Jamie Adam, Gabriella Smart, Elizabeth Layton, Soundstream Collective Inaugural Concert

“MUSIC IS A SPIRITUAL REFLECTION OF SOCIETY, AND NEW MUSIC ITS NEXUS. THE ENGAGEMENT OF AUDIENCES AND EDUCATION ARE BUT SIMPLE TERMS TO DESCRIBE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VIBRANT CULTURE OF EXPLORATION, INSPIRATION AND COMMUNICATION THROUGH THE ARTS” (GABRIELLA SMART, 2011 CHURCHILL FELLOWSHIP REPORT).

Source: RealTime issue #106 Dec-Jan 2011 pg. 42

Gabriella Smart is a pianist, festival director, teacher and entrepreneur and she has a clear philosophy. For over 20 years, she has championed new music, making a unique and significant contribution to the music scene nationally and internationally.

Smart’s oeuvre is the piano. “My discipline as a musician comes from complete devotion to the instrument,” she says. She credits her teacher, Russian-born and trained pianist Eleonora Sivan, with helping her find that devotion and discipline. “Eleonora provided the key to absolute love, not just the physicality of the instrument but the philosophy of classical music. That foundation makes new music exciting. There is a feeling of emancipation through new music.” She feels a constant urge to practice and perform, and not only perform but communicate. “New music is very complex but it is failing society if it is not out there.”

Soundstream new music festival

Smart founded the Soundstream New Music Festival in 2008 to elevate the profile of new music in South Australia. She has always emphasised excellence in programming, production and performance and this approach won the 2009 Soundstream Festival a Ruby Award for Best Event in South Australia. (Reviews of the 2009 and 2010 festivals can be found in RT93, p49 and RT99, p50.)

The 2012 Soundstream Festival—it’s now biennial—will be different in scope and intention, emphasising connection with youth and community. Smart says that it will be aimed at music with strong community support. “The theme of the 2012 Festival is Intersection, a celebration of new music through community.”

Soundstream Collective

The Soundstream Collective was established in 2011 as an ensemble in residence based at the Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, which will provide essential infrastructure and support. As the Soundstream Collective’s artistic director, Smart’s intention is to maintain a dedicated group of musicians able to perform regularly and at the highest level. The collective will collaborate with other musicians, commission new works, research new music and extend Adelaide and Australia’s new music culture. Its ongoing nature will obviate the difficulties of establishing ensembles anew for each Soundstream event.

The Soundstream Collective’s launch concert was at Elder Hall, University of Adelaide, opening with Steve Reich’s Clapping Music (1972) and followed by the premiere of Brisbane-based composer Erik Griswold’s exquisite a leaf falls (2011) for cello (John Addison) and percussion (Vortex Ensemble). Griswold took the title from e. e. cummings’s 1958 poem. The work is delicate and nuanced, as the Vortex percussionists (Ryan Simm, Jamie Adam, Ryan Harrison and Andrew Wiering) respond to the cellist’s motifs, timbres and playing techniques. On the previous evening, Griswold and Vortex had given an open rehearsal of the work in a smaller space that enhanced the subtlety of this intimate, poetic music, with Griswold providing an enlightening discussion of the work’s genesis and performance requirements.

The Collective’s launch included Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Meeting (1982), superbly performed by Stefan Ammer (piano) and Peter Handsworth (clarinet). Smart’s own performance with trumpeter Martin Phillipson of Polish composer Hannah Kulenty’s emotionally charged A Sixth Circle (1995) was excellent, its intensity developing through long-held trumpet notes layered over a driving piano line. Phillipson periodically pointed the trumpet directly into the piano as if seeking a special resonance, and the work climaxes with the thundering piano sounding like a tolling bell.

Adelaide composer John Polglase’s enchanting Shining, Unbreakable (2011) for violin (Elizabeth Layton) and piano (Smart) followed. Measured, balanced and beautifully performed, it was outstanding even amongst the other gems of the evening. In the final work, Smart, Layton, Handsworth and soprano Sidonie Henbest blended nicely in Peter Eötvös’s theatrical Natascha-trio (1996-7), which the Hungarian composer adapted from his opera based on Chekhov’s Three Sisters. Henbest was dynamic in the demanding vocal role.

The Collective’s ensemble playing was of the highest quality and this insightful survey of contemporary music had all the depth of a Soundstream Festival. The Polglase and Griswold works were particularly well-received and the Kulenty work generated great emotional power, something that contemporary music is often felt to lack. Smart’s programming generally offers emotional depth as well as intellectual challenge, and these works should draw audiences and inspire further compositional and performative development. The Collective subsequently performed the complete Kulenty Circle series at the Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane.

Great Music in Great Spaces

Straight off the plane from Brisbane, Smart launched another new series, on November 4, Music in Great Spaces, in co-operation with the Australian Institute of Architects. The series combines the musical recital with discussion of the relationship between architecture and sound. The first event was held in two locations—the foyer of the imposing neo-classical Freemasons Hall, built in 1934, and the foyer of the recently opened Innova21 Building at the University of Adelaide. Architect Steve Grieve discussed the Freemasons Hall, Innova21 creator Ross Chalmers outlined his approach to building design, Emma Horwood (harpist-soprano, at Freemasons Hall) and Aleksandr Tsiboulski (guitar, Innova21) performed across renaissance, classical and contemporary repertoire, and Peter Swift of AECOM then analysed both buildings’ sonic characteristics. Horwood opened her bracket singing from the Freemasons foyer balcony and continued as she walked down the gracious staircase to her harp, creating an ethereally resonant effect.

Such an event is accessible to a wide audience, and opens a range of possibilities for musical and cross-disciplinary programming. “One of the outcomes I would like to see for this series is growing public awareness of the role of acoustics in understanding a city, and how acoustics can fundamentally influence spaces,” Smart said in opening the program.

Churchill Fellowship

Earlier this year, Smart’s Churchill Fellowship involved a six-week trip to the UK, Europe and Canada where she interviewed some 50 people involved in new musical performance and management. “In that time my perception of new music was transformed, from my definition of what new music was to the meaning and scope of audience development and education in the arts, and to the role of artistic direction.” She visited arts organisations and individuals with a history of audience engagement and development to identify strategies that might be employed in Australia.

“What transpired was an intellectual discourse on the meaning and role of new music in contemporary society, the art of listening, the precious need for engagement of and respect for youth, and the inadequacy of blanket assumptions and empty categorisations,” she reported. She especially noted the importance of networking and commissioning, and the role of the musical animateur, “who facilitates reception of new music through education and public discourse, in particular at a grassroots level.”

Smart has been organising musical events under the Soundstream banner for many years, frequently with limited support and on negligible budgets. Her considerable achievements are a testament to her energy, commitment and leadership. The Churchill Fellowship provided an essential opportunity for her to expand her musical thinking and programming horizons and this is already paying off in her planning for future Soundstream events and the establishment of the Soundstream Collective. “Soundstream is about shaping Australian culture through new music. This sounds grand but it’s not, as Soundstream works at a grassroots level. It is especially important to look to the aesthetics of the younger generation.” There is now a five-year plan for Soundstream ranging from programs for school children to composer workshops and a young composer’s award. Gabriella Smart says she will know she’s been successful “when musical contagion develops and when there is light in students’ eyes.”
For the 2012 Soundstream New Music Festival Program go towww.soundstream.org.au/soundstream-festival/2012-10/. Gabriella Smart’s Churchill Fellowship report is at www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellows/detail/3482/gabriella+smart

The Soundstream Collective, Madley Performance Space, University of Adelaide Sept 29, Elder Hall Sept 30; Music in Great Spaces, Emma Horwood, Freemasons Hall, Aleksandr Tsiboulski, Innova21 Building, University of Adelaide, Nov 4 November

The Members’ Notes, compiled by Anne Wisdom, begin:

After listening to the referred example, my first thought was “why did Richard Chew select this work as the inaugural listening example for the music club?” I found the work to be quite beautiful, but apart from the title, knew little about it. I am familiar with the Bryars work Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet.

After listening again to work out the performing media, texture and other elements of music, I felt I needed to go further. …

Download the complete notes.

Gabriella Smart performs Shostakovich and Glass

Gabriella Smart plays Metamorphosis I-V by Philip Glass
Thursday 1st December at 8 pm

Philip Glass is a monster sacré of contemporary American Music. His music is frequently described as minimalist, though he prefers to describe himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures”, and currently as a ‘classicist’. He is a prolific composer in all genres, best known in South Australia for his film music (Koyaanisqatsi), opera (Einstein on the Beach), and collaborative works (The Book of Longing with Leonard Cohen, and Descent into the Maelstrom with ADT).

The November Soundstream New Waves Listening Club presented one of his key works, Metamorphosis, five pieces for solo piano (1988). The response was so enthusiastic that exceptionally, Soundstream is offering a rare public performance of this extraordinary opus.

Wine and light refreshments will be provided.

A donation of $20.00 is requested to cover refreshments and costs.

Please note that space is strictly limited and only 30 registrations will be accepted, and in the order that they are received. To reserve your place today, contact Douglas Furby on doug.furby@gmail.com

To Chris, these works suggest varying degrees of introspective insight, and the piano seems an instrument that particularly lends itself to introspection. Glass’s Metamorphosis is perhaps unique in form, with its minimalist style, and it has a unique character.

Philip Glass’s Metamorphosis I-V for piano is on a recently released ABC CD by Sally Whitwell called Mad Rush. There is a review of Whitwell’s CD in Limelight Magazine.

Music file download
There are many renditions of the five pieces that comprise it on You Tube. Branka Parlic has performed all five and N^o 1. Listen to the music. The remainder can be found from there.

November Listening Club Reading notes (PDF)

Soundstream Collective

written by Barry Lenny Arts Editor for GlamAdelaide

Following a welcome from Artistic Director, Gabriella Smart, and an introduction from Professor Michael J. Brooks, Deputy Vice-Cancellor (research), Steve Reich’s minimalist piece, Clapping Music (1972), opened the concert, with seven performers working as two groups rather than just the usual two performers. One group claps a constant 12/8 rhythm, based on the African bell pattern (with one added beat), while the other does the same, but shifts by one beat every so often until finally coming back in unison. This lighter work was a popular piece with the audience and fun for both listeners and performers.

Next came the longest composition on the programme, Erik Griswold’s A Leaf Falls, for cello and percussion quartet. Having studied at the Elder Conservatorium as a percussionist myself, I am well aware of the difficulties Elder Hall creates with its rather live acoustics. Well suited to most instruments, it tends to muddy percussion performances due to the echo, as we heard in this piece. This work had an interesting staging, with the Vortex Percussion Ensemble, Ryan Simm, Jamie Adam, Ryan Harrison and Andrew Wiering, forming a semicircle around cellist, John Addison, with the left pair forming a mirror image of the right pair. The inner pair upstage both had instruments including snare drum, large tom tom, bass drum, glockenspiel and woodblock, the outer pair downstage both had instruments including vibraphone and cymbals. This allowed for four individual sources of sound, as soloists and in numerous combinations, with the pairs either playing in unison, creating counter-rhythms or passing the rhythms to and fro between them. The cello, too, adds a percussive effect by playing several col legno phrases, as a contrast to very lyrical coll’arco passages. Ultimately, though, it said everything to me in the first section and, in spite of Addison’s superb playing and the intricate work of the Vortex Quartet, I felt that it kept repeating its message in the later movements and had little more to say.

After rearranging the stage, we heard Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Meeting, for clarinet and piano, with Stefan Ammer on piano and Peter Handsworth on clarinet. This piece is an extended musical conversation between the two instruments, inventive, complex, sometimes percussive, with occasional unison passages suggesting that the meeting is mutually rewarding. The fine performances from both musicians, with an obvious congruence of ideas, constitutes another meeting.

Hanna Kulenty’s A Sixth Circle, for trumpet and piano, closed the first half. Trumpeter, Martin Phillipson, plays with and without mute during the performance, often playing into the piano to generate a resonance from the strings, differing in quality depending on whether or not his instrument is muted. Unfortunately this was hard to hear and, as Gabriella Smart entered quickly after these moments, the piano ended those resonances before the ear could properly adjust to them. There is an excellent balance between the two performers, and a clear agreement on the interpretation as they work through the many short motifs in this minimalist piece. This is possibly, though, a work better suited to a more intimate venue that enables those subtleties to be heard more clearly.

After the interval there were two short pieces, beginning with John Polglase’s Shining, unbreakable, for violin and piano, with Elizabeth Layton and Gabriella Smart. These two instruments always sound wonderful together and this piece is no exception, with an almost symbiotic relationship existing between these two fine performers during this intricate work.
Closing the concert was the Natascha Trio adapted from his opera, The Three Sisters, by Peter Eötvös. The opera is based on the play by Anton Chekhov. This piece is written for piano, violin, clarinet and soprano, the only work on the programme including a vocalist. The trio consisted of Smart, Handsworth and Layton, and the soprano was Sidonie Henbest.
Natasha was the thoroughly unpleasant, self-centred immature, not very bright, lacking in taste and socially unacceptable girl from the village who ensnared the brother of the three sisters, married him and then took everything that the family owned. Eötvös conveys all of that unpleasantness in his music, brilliantly realised by the three musicians, and Henbest sings the Russian text with a good understanding of the character informing her marvellous performance. This was a tremendous ending to a most worthwhile inaugural concert from the Soundstream Collective.

Hannah Kulenty: Circle series

“This is European trance music” Hannah Kulenty

“I was speechless for some time afterwards, so affecting were the writing and the performance.” Real Time, review of performance of Hannah Kulenty’s Fourth Circle by Soundstream.

Soundstream Collective present the Australian premiere of Hannah Kulenty’s Circle series at the Judith Wright Centre on November 3^rd, 7pm, 420 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley

Featuring musicians John Addison, Kathleen Gallagher, Martin Phillipson and Gabriella Smart, the series will be performed for the first time in its entirety-Third Circle (piano), Fourth Circle (cello and piano), Fifth Circle (solo flute and delay), Sixth Circle (trumpet, piano and delay)

Written between 1994 and 1996, the Circle series represent Kulenty’s self titled “European trance music”, her original version of “post-minimalist” style. In many ways this music is closer to the meditative qualities of Indian ragas, rather than Western minimalism. The result is music of incredible emotional intensity and sheer sonorous impact, reflecting the richness of the composer’s internal life. One recalls Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetic description of music as “feelings transformed into audible landscape.”

“One of Poland’s most interesting composers of the middle generation.” BBC 

Time 7pm-8:10pm

(no interval)

Cost
Unreserved Seating
Presale: $15
Doorsale: $18
All Ages Event

Venue Music Rehearsal Room Level 4 (limited capacity)

Further Details of the performance can be found at the event page.

Artform music/theatre

Our inaugural concert – New Music: New Ensemble – at Elder Hall on Friday 30th September has been critically acclaimed in The Australian and Australian Stage. With two world premières and two Australian premières, Soundstream Collective now established unequivocally its role as a significant presenter of new music.

Some comments from the reviews:

Impressive début from newest new musicians
Graham Strahle The Australian October 4, 2011

… The debut concert set the ball rolling impressively with some exceptional playing and a sharp choice of six works by European, American and Australian composers. …

… composer Erik Griswold’s a leaf falls, based on poetry by e.e. cummings, was the program’s most inventive piece. Across its five movements it brought together the disparate instrumental forces of cello and percussion quartet to an effective common ground with well-matched sonorities employing tremolo effects, blues influences and other expressive devices. …

… Polish composer Hanna Kulenty’s A Sixth Circle for trumpet and piano was virtuosic, while Natascha-trio by Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös recalled 1920′s German Kabarett in its raucous theatrical impact. …

The full article can be found online at The Australian.

New Music: New Ensemble | Soundstream Collective
Daniela Kaleva Australian Stage Monday, 3 October 2011

… John Polglase’s ‘Shining Unbreakable’ was the highlight of the concert. Incredibly powerful, the new Australian work’s world premiere was a complete success. The piece was inspired by Gertrude Rooney, first violin with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and patron Kevin Rooney’s writing about her. ‘Shining Unbreakable’ is of the magnitude of the best classical works for violin and piano. It has brightness of originality and maturity of musical thought that are breathtaking and spellbinding. The work was enhanced by the emotional charge and expressive tone of Elizabeth Layton (violin) and Gabriella Smart (piano). Australia has another master composer and a new masterpiece of classical music! …

The full article can be found online at australianstage.com.au

Soundstream Collective Artistic Director Gabriella Smart

Review from Australian Stage written by Daniela Kaleva.

Adelaide’s curator of the Soundstream Festival, Gabriella Smart and the University of Adelaide launched the Soundstream Collective with a concert in Elder Hall on 30 September 2011. The event signalled vital classical new music creativity which is to result from a new approach to blending music performance, composition and research.

The Soundstream Collective is a project supported by The University of Adelaide and part of the new J. M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice. As artists-in-residence, a new music classical ensemble will be funded to produce eight concerts and new Australian music commissions. The inaugural concert included no less than two world premieres and three Australian premieres by Australian and international composers of new music.

The musicians appeared in the audience, clapping music and walking towards the stage. Interlocking rhythms and unconventional use of performance space raised audience expectations and indicated that this is an ensemble committed to breaking preconceptions, practices and perceptions of contemporary classical music. The piece paid homage to American composer Steve Reich – an influential mind in the tradition of music innovation.

The program proceeded with a philosophical essay titled ‘A leaf falls’ by Australian-Amerikan musician Erik Griswold. John Addison (cello) and the Votex Percussion Ensemble embodied deftly the sound narrative, its musical mindfulness and the surprises it brought along the way.

Finish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen was featured next with ‘Meeting’, played with insight by Peter Handsworth (clarinet) and Stefan Ammer (piano). The piece is an apotheosis of partnership expressed in the way the two instruments follow minimalistic paroxysmal figures.

Another duet, this time between piano and trumpet, followed to demonstrate how conventional classical instruments can achieve a novel sonic combination. Polish composer Hanna Kulenty’s ‘A Sixth Circle’ is a piece made of sustained notes, microtonal and repetition techniques with an unexpected aura of profound gentleness and lyricism. Performed by Martin Phillipson (trumpet) and Gabriella Smart (piano), ‘A Sixth Circle’ highlighted the aptitude of women composers for subtle musical communication.

John Polglase’s ‘Shining Unbreakable’ was the highlight of the concert. Incredibly powerful, the new Australian work’s world premiere was a complete success. The piece was inspired by Gertrude Rooney, first violin with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and patron Kevin Rooney’s writing about her. ‘Shining Unbreakable’ is of the magnitude of the best classical works for violin and piano. It has brightness of originality and maturity of musical thought that are breathtaking and spellbinding. The work was enhanced by the emotional charge and expressive tone of Elizabeth Layton (violin) and Gabriella Smart (piano). Australia has another master composer and a new masterpiece of classical music!

The concert finished with ‘Natascha Trio’ for soprano, clarinet, violin and piano by Hungarian composer Peter Eõtvõs. This chamber work is based on music from his opera ‘The Three Sisters’ (1996-97). The scene focuses on one of the sisters in Chekhov’s famous play, Natasha. Caprice, crudeness and irony characterise the musical portrayal of Natasha. They are achieved by extended range and techniques to attest the determination of a character who always gets her way. Sidonie Henbest (voice) played Natasha well.

Often audiences shun from new music, thinking that it is ugly, noisy, complex or simply not part of their culture or identity. This concert indicates that these perceptions of new classical music are wrong.

Reverberating ideals of music at its best, the Soundstream Collective is on their way to discover new pathways to music creativity which are much needed in Australia. These resolute musicians are embarking on a difficult crusade. Their aim is to unleash the power of contemporary classical music by aspiring and educating audiences, and by giving composers and musicians opportunities to collaborate and to offer their insight into the essential questions of life.

Media Article: New Music: New Ensemble by InDaily

NEW classical music ensemble The Soundstream Collective will perform its first concert tomorrow night at Elder Hall, featuring several world and Australian premieres.

Led by artistic director and pianist Gabriella Smart and based at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, Soundstream Collective aims to showcase local talent and create a national profile for new music in South Australia.

It has received funding from Adelaide University to commission new works and stage eight concerts over the next two years.

“Soundstream Collective is a celebration of new music in Australia and the only event of its kind in South Australia,” Smart said.

“The Collective is a platform for collaboration, discourse and performance of new music and will be committed to the development of contemporary music practices and the creation of new works through the support of emerging and established Australian composers and performers. The result is a unique experience in contemporary chamber music.”

Performers include Peter Handsworth (clarinet), Sidonie Henbest (soprano), Elizabeth Layton (violin), John Addison (cello), and the Vortex Percussion Ensemble.

Tomorrow night’s concert, New Music: New Ensemble, will feature world premieres by Adelaide composer John Polglase and Australian-American Erik Griswold, as well as Australian premiers by international composers Esa-Pekka Salonen, Hanna Kulenty and Peter Eotvos.

An open dress rehearsal is also being held tonight (Thursday) at Adelaide University’s Madley Performance Space.

Gabriella Smart with Radio Adelaide (image courtesy of Radio Adelaide)

Radio Interview: Gabriella Smart: Leader – Soundstream Collective by Radio Adelaide

There are so many different types of music that it is sometimes hard to keep track – rock, pop, jazz funk fusion, rap, to name a few, and Tim Brunero thinks the 80’s was in a disastrous genre all of it’s own. But have you ever heard of a type of music called contemporary classical?

There is a new Ensemble called the Soundstream Collective, and they specialise in this particular type of music.
They are performing in Adelaide on Friday, and this morning Tim Brunero spoke to the artistic director of Soundstream Collective, and internationally renowned pianist, Gabriella Smart.

The full interview can be downloaded.