SYNERGY AND ACO COME TOGETHER For a unique ‘cinemusica’ experience percussion which will make its premiere in Cinemusica. “There’s no celeste in my piece but it could be arranged,” chimes in Constable.
Archetypes of fear Perhaps the archetypal “scary” music is that which can be found in Alfred Hitchcock’s ground-breaking masterpiece, Psycho, scored by Bernard Hermann. “Hermann was unfortunately a bit of a failure as a concert composer,” Tognetti explains. “I think it might have been the bane of his existence. He really was desperately trying to be a concert composer – and an accepted one – but didn’t make it.” “As a film composer, I think it’s safe to say that he is standing there in pole position.” Artistic Director and Leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra Richard Tognetti and Synergy Percussion Artistic Director Timothy Constable. Image – Andrew Quilty “It’s scary music, but scary is good,” says Richard Tognetti. “Many people love going to scary films, come to a scary concert.” The Artistic Director of the ACO has joined forces with Synergy Percussion and its Artistic Director Timothy Constable, to create Cinemusica – a concert celebrating the love of film. It will feature a mix of classical works that have been made famous as incidental music, as well as suites of music originally written as film scores. And much of the music in the concert has a darker, scarier edge to it. The pair spoke to Fine Music magazine, at the ACO’s rehearsal rooms, buried several floors underground at East Circular Quay. They agree that film music has been a very important entry point for people to develop an appreciation of music written in the classical style. “It was a way in for myself,” says Constable. Tognetti adds: “I think for many people this is the portal through which you can travel to access musical sounds that you wouldn’t otherwise listen to, and it also helps to underline the incredible influence that 2
April 2016
fineMusic 102.5
has come from music in the 20th century, that still a lot of people are scared of, yet they’ve experienced all their lives without realising”. But the real ‘scariness’ of Cinemusica, which will be performed around Sydney from 2-6 April, isn’t its origin in the 20th century. “Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste is scary otherwise Kubrick wouldn’t have used it (in The Shining),” says Tognetti. “And many other people have used it in delightful ways, in a scary context. It was used in Doctor Who, which used to scare the bejesus out of me.” “Scary can also be extraordinarily beautiful, and in my humble opinion this is one of the most extraordinarily beautiful works written in the 20th century. The most important work written for strings percussion and celeste until…” says Tognetti, pausing to look at Constable. He continues: “…Until this week – it was the only one”. He’s referring to the fact that Timothy Constable had just put the final touches prior to rehearsals, to his new work for strings and
The shower scene with its famous vrink-vrink-vrink soundtrack terrified a generation and re-wrote the rule book on thrillers. Indeed, Bernard Hermann had observed that Hitchcock only finished a film to 60%, and it was up to him to add the rest in the form of the music. How will the film scores ‘work’ in performance without the context of the film and visual references? “There’s two very strong categories of music on this program, and used for film generally,” Tognetti explains. “One is the monolithic theme that stands alone as a work in its own right, and in the case of the Bartok was a work before it was utilised in film. And then there is the more deliberately spare, stripped-back style of music, which deliberately leaves space for the visuals and that emotional landscape to come in.” “In the latter case, if the scene’s really iconic, then people are simply going to recall the imagery, and the emotional world that went with that,” said Tognetti. He continues: “In the case of say the Bartok, bits of it may trigger a similar response, but I think you couldn’t help but be compelled by the fact that it’s such a