Unfortunately the city’s major newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, neglected to review the only new major work to be premiered by the Sydney Symphony in 2009, not to mention the first time Gautier Capuçon, one of the world’s shining new cellists, performed in Sydney.
However, the country’s national newspaper, The Australian, was there and published this review. I reprint the review in full below followed by an Aussie artist’s reply to just criticism.
It never rains but it pours. How often does this composer get a premiere? Not often. So how did it come about that I had three world premieres in five days on opposite sides of the world?
• Wednesday 9th Sydney Lightfall - World premiere
• Thursday 10th Sydney Lightfall - Second performance
• Friday 11th Sydney Lightfall - Third performance (11am)
• Friday 11th Toronto Daybreakers - World premiere (11:59pm)
• Sunday 13th Toronto Mao’s Last Dancer - World premiere
• (Monday 21st Sydney Mao’s Last Dancer - Australian premiere)
Read More…
Download and print Meet the Concerto Program September 2009
Lightfall Premiere
For reasons I will explain in post 43 I was not able to attend the final concert. Robert Gay, very kindly, has written the following for this blog.
Third performance – 11 September 2009, 11am
It is perhaps not a surprise to say that the last performance of a new work is likely to be the best. This was the case at the third performance of Christopher’s new work, which I had commissioned with three friends about eighteen months ago. Lightfall sounded relaxed and confident, and almost like a familiar and established piece from the contemporary repertoire. It was also the fifth time I had heard the work – two rehearsals and three performances – so I am beginning to know it, and to look forward to certain sections and certain effects in this very original ‘concerto for horn and orchestra’. I should also say that I was sitting in a great seat in the centre of the stalls – arguably ‘the best seat in the house’ – much better than the seat I had for the premiere in the front Dress Circle (or whatever it’s called in the Concert Hall), where the sound was generally poor and the subtleties and beauties of the work were less than well served by the hall’s very problematic acoustics.
Read More…
Second performance – 10 September 2009, 6:30pm
After the excitement of the premiere I felt rather weary during the pre-concert talk on night two. However people said it was even better than the first night so there’s a lesson in there somewhere.
Pre-concert Talk 09/09/09
The second performance of Lightfall was also better with the musicians more relaxed and in control. It makes quite a difference to Part Two which despite being fast needs to be unhurried, a groove rather than a race.
First performance – 9 September 2009, 6:30pm
They don’t teach you how to bow at composer school. Not that I studied there but I am pretty sure it is not on the curriculum. It’s certainly not something for which I have a natural flair. So I found myself on the concert hall stage at the Sydney Opera House in front of two thousand applauding people wondering where I should put my arms.
Lightfall Premiere: Christopher Gordon, Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson, however, is all style:
Lightfall Premiere: Robert Johnson
A day in the life…
Final rehearsal this morning. A run through of the entire concert but out of order. First they played through the Dvorak. I am looking forward to the performance this evening as Gautier Capuçon is a very fine player. He has extraordinary projection but with great sensitivity.
Richard Gill (photo: Jeff Busby)
Before the rehearsal I met Andrew Ford who is going to talk to the audience between the pieces. I told him I enjoyed his Symphony which I had recently watched on-line.
Margie Moore, who used to work with the orchestra, came along and gave me a bunch of flowers to sparkle up my day.
Today’s rehearsal of Lightfall was quite short (less than 50 minutes) because the orchestra needed to look at the Dvorak Cello Concerto.
Rehearsing Lightfall (08:09:09)
Richard Gill took the orchestra without soloist at a slow tempo from letter T in Part Two, then from letter R at correct tempo. Everything locked in nicely. Then they ran through the entire concerto.
Just back from the first orchestral rehearsal. Richard Gill scheduled all morning for Lightfall and another run through after lunch.
The first run through is always a mess . With knee-jerk certainty I know that there is no hope for me as a composer and consider my exit options. But I have learnt to be patient and wait for the second run and miraculously it begins to sound quite good and I can begin to show my face.
Richard has nailed the tempos and all the preparation that Robert has done over the last few weeks is paying off. The orchestra has been very responsive to the concerto and had found its shape by the afternoon run through.
A quick meeting with Richard at lunchtime cleared up a couple of minor points. I added a G to the Em9 brass chord at b88-9 in part two; who knows what I was thinking when I wrote that bit.
The acoustic testing in the concert hall has already improved the overall sound although the woodwind are being mysteriously swallowed up. The acoustician has a plan so we will see how it sounds tomorrow morning.
I asked the harpist, Louise Johnson, (Louise is also the solo harpist on my score for Mao’s Last Dancer) if her passages were ok and she pointed out that b309-324 in part two tended to get chocked by the repetition of the string plucks (notes were being dampened as quickly as they were plucked). Pretty obvious really and a silly mistake on my part, so I will create a new part for her by putting every first group of four notes down an octave in the left hand and every second group as written in the right hand, and so on. Better do it now so I can email it to her.
The concert on 09/09/09 will be webcast by Bigpond at 6:30pm Sydney time. It will then remain online as a view-on-demand stream. There is no cost and no need to subscribe.
Update 24 September:
You can view it here. (Click on 9 Sep Dvorak Cello Concerto. The Lightfall performance is Meet the Concerto 3). It seems to work intermittently so come back later if it doesn’t load.
