andrew Blanch will play at 7pm December 10, St Mary’s Church, 430 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne. www.melbourneguitarfoundation.com for more info and bookings.

 

Image supplied.