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ARTLOOK #15 | September 2005
Photo Lisa Moore performing De Profundis, National Gallery of Australia. Photography by Merryn Gates
COLUMN: CLASSICAL MUSIC
The pianist speaks
New technology is certainly stretching the boundaries of traditional music–making, and it is becoming increasingly common to see live performances combining a range of audio and visual techniques. Light shows, video projection, and pyrotechnics are regularly combined with music, dance, and drama, with, I must say, varying success or relevance. In many cases, the audience either suffers sensory overload, or is left looking for elusive connections between the various components. We are now familiar with the conventions of combining these elements in film, opera, and music theatre, although there is still room for debate on the quality of their interaction and the balancing of focus between competing strands. There are some stunning examples of film in which the music score and action have been beautifully integrated to reveal subtleties and unspoken ideas, and there are others in which the sound track is little more than background wallpaper tacked on after filming is finished.
The tradition of intense audience concentration on the musical quality and technique of solo music recitals has presented definite challenges to using multimedia effectively in this context. I was fascinated to see how Lisa Moore tackled these challenges in her recent recital, The Pianist Speaks, at the National Gallery of Australia. The program consisted of three pieces, all with spoken text and one with DVD image projection. The first, 'Stuck in Major' by Elena Kats-Chernin, was a short humorous piece in which the text was treated in almost the same way as a song melody. Simple repetitive words and quirky music were interwoven in pitch and rhythm to produce an effective performance.
I found Frederic Rzewski's reworking of Oscar Wilde's original text for 'De Profundis', and Moore's performance of it, intensely moving. In addition to her formidable pianistic skills, she has a beautiful, expressive speaking voice. It allowed her to cover a huge range of vocal delivery from the most tender feelings to almost unbearable screams of anguish. To do this while playing the difficult score was quite remarkable. The composer balanced the text and music in such a way that I didn't feel torn between the two. Perhaps the fact that this was all aural input that seemed to blend so well was the reason for my positive response.
The introduction of visual images of William Blake's etchings, with Blake's text, and Martin Bresnick's music in 'For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise' presented me with a dilemma. The images were a distraction rather than an additional layer of meaning. In fact, images, words, and music seemed to compete for attention, rather than complement each other. Maybe I am showing my age-younger people seem to be able to cope more readily with multiple inputs these days!
Flame Awards
The Music Play for Life campaign is gaining momentum with increasing numbers of organisations and individuals declaring their support. The campaign is a joint project of the Music Council of Australia and the Australian Music Association, and its goal is 'to encourage all Australians to make music-in schools, communities-everywhere'. ABC Classic FM is the latest organisation to come on board with the launch of a national award scheme-the Flame Awards (Finding Leaders in Australian Music Education). John Crawford, ABC Classic FM's program manager, explains: 'The Awards for school music programs aim to uncover exemplary music teaching, and give the country's best music teachers, their students, and their school communities a public pat on the back.' There is a $10,000 prize pool to be shared between the eight States and Territories, and various other prizes, including a concert by a world-class ensemble to be broadcast at the winning school.
For evidence of the rising groundswell of support for music in schools, we need go no further that the unprecedented response to the National Review of School Music Education. The almost 6,000 public submissions have placed an unexpected workload on the Review team, which has been given a extension of time to allow careful consideration of them all before producing the final report and recommendations.
JOAN LIVERMORE was Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Canberra, and is a member of the ACT Cultural Council.
For more information on the Music Play for Life campaign, contact www.music playforlife.org.
