BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Welcome to our series, What the Fact?!
Throughout 2018, we’re teaming up with talent at the Australian National Academy of Music to bring you informed answers to real questions and topics about your music career.
Ever wondered why you feel performance anxiety? What the deal is with tuning to 440Hz – or not? How to lead an orchestra? We’re here to tell you all about it.
In this interview, we’ll be chatting with Sydney-born trombonist Michael Mulcahy about why music sounds so incredible when performed inside the deliciously boomy confines of a cathedral.
Michael is an award-winning trombonist who has performed as a soloist and teacher across the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Japan, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia. He’s a member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and has worked with prestigious composers including Elliott Carter, Berio, Xenakis, Messiaen, Penderecki and as a member of Karl-Heinz Stockhausen’s performance ensemble.
He was senior lecturer at the Canberra School of Music in the Australian National University in ’87, and joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in ’89.
Now, he returns to play with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra – the place his career began as principal trombone in ’76. And he’ll play with these musicians in St David’s Cathedral, Hobart, alongside young players from ANAM.
Let’s hack cathedral acoustics!
Michael, let’s get straight down to it. What makes cathedral acoustics sound so good?!
Universal to cathedrals in general is a very generous acoustic by virtue of the hard surfaces, built in stone. This creates resonance and reflection, which add great bloom and depth to the sound of the instruments. This gives a very rich to sound to the brass instruments, which together at times sound like a mighty organ.
How have you found the acoustics can vary from cathedral to cathedral, and how can musicians prepare when rehearsing outside the venue?
There is a tremendous variation of dimensions from cathedral to cathedral. Adjusting preparation for concerts in cathedrals demands responding to the length of the echo in each acoustic. This resonance carries the sound much longer than concert halls and rehearsal studios. Musicians must react to the individual conditions of each cathedral in real time, trusting their ears! Trusting your ears is critical to adjusting the speed and volume of the music.
As a brass player, what are some of the things you need to keep in mind when performing in a cathedral?
Brass instruments, particularly the trumpet and trombone, have their origins in church music, dating back to the Renaissance. If the echo of the church is very long, that can have an impact on the speed or tempos [with which] we perform the music, as you wish to have both sound and clarity.
I chose three of the composers on this program particular because of the early association of sacred music and brass instruments.
Johann Sebastian Bach is the main composer featured in the first half and the audience will hear sounds very similar to church of Saint Thomas in Leipzig. Glorious and brilliant counterpoint dispersed with great introspection. Samuel Barber based his Mutations From Bach on a theme from [the composer] and crafted a highly dramatic and lyric work. Francis Poulenc wrote very touching prayers to Saint Francis of Assisi (Quatre petites prières de Saint François D’Assise), which will be a very intimate and moving experience in the cathedral.
The cathedral is a very atmospheric and sumptuous place to experience a concert.
You’ve also performed in Europe – a home to some magnificent buildings. What’s been your favourite or most memorable cathedral performance to date?
The best halls I perform in, such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Musikverein in Vienna, and the Cencertgebouw in Amsterdam, share characteristic warmth and richness with St David’s.
See Michael direct musicians of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Australian National Academy of Music in TSO Brass in St David’s Cathedral (Hobart), 7.30pm May 26.
Check back in soon for our next What the Fact?! with professionals in the music industry.
