UC Music鈥檚 (from left) Senior Lecturer Dr Justin DeHart (percussion), Professor Mark Menzies (violin, viola), and Senior Lecturer Dr Reuben de Lautour (piano), of cLoud Collective, perform world premieres of new work on 5 December.
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The talented and innovative musicians,听Professor Mark Menzies听(violin, viola), Senior Lecturer听Dr Justin DeHart听(percussion) and Senior Lecturer听Dr Reuben de Lautour听(piano), love nothing more than a creative musical challenge. That鈥檚 music to the ears of Aotearoa鈥檚 contemporary composers, however cLoud Collective鈥檚 reputation now extends beyond these borders as well.
Audiences can catch a number of world premieres on 5 December, 2pm, in the Great Hall of Te Matatiki Toi Ora | Arts Centre Christchurch.
艑tautahi 鈥 loud and proud
Celebrating and championing the wealth of musical talent in 艑tautahi Christchurch is a key mission of cLoud Collective. As Professor Menzies said on Radio New Zealand (RNZ) in an interview before the group鈥檚 debut performance, 鈥渢he capital L and small C in the group鈥檚 name is no accident. For too long we have been quiet in Christchurch, and that鈥檚 about to change!鈥
The music community grows
The new works by composers from Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad are each written for the ensemble and the specific talents of the players.
As well as commissioning and performing new music, cLoud Collective is committed to collaborating with other local performers 鈥 in this concert Tomas Hurnik (Associate Principal Cello, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (CSO)) and Emma Eden (Principal Horn, CSO) will be part of the ensemble. Recent UC听Music graduate Yifan Yang (Piano) will also share the stage.
Musical dream catchers?
鈥淭wo dream collaborators for a composer鈥澨齣s how Auckland-based composer Chris Gendall describes the ensemble members he collaborated with; Professor Menzies (violin, viola) and Dr DeHart (percussion).
Gendall consulted with the performers and witnessed techniques Dr DeHart had invented on his many percussion instruments. This enabled the composer to imagine sound and timbre possibilities, 鈥減laying with resonance, pitch flexibility, timbral variation, contact points, implements and more鈥.
The resulting work,听Crazing,听references the networks of fine lines and cracks on the surface of porcelain, explored musically as intricate textures, built from splintering lines, gestures or tone colours.
Exploring more of the programme
Stalwart of New Zealand composition Michael Norris (Victoria University of Wellington) wrote听indrifts, a duet for violin (Professor Menzies) and percussion (Dr DeHart). In the work they are cast less as musicians and more as sound creators. The two instruments 鈥 violin and bass drum 鈥 are featured as two sound-making items amongst a variety of organic objects such as driftwood, foliage, and sand. The score acts as a guide for interaction between the players, in which they explore various states of being.
艑tautahi-based composer Alex van den Broek wrote听After War听for the collective last year and continues to develop the theme of the impact of war in a new work for this concert.
Van den Broek says, 鈥淚 have been interested in war and its effects on the individual and society for most of my adult life. I don't understand the need or desire for war, so in a perverse way, I try to come to terms with this by reading about wars and the histories that follow them.鈥
In this work, van den Broek uses contrasting textures and timbres to evoke stages of time and shifting human points of view on the horrifying acts committed during wartime.
Street View Sketches听is Canadian Nicholas Denton Protsack鈥檚 collection of short, standalone pieces designed to evoke significant physical places that have significance to him.
鈥淓ach piece attempts to create a sonic impression of actually experiencing it. This might include emulating the general atmosphere of a place, or the sounds one hears while there, or even the kind of mindset one might be in when visiting,鈥 he says.
Protsack has included GPS coordinates in the titles, so the audience can look up these places on Google Street View.
Finally, Stuart Saunders Smith, who is based in Maine, United States, and has over 150 compositions to his name, has composed a work for cLoud Collective.听Inner Light听will comprise the entire second half of the programme. The work has an atmospheric tone and audiences have previously been encouraged to bring pillows and lie or sit on the floor when experiencing this work. At Alert Level 2, however, audiences will be encouraged to听imagine听themselves in this setting.
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