39: The Premiere
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
The evening started with a pre-concert discussion in the northern foyer of the Sydney Opera House’s concert hall between Kim Waldock, education manager of the Sydney Symphony, Robert Johnson and myself. We talked a little about the Handel Concerto Gross no 3 opus 6 and the Dvorak Cello Concerto but quickly moved onto introducing Lightfall. Rob gave a few demonstrations on the horn and I gave a brief explanation of the concerto’s structure and emotional design.
Pre-concert Talk: Robert Johnson, Kim Waldock, CG
The orchestra gave a joyous performance of the Handel and Gautier Capuçon gave a beautifully rich interpretation of the Dvorak. What an act to follow!
After interval Lightfall was premiered. The musicians settled into a fine performance with only the odd hiccup to remind us that this was still new territory. The balances that had been of concern in rehearsal seemed to have sorted themselves out more or less, although from where I was sitting in the stalls the acoustic was rather two-dimensional.
Last moments of Lightfall premiere: Robert Johnson, Richard Gill, Sydney Symphony
It is hard for me to say more about the performance because I tend to listen through the ears of everyone that dislikes the piece and wishes it would finish quickly. This is not entirely paranoia on my part as half a dozen people around the hall made a quick exit after the unforgiving Part One. I wondered, if they had stayed, if they might have enjoyed the lyrical Part Two. At the same time I am trying to work out if some moments of dense clutter are the result of my writing or just of the acoustics. I mentioned this to someone later on and they said they liked the density. At this moment I still have not watched the webcast or listened to the recording but when I do I will listen for what needs fixing and adjust the score, along with the minor changes in dynamics that were made during rehearsal.
Lightfall Premiere: Michael Dauth, Robert Johnson, Richard Gill, Sydney Symphony
The positive response afterwards from musicians and audience members was rather overwhelming. I met two of the commissioners, Emily Chang and Charles Barran, for the first time and to my great relief they enjoyed the work very much. The orchestra kindly held a brief reception for all involved afterwards and I met the Sydney Symphony’s new managing director, Rory Jeffes.
Rear L-R: Richard Gill, Rory Jeffes, CG, Charles Barran. Front L-R: Robert Johnson, Emily Chang, Robert Gay
Then my wife and I headed down to Circular Quay for dinner with friends, family, Robert Johnson and Kim Waldock. It was a wonderful way to end the evening with lots of laughs and stories. But to my surprise I found I was overcome with concern that I was now unemployed and that, beyond a small work for Gondwana Voices with Synergy to be done immediately, there was not even the whiff of work in the future, not for the concert hall or for film.
Reader Comments
After a surprise turn of events, I was able to come to the premiere of Lightfall. And so, it seems to have someone else talk about the premiere.
So that night, I went to the pre talk and listened what Gordon, Johnson and Waldock said. I liked Gordon’s quote on Australian music. The Question was (I think) “Can you define what Australian Music is?” The Answer was, “No…You could put (I can’t remember the composers name) and Nigel Westlake together…they create two totally different pieces yet they are all Australian.” I agree with the statement, listen to three different pieces by three different composers and they sound totally different, but they are all Australian! I should mention also that my Music Teacher was in fact there, and happened to sit next to Robert Gay, and someone else who was in the commission committee for this piece.
Due to the changes of acoustics of the hall, there were a few ‘minor’ changes to the hall, and was even surprised to hear silence in the hall during the final preparations and test for the acoustics. The only complain that I had was I couldn’t hear the harpsichord in the concerto grosso that well.
On to Lightfall, and I was surprised how well it was written. (I’ve been to a few premieres for other pieces last year, and to be frank, I couldn’t remember any of them, and I did dislike some of the pieces.) It was more the second movement that I found myself starting to like the work. The only thing that caught me off guard (even thought you and Andrew Ford made it quite clear though) was how the piece ends. In the first movement, I felt why the piece needs to just end, however in the second movement it felt it needed some leeway, but then again, you can hear in both the webcast and on the night how Johnson was struggling to with the last two or three phrases. I was still hearing the main melodies in the second movement as I was leaving the SOH, which is a good sign (for me) that it’s a good piece, and later on, I did go to and listen to the webcast online.
In a nutshell, it was a great night; something for me to just put my mind off the past 2 weeks (HSC major assignments were due within those weeks, but I had handed all of it before this concert.)
Joshua, if I remember correctly I said Brett Dean, but I could have chosen just about any known Australian composer and the answer would have been the same. CG.