A Thought for the New Year

76.

People are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, the are brittle and dry.

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.

The hard and the stiff will be broken.
The soft and the supple will prevail.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (The Classic of the Way of Virtue), possibly 6th Century BC

Vasse Felix Review

Photos by Greg Ross

West toasts Tognetti's vine-tuning
Australian Chamber Orchestra. Vasse Felix Winery, Margaret River, Western Australia, December 5-7.
Mark Coughlan for The Australian:

The late afternoon sun cast a golden hue across the vineyard as patrons made their way past Wilyabrup Brook, through the sculpture walk and into the winery for pre-concert drinks and canapes.

Vasse Felix, Margaret River's oldest commercial winery, is an idyllic setting for a series of three concerts over three evenings by the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Owned by arts advocate and philanthropist Janet Holmes a Court, Vasse Felix is set on a hillside among the vines and includes an award-winning restaurant and gallery showing works from the Holmes a Court collection.

The ACO formerly had a long association with the Huntington Estate winery at Mudgee, NSW, which ended in 2005. The orchestra first performed at Vasse Felix in 2006, and that relationship will continue for at least another three years. With minimal publicity, the event has slipped under the West Australian arts radar to a degree but, given the gallery seats only about 220 people, there isn't much room to grow.

Artistic director Richard Tognetti programmed a blend of popular and less familiar works and showcased the versatility of the orchestra's 11 string players.

Arrangements of string quartets for string orchestra showed a range of approaches: Shostakovich's seventh had a dark intensity, the Ravel was more intimate, with some moments of sensuous delicacy, and Beethoven's quartet in F minor had a more symphonic character.

Three of the ACO's violinists were featured as soloists. Helena Rathbone gave a poetically enticing account of Elgar's Salut d'amour, Satu Vanska tossed off Paganini's La Campanella with ease and Tognetti gave a wonderfully stylish performance of Mozart's fifth violin concerto. Tognetti and Rathbone teamed up for Bach's double violin concerto, and harpist Marshall McGuire joined the orchestra for Debussy's rarely heard Danse sacree et danse profane.

The orchestra capitalised on this intimate setting, creating a hushed and beautifully warm sound for Sibelius's exquisite Impromptu for string orchestra. By contrast, in the closing performance of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, it sounded like a group twice its size. This was vibrant and passionate playing, technically dazzling yet heartfelt, eliciting a standing ovation from an audience that realised how privileged it was to hear this performance at such close quarters.

At the end of a busy year of touring, the ACO players were relaxed on stage and clearly enjoying their Margaret River experience. Despite the weekend's low profile, there is no doubt these will become the hottest tickets in town.

ANAM Swansong?

From the recent ANAM year-end celebration concert, watch the ANAM Orchestra perform the world premiere of Andrew Ford's Symphony, here. Symphony was composed with ANAM's line-up of musicians in mind and for ANAM Artistic Director Brett Dean to conduct. Read the program note here.

And Richard Tognetti introduces and conducts the ANAM Orchestra in Beethoven's Fifth, here.

ANAM: What's In a Name?

So, the Government had to abandon the idea of naming their new deracinated music education institution the Australian Institute of Music Performance (AIMP). Instead, it will continue to be the Australian National Academy of Music. This wasn't so much because they wanted to keep ANAM's students happy (or even so much as to trade on the exsiting reputation of the Organisation-Formerly-Known-As-ANAM), but because an Australian Institute of Music (AIM) already exists (it's located in Surry Hills, Sydney) - AIM was rightly angry. This gaffe led to the hasty decision that came from Canberra complete with patronising spin about 'connotations of excellence' and caring about the concerns of students.

On Tuesday, ANAM students staged a musical protest at Parliament House and then, with Artistic Director Brett Dean, met with Peter Garrett (read more) to lobby for a stay of execution. The Government has pledged $500 000 to ease the transition of ANAM into the University of Melbourne music faculty (press release). Rumour has it that such ad hoc policy-making has foisted ANAM upon the University of Melbourne, infuriating Melbourne Uni Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis.

You can still register your support of (the original) ANAM by signing the petition, calling your local MP or writing to Mr Garrett:

The Hon Peter Garrett AM MP
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6277 7640
Fax: (02) 6273 6101
Email: peter.garrett.mp@aph.gov.au

Whatever ANAM's problems were, it didn't deserve to be so ignominiously knackered by Rudd's razor-gangs. The whole affair could have been handled with a lot more tact.

Fortunately, this business can never diminish the talents or the reputations of the brilliant musicians and staff who continue to show the Government the true meanings of class and excellence.

The fight goes on.

YouTube Symphony

Here's a fascinating idea: a call for musicians to audition online to play in an international orchestra, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. The blend of technology, social media, collaborative creation and Tan Dun is certainly very now. Details below:

"Interested in joining the first-ever collaborative online orchestra? Professionals and amateur musicians of all ages, locations and instruments are welcome to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by submitting a video performance of a new piece written for the occasion by the renowned Chinese composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). We have tools to help you learn the music, rehearse with the conductor and upload your part for the collaborative video.

And how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice and upload. Send us your talent video performance from a list of recommended pieces. Finalists will be chosen by a judging panel and YouTube users to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestras debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City on April 15, 2009 (travel and accommodations included).

The deadline for all video submissions is January 28, 2009."

Brett Dean Wins Grawemeyer Prize

The good news is that our esteemed colleague composer Brett Dean (who moonlights as the Artistic Director of ANAM) has won the coveted Grawemeyer Prize for Music for his violin concerto, The Lost Art of Letter Writing. At US$200 000, the prize is one of the richest in music. This is the first time an Australian has won the award.

Congratulation, Brett, on this outstanding and richly deserved achievement.

The ACO performs Dean's work Testament (which is also about letters) in 2009 Tour Seven: Beethoven 4.

A Speech at ANAM

WATCH the speech (and then watch the ANAM Orchestra perform Beethoven's Fifth).

In the light of the events that bring us all here tonight, I would like to propose a scenario known as a strange philosophical paradox. A ship is in Port Phillip Bay made of wooden boards and as each board becomes old it is removed and stored in a warehouse. Later, when all the boards have been replaced with new ones, a different ship is built with the old boards ostensibly identical to the new one. So now there are two ships in the bay. The question is asked, which one is the real ship?

So it is with Australian National Academy of Music. As you are aware, the Government had announced that they wished to close this wonderful Academy in its present incarnation with a desire to replace it with another institution entitled AIMP. The people of Australia came forward - not just the so-called elites but people from small towns and big, politicians from the Greens, Liberals and Labor, Alan Jones to Janet Holmes à Court, Paul Kelly to Barry Humphries – and they were galvanised to plead with the Prime Minister to reverse this decision.

The Government couldn’t get it right, so they deflected, dissembled and strategised and now they have announced today that ANAM will close but the name will be appropriated in the guise of another organization. Will the real ANAM please stand up?

[At this point the ANAM Orchestra walked on stage to rapturous applause.]

I personally don’t come out lightly to endorse or support something, and I sure as hell don’t stand lightly here tonight.

The proposal promises a “better alternative” to what Brett Dean and his faculty and students “produce”. The flow on effect of Brett Dean’s work is profound and broad-reaching. Consider again the names on the open letter to the Government. Consider the groundswell of opinion on the online petition. Consider all the musicians in all the orchestras throughout the country and beyond: MSO, WASO, TSO, QSO, ASO, SSO, Orchestra Victoria, the AOBO, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, and on it goes. These are the opinions that count. So what of the better “alternative”? An alternative proposal will always threaten the essence that the real ANAM has created. ANAM was gestated 14 years ago and has variously stumbled, grown and now bloomed. In the words of John Painter, the visionary who conceived ANAM; “the place is finally producing in the way originally intended.” It is this essence that I, and every musician I know and respect, endorse. The Government’s new so-called “better alternative” is a mirage mired in mirrors and smoke screens.

There is no greater endorsement of an institution’s reputation than to appropriate its name and therefore reputation. In the strongest possible terms, the question must be asked who serves to gain from the ring barking of this, the original authentic ANAM, and the construction of the mirage ANAM announced in desperation today? It seems it’s safe to say that the student body would be last on the list. When faced with an actuality as stunningly effective as the real ANAM, anyone parading the notion of a “better alternative” runs the risk of being revealed as a false prophet.

I wonder what Beethoven would say about this?

Richard Tognetti
28 November 2008

Jorn Utzon 1918-2008

“The sun did not know how beautiful its light was until it was reflected off this building.”
Louis I. Kahn, architect

Read a New Yorker article on the building of our House. Post a tribute to Utzon here.