A rehearsal with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. World premier of Schultz's New commission.

J.M.W. Turner "Peace, Burial at Sea' [detail] Tate Gallery, London.

TSO Rehearsal:

The creation of any new art work always has that sense of both panic and excitement, not that there was any doubt about Schultz’s new commission. Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra rehearsal of this work. Attendance at these rehearsals, offers the listener the opportunity to hear and observe the individual relationships between conductor and musicians and their interpretation of a composer’s composition. The drawing out of the balance, colour and structure that a conductor imposes on his musicians is very personal. I watched as Marko Letonja spoke to his them as they made pencil notes on their score to adjust the sound and timing he required. This was the first time I fully appreciated the conductor’s role in orchestral performances, how he is able to put his own mark on the piece. How a conductor reinterprets in a creative way the original score. We are all used to watching a conductor wave his arms around in concert without always fully understanding what he is doing. Not that this was what happened with Schultz’s work, after all he was sitting in the middle of the auditorium listening to his music being brought to life.

 

One of the first novelties for first time attendees at rehearsals was the bright casual dress of all concerned that most certainly lifted the visual impact. Generally rehearsals begin with a bar or two until the conductor feels an adjustment is required and he explains exactly how he wants the flow or highlight of the passage played. All of this reinforces the often forgotten role of conductors in music making, his individual interpretation of a composers work. Naturally the composer is central, but many scores are left fairly open as to how they should be played. At this rehearsal a creative music teacher had brought along his class to expand and hopefully inspire them to greater musical appreciation. Introducing them to the joy, discipline, and technical competence of classical musical training.

 

I am always overwhelmed when listening to live music, you are at the very coal face of creation, were a collection of inanimate objects suddenly burst into life in the hands of musicians creating sounds that soar up into the heavens like a plume of smoke. The power of an unstoppable sound rolling over you like waves of the sea. Violins give way to wind which in turn make way for percussion, only to be softened again by the string section. All held in the conductor’s hands as the music moves back and forth not necessarily in any structural order.

 

While the TSO fine-tuned Schultz’s world premier for the evening performance, I was enveloped in the sense of drama and force of this music. The composition was so full of force as it swept over you, there times the listener felt the need to hang on to the edge of their seat, as the unpredictable music burst forth. Melodious passages intercepted the dramatic presence of wind and percussion. At times the piece had a rather eyrie sound as though the listener was standing on the edge of an abyss, the percussion adding a sense of an unknown past, while the peal of pipes suggested a religious presence. It occurred to me this musical composition would act as a wonderful backdrop to an appropriate poem or commentary.

 

Soft passages built tension as you were being transported through a heavy foggy mist at dawn in a desolate landscape. You were either looking into the future or back to some destroyed past for no matter where you looked there was this sense of destruction. Every now and then the composition would break into a melodious passage offering some sort of redemption among the wilderness. I am sure this piece of music will be well received by the general public, there is so much emotion expressed in both it’s sound and structure that it tapes into the listeners inner-self. Passages cry out for help as though trying to express the torment of the age. Personally, I found the music the most satisfactory and dramatic I have heard for some time. The balance of old and new, peace and drama, held together in a strong undertow of emotion standing on the edge of time.

 

Finally, after the rehearsal I spoke to the second violinist, who told me the composer had spoken to the orchestra early in the day saying the music was inspired by a painting by J.M.B. Turner the ‘Peace- Burial at Sea’. Schultz has certainly captured the foreboding expressed in Turner’s work, you are not sure whether you are about to sail to a new life or towards doom.