Music
for Didjeridu and Orchestra
William
Barton, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, The Queensland Orchestra, Adelaide
Symphony Orchestra, Southern Cross Soloists, Adelaide Chamber
Singers, Delmae Barton, Richard Gill, Michael Christie, Arvo Volmer
ABC
476 4834
Buy from:
The Western orchestral tradition comes face-to-face with native Australian culture on this new disc from William Barton, so it is appropriate that the liner notes begin with a creation myth. The story runs that Barton, then a 21-year-old didj player from Northern Queensland, was engaged to perform a short introduction to an orchestral concert in Brisbane. Peter Sculthorpe's Earth Cry was also on the programme, but so impressed was the composer with the young didjeridu player's performance that he resolved to find a place for the instrument in the score of his work. The liner notes then go on at very great length (10 pages) about the meeting of minds between these two musicians and the extraordinary opportunities the collaboration heralds for Australian music in general.
It
all sounds too good to be true, but the recording of Earth
Cry here in its new version
bears out many of these claims. The work was written in 1986, and had
already gained an international reputation before any thought was
given to adding a didjeridu part. But in retrospect, it clearly
needed something adding. Sculthorpe goes for bleak, expansive
textures, leading many listeners to the conclusion that he was
developing an Australian vernacular based solely on the size and
featureless vistas of the continent itself. But Barton completely
reinvents the work with his solo part. He demonstrates that the sound
of the didj was already integral to Sculthorpe's orchestral palette,
especially in the way he writes long pedals in the lower string
parts, which he augments with sporadic barks and birdcalls from the
winds. When Barton came to the piece, he was as yet unable to read
music, so his interaction with it was by ear. But again, the shared
musical heritage between himself and Sculthorpe clearly aided the
process, and even the pace and structure of the piece seems tailored
to Barton's additions. He interacts with the orchestra, sometimes
interrupting it, sometimes responding and commentating, but always
adding something of interest and value. Apparently the piece in its
new form has become a staple of the Australian orchestral repertoire.
The politics of cooperation it represents gives the whole project an
important role in Australian culture. Hopefully this sort of cultural
interaction will soon become a commonplace and no longer need such
high profile advocacy. But even then Earth Cry
with didjeridu will continue to deserve a place in the repertoire
purely on its musical merits.
The
disc is marketed at William Barton's début album, and the rest of
the programme is designed to show off his many musical talents, not
only as a didj player but also as a guitarist and composer. Since
working with Sculthorpe on Earth Cry,
Barton has studied with the older composer and now has a number of
works to his own name. But he's still happy to collaborate, and the
other great revelation on this disc is the work that gives it its
title, Kalkadungu.
This piece for orchestra and didj was composed by Barton in
collaboration with Matthew Hindson. It takes as its subject the
violent struggles between Barton's ancestors and the European
settlers moving in to exploit the area's copper reserves. The fact
that the structure is essentially narrative suits the aboriginal
musical techniques that are employed, based as they usually are in
storytelling. The results are impressive, with ideas from native
Australian music – songlines, earthy percussion and, of course, the
didjeridu – clothed in opulent orchestral colour. The didj is
actually used quite sparingly, only making its first appearance in
the fourth of five movements, but it is clearly present in spirit
throughout the work. The interaction between the didjeridu and the
enlarged orchestral percussion section is particularly interesting,
with a range of large, untuned drums complementing the soloist in a
variety of musical contexts.
Only
one work on the disc is credited solely to Barton himself, I
Dream of Sacred...I Am My Dream.
This is a chamber work for soprano, a quintet of piano and winds,
and, as ever, some didjeridu. Again, the overriding impression is of
Western composition and performance conventions being adapted to
music of aboriginal descent. The influence of Sculthorpe is evident
throughout. His mentorship has obviously been productive, and
although the music can occasionally sound immature, it has clearly
been written by a composer confident of his abilities and, just as
importantly, following his own path. There is never any suggestion
here that Barton is trying to make his music more complex or
sophisticated than it actually is in order to fit into the classical
music scene or sound 'contemporary'. The work suggests he still has
some way to go before his written compositions reach the musical
standards he has achieved elsewhere, but it is a big step in the
right direction.
The
remainder of the disc is made up of a range of short samples
demonstrating Barton's versatility as a didj player. The longer
tracks are interspersed with didjeridu solos, each with a different
character and pace. Barton's mother, Delmae, speaks and sings over
some of these, allowing Barton to demonstrate how the didj can
function as accompaniment and doesn't always need the limelight.
There is also an excerpt from Peter Sculthorpe's Requiem, which has a
prominent didj part. This sounds like an ambitious project, involving
choir as well as orchestra, but this single movement doesn't really
provide enough of the work to assess it properly.
But
as with much of the music on this disc, the idea here seems to be to
give a taste of things to come. This is certainly a promising début
album, and it suggests a number of fascinating paths William Barton
could follow in the years to come. Congratulations and thanks should
go to the ABC for their support of this unique talent. Here's hoping
that Barton's future recording projects are afforded similarly high
profile exposure and international distribution.
No comments:
Post a Comment