9 September 2010
ASQ National Composers' Forum: composer blog - Melody Eötvös, part 2
Stepping off the flight on Friday morning and into an unfamiliar
airport was the beginning of my National Composers' Forum
experience. Being flown half-way around the country to attend the
first rehearsal, workshop, and performance of a work is always an
exhilarating event for me.
After meeting up with fellow composers Tom and Adam at the
baggage carousel, we made our way to the hotel, sought out the
closest café, then headed to the 2pm rehearsal at the Elder
Conservatorium of Music. The second half of this session was
dedicated to the initial hearing and discussion of my quartet,
Olber's Dance in the Dark.
The Australian String Quartet's devotion to this forum was
apparent from the first moment - although my work clearly posed a
challenge, it had been prepared to a professional standard prior
to the weekend's events, allowing the sessions to focus on the
finer details and practicalities of our individual compositions
and techniques. Sophie, Anne, Sally and Rachel all provided
insightful reflections, and because of their proficiency and
intuition as an experienced quartet (thinking as one instrument
instead of four), I was able to understand my own writing better
through their reaction and interpretation of my music.
Having Carl Vine present
added yet another dimension to the rehearsals - and, in fact, all
the way through to the post-concert wind-down. He gave his
suggestions and shared his observations with us freely, and I
truly valued his insight on balancing issues and managing the
structure and form of a composition. It was also wonderful
getting to know Carl, through the presentation of his work with
Musica Viva and while out on lunch/aperitif sojourns after the
rehearsals and concert, which to us emerging composers opened a
window on a realistic figure of a creator within the Australian
music world.
As well as the National Composers Forum, during the evenings the
Soundstream New Music Festival was presenting a series of
concerts in the ABC studios which - in combination with a
brilliant lighting design, hugely contrasting programs, and great
hosting - were the perfect end to each day.
Out of the intense succession of events, I guess the most
important thing I took away from the weekend was a better sense
of what it meant to write a good, programmable, and playable
composition for string quartet. I left Adelaide determined to
continue working on Olber's Dance and to take my
experience there and put it into practice. I'm not just thinking
harder and more strategically about string quartet writing, but
also about when I should be truly satisfied that the music I have
written has really been thought through properly - every aspect,
from motives, to remembering that a unison tutti isn't a bad
thing to use every now and then.
Image: Forum participants (from left): Julian Day, Melody Eötvös, Alison Beare (ASQ GM), Rachel Johnston (cello), Mark Holdsworth, Anne Horton (violin II), Ross Carey (NZ),Adam Starr, Sophie Rowell (violin I), Carl Vine, Thomas Green, Sally Boud (viola)
Further links
Melody Eötvös - website
Melody Eötvös -
ASQ National Composers' Forum, composer blog, part 1
Adam
Starr -
ASQ National Composers' Forum, composer blog part 2
Adam
Starr -
ASQ National Composers' Forum, composer blog, part
1
Thomas Green -
ASQ National Composers' Forum, composer blog, part 1
Mark
Holdsworth -
ASQ National Composers' Forum, composer blog, part 1
Ross Carey -
ASQ National Composers' Forum, composer blog
© Australian Music Centre (2010) — Permission must be obtained from the AMC if you wish to reproduce this article either online or in print.
Subjects discussed by this article:
Melody Eötvös is currently studying in the PhD Composition program at Indiana University.
Comments
Be the first to share add your thoughts and opinions in response to this article.
You must login to post a comment.