Aussie violinist surfs through music and life

Aussie violinist surfs through music and life
by Bradley Bambarger/The Star-Ledger
Thursday April 30, 2009, 2:44 PM

It isn't your usual classical violinist who is also a surfer. Or who teaches Russell Crowe how to fiddle for a film. Or who gushes about the hard-rock charms of AC/DC. But Richard Tognetti is from Down Under, and the 43-year-old likes to do things differently.

Tognetti has led the Australian Chamber Orchestra for the past 20 years, not only enlivening the limited repertoire for a small orchestra but helping to expand it. The group performs Baroque music with the zest of a period-minded ensemble, but balances contemporary pieces right alongside. Balance is part of music's connection to surfing, which Tognetti explored in the prize-winning film "Musica Surfica," out now on DVD.

"Of all the sports, surfing has the strongest connection to music -- the balance, the rhythm, basically the dance," Tognetti says. "Anyway, you couldn't make a film about music in golf, could you? I suppose you could make a documentary about English football songs, but would you want to keep hearing them long enough to do it?"

Tognetti and the ACO have shown their taste and teamwork with a series of vibrant recordings over the years. They have made multiple discs of Bach, from the violin concertos with Tognetti soloing (on his invaluable 17th-century Guarneri) to the keyboard concertos accompanying pianist Angela Hewitt. Their discography also highlighted by the works of signature Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, as well as custom transcriptions of pieces by the likes of Janacek and Szymanowski.

Tognetti and company have celebrated their connection with a 20th anniversary U.S. tour, which culminates this week. Of his ensemble, he says, "They have this incredibly open-minded spirit. I do like to explore things, and they have always gone down the path with me."

The Australians' program Sunday at Carnegie's Zankel Hall features a nod to this year's big anniversaries of Haydn and Handel. Star German counter-tenor Andreas Scholl will join the group for a selection of arias by Handel. Tognetti, directing from the violin as was often the case in Hadyn's day, will lead the orchestra in the composer's Symphony No. 44 in E minor "Mourning."

"Haydn's my favorite composer for small orchestra -- there is so much imagination, surprise and joy in his music," Tognetti says. "This symphony has the nickname 'Mourning' not because it's that melancholy, but because he was so in love with the slow movement that he said that he would like to have it played at his funeral."

The tour finishes Monday at Princeton's McCarter Theatre, with a different top soloist on the bill -- English pianist Paul Lewis. The protege of Alfred Brendel has made his name with stylish takes on the Viennese classics, and Tognetti says to "listen for his voicing of chords in Mozart's Piano Concerto K. 414 -- you can hear all the music in them in a way few pianists manage."

Both programs include a piece by Czech composer Pavel Haas, a student of Janacek who died in Auschwitz. Tognetti arranged his "From the Monkey Mountains" string quartet, "an astonishing piece," he says. "Haas wrote it in 1925, and you can hear the influence of jazz rhythms. It's what I call Expressionist Impressionism -- it can be violent, but also evocative and beautiful. You can get lost in this music, and that's always the ideal, whether a player or a listener."

Musica Surfica Review

A great write-up of Musica Surfica from the TKO Coastal Surf Tours blog:

Written and directed by Mick Sowry, Musica Surfica is unlike any surf film you’ve ever seen before. The concept is the marriage of classical music and finless surfing into a new manifestation of art with roots as far back as anyone can trace. The film combines elements of ancient surfing and modern surfboard designs with ancient instruments and new approaches to playing classical music. Sounds strange? Perhaps, but the results are inspirational and certainly at the height of the art of surfing. A group of surfers, led by the stylish and talented Derek Hynd, go to King Island, Australia and spend a week riding a variety of finless surfboards. One of the members of the group is Richard Tognetti, artistic director for the Australian Chamber Orchestra and an accomplished surfer. Hynd and Tognetti came up with the idea of collaborating on a film project that would expand the boundaries of music and surfing. For Derek this meant introducing others to riding without fins, something he has learned to do quite well. And for Tognetti the project allowed him to step out of the walls of the sometimes ultra-traditional classical music world to include other forms of music and less traditional venues.

Read the full review.

Musica Surfica just won the Best Feature award at the New York Surf Film Festival.

Musica Surfica a Winner in NY

We're stoked to report that Musica Surfica, the documentary about the joys and risks of finless surfing and performing, has won Best Feature at the New York Surf Film Festival. Congratulations to all involved, especially writer-director Mike Sowry.

The New York Surf Film Festival is the premier showcase for international independent surf film, an event consisting of three days of screenings of independent short and feature films, cult classics, and world premieres from established surf filmmakers.

Musica Surfica had its US premiere at NYSFF. The documentary follows Richard, Derek Hynd, Tom Carroll and Tom Wegener (board shaper extraordinaire) on a surfing expedition to King Island. The soundtrack of the film consists of performances the surfing members of the ACO made with Danny Spooner and Mike Kerin for the King Island locals.

More clips from Musica Surfica here.

Musica Surfica Review

Surfing blog, Life's A Beach, has a review of Musica Surfica...

"... a sublime film shot on King Island, Australia that tracks the progress of a group of extraordinary surfers as they embark on a 'grand adventure' where classical music collides with radical surfing."

Read more

MUSICA SURFICA REVIEW

Phoresia.org, a 'resource about environmentally and socially responsible surf related products and lifestyle choices' has a review of Musica Surfica, featuring our own RT:

"Written and directed by Mick Sowry, Musica Surfica is unlike any surf film you’ve ever seen before. The concept is the marriage of classical music and finless surfing into a new manifestation of art with roots as far back as anyone can trace. The film combines elements of ancient surfing and modern surfboard designs with ancient instruments and new approaches to playing classical music. Sounds strange? Perhaps, but the results are inspirational and certainly at the height of the art of surfing."

Read more here.

MORE MUSICA SURFICA

MusicaSurfica Emerging Artists tour is now complete for 2007. 4 public concerts+ 3 private including one for our sponsors APN – big thanks for making it all possible, 2 schools and the luck of surfing 4 nice point breaks: Crescent Head, Scotts Head, Broken Head and Noosa Heads. We followed the swell and after each concert, the hardcore surfers in the band drove some 3-4 hours each night to be there for the dawn surf, led by Derek Hynd. It’s rare to get surf in this part of the world in October and so we were blessed, especially at Noosa Heads where the swell must wrap around a long way to break. We arrived at film maker Jack McCoy’s Scott’s Head house after 1 am and were awoken by Derek Hynd at 5am with the words “ the nightmare has begun”. His words couldn’t be further from the reality. More like a wonderful dream to be on the far northern NSW coast to surf these perfect point breaks. The waves weren’t as big as we were hoping for at first and the wind was ill, but we waited until 7 am and the wind backed off, the dolphins came out and the swell picked up.

Perhaps the best vibe I’ve experienced in the water, we the finless crew were joined by a motley assortment of varied surf craft including a one legged surfer who managed to STAND on his surf ski balancing with his prosthetic leg and oar. I hope Jack McCoy filmed it. Mate – whoever you are, you are a legend. We also had Warren riding his inflatable mat and the pure elfin spirit of Sage Joske surfing on the finless ancient Alaia. Missing were the usual slash and burn assholes aggressively claiming their right to rule.

We are dreaming that we are recapturing the soul of surfing with the free spirit of finless. Surfing in the day, playing concerts in the night (joining the ACO were Tim Freedman and Shark Island charger Terpapai Richmond on drums, Joseph Tawadros on Oud and our emerging artists), couldn’t be better.

We’ve been playing our arrangement of Shine on you crazy diamond and Paganini’s 24th caprice live to Mick Sowry’s surfing cut from his under construction doco.

It was great to see two colossal Jacks in the audience: Thompson and McCoy.

After the Bellingen school concert one young bloke told me that he was going to take the fins out of his board and asked me where you can learn to play the viola. That’s thinking out of the square.

Let’s conclude with the words of Derek Hynd:
To surf free friction, or fin free, primarily forces the surfer back to the core. It is an act of homage to thousands of years of wave riding. It’s a return to an unpredictable wild side in a sea of conservatism. It is a test of composure in delivering the upper hand to nature. Most of all though it’s just a frontier feeling of being untethered and unguided that brings fun to the fore. And fun IS the key.

MUSICA SURFICA RIDES

Did you know surfing legend Tom Carroll can play the violin? He didn’t either: until he tried. Derek Hynd (pic below TC) can’t believe what he’s hearing.

Tom was one of the brave band of surfers to embark on Musica Surfica on King Island. What an amazing 10 days it has been. Not enough time to write in detail. Here is a link to Mick Sowry’s blog : http://safetosea.blogspot.com/

Mick is the director of the doco we are filming.

In a very pistacchio sized nutshell, Musica Surfica comes out of my friend Derek Hynd dreaming with me about exploring the intersection of perceived high- brow culture: classical music, and grass roots culture: surfing. It is involving the highly experimental surf craft of fin-less (free-friction) boards ; some designs dating back 1000 years, whilst others are emerging frontiers; combined with an exploration of our music, some extant and other music being especially written. We are placing all of this in stunningly different contexts (schools, King Island, East and West coast Oz, steps of Sydney Opera House? etc); hoping for an explosive and provocative mix of cultures.