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STEVIE WISHART | COMPOSER
F E A T U R E S
T H E L A S T D A N C E ?
a b a r o q u e t an g o
BBC Radio 3 and the Dunedin Consort have co-commissioned the composer Stevie Wishartto create a new orchestral piece to conclude Bach's Orchestral Suite No.1 in C major, BWV 1066, for the 2019 BBC Proms.
The work will be given its première at the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday 11 September at 7.30pm, played by leading Scottish baroque ensemble the Dunedin Consort under its director John Butt, and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
On listening to the orchestration and dance rhythms of Bach's original, Stevie has composed a baroque tango inspired by the call of the endangered Hooded Grebe :
The Last Dance?
a baroque tango
The work will be given its première at the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday 11 September at 7.30pm, played by leading Scottish baroque ensemble the Dunedin Consort under its director John Butt, and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
On listening to the orchestration and dance rhythms of Bach's original, Stevie has composed a baroque tango inspired by the call of the endangered Hooded Grebe :
The Last Dance?
a baroque tango
Argentinian Hooded Grebe (Podiceps gallardoi)
Why bring together this Bach Suite and a Tango?
"The idea that sprang to mind was to add a modern dance onto Bach’s sequence of baroque dances. I’m particularly drawn to the sound of the Suite No. 1 because baroque string style (gut strings, and détaché bowing), and the brittleness of the harpsichord continuo, are appropriate to the style of a tango. The bassoon and lower strings are ideal for the tango’s stark marcato bass lines, and the baroque oboes have something of the reed-like quality of the bandoneon. This last dance also recalls the song of the hooded grebe Podiceps gallardoi, the Argentinian water bird whose song will be my theme. Bach’s dances vary in their metre. The the tango’s so-called sincopa (3+3+2), and would be characteristically danceable."
Why “The Last Dance?”
"I have become fascinated with birdsong as a way to learn music and train my ears. Though very complex and nuanced, birdsong remains accessible and inclusive, whereas complex contemporary music is much less so. Birdsong can only be heard when artificial background sound - from cars, piped and amplified music in public spaces, and speakers outside shops - is removed. We all know how different a street feels when there are places for birds, and no cars or piped music. Generating a desire among people to hear birdsong might induce them to consider things such as amplified music in public spaces and parks, or the noise from cars, to be the pollution that they are. My music reaches out to raise awareness of the right to silence, so that we can talk to each other, have the space to think, and to hear nature, the trees, the birds; this feels a very natural extension of my creativity."
The wider picture
"This commission coincided with Jeffrey Skidmore asking me to compose a piece using birdsong at dawn for the magical voices of his choir, Ex Cathedra, composed for performance in Hereford and Birmingham Cathedrals and adaptable to other complex spaces. My current fascination with birdsong arises from my involvement in our fledgling BirdMusic ensemble with musicologist, Professor Amanda Bayley, and neuroscientist, Dr Ian Winter. This group combines musical creativity, education, and research within the context of birds and trees in both city and countryside. So for this piece for the BBC Proms I wanted to keep flying with the birds by combining the sounds of Bach’s orchestration and the dance form of tango with the call of the Argentinian hooded grebe, because its movement is tangoesque and its song is so musical. After deciding to use the call of the hooded grebe for themes for the Tango, I became aware that this bird is "critically endangered" (International Union for Conservation of Nature and BirdLife International). The work's title draws on its plight.”
"The idea that sprang to mind was to add a modern dance onto Bach’s sequence of baroque dances. I’m particularly drawn to the sound of the Suite No. 1 because baroque string style (gut strings, and détaché bowing), and the brittleness of the harpsichord continuo, are appropriate to the style of a tango. The bassoon and lower strings are ideal for the tango’s stark marcato bass lines, and the baroque oboes have something of the reed-like quality of the bandoneon. This last dance also recalls the song of the hooded grebe Podiceps gallardoi, the Argentinian water bird whose song will be my theme. Bach’s dances vary in their metre. The the tango’s so-called sincopa (3+3+2), and would be characteristically danceable."
Why “The Last Dance?”
"I have become fascinated with birdsong as a way to learn music and train my ears. Though very complex and nuanced, birdsong remains accessible and inclusive, whereas complex contemporary music is much less so. Birdsong can only be heard when artificial background sound - from cars, piped and amplified music in public spaces, and speakers outside shops - is removed. We all know how different a street feels when there are places for birds, and no cars or piped music. Generating a desire among people to hear birdsong might induce them to consider things such as amplified music in public spaces and parks, or the noise from cars, to be the pollution that they are. My music reaches out to raise awareness of the right to silence, so that we can talk to each other, have the space to think, and to hear nature, the trees, the birds; this feels a very natural extension of my creativity."
The wider picture
"This commission coincided with Jeffrey Skidmore asking me to compose a piece using birdsong at dawn for the magical voices of his choir, Ex Cathedra, composed for performance in Hereford and Birmingham Cathedrals and adaptable to other complex spaces. My current fascination with birdsong arises from my involvement in our fledgling BirdMusic ensemble with musicologist, Professor Amanda Bayley, and neuroscientist, Dr Ian Winter. This group combines musical creativity, education, and research within the context of birds and trees in both city and countryside. So for this piece for the BBC Proms I wanted to keep flying with the birds by combining the sounds of Bach’s orchestration and the dance form of tango with the call of the Argentinian hooded grebe, because its movement is tangoesque and its song is so musical. After deciding to use the call of the hooded grebe for themes for the Tango, I became aware that this bird is "critically endangered" (International Union for Conservation of Nature and BirdLife International). The work's title draws on its plight.”
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Stevie Wishart
a brief profile |
A brief profile of Stevie Wishart, composer
With her roots in early music, traditional music, and improvisation, Stevie Wishart’s “old-and-new” sound defines her unique contemporary voice as a composer. She studied at the universities of York and Oxford, and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama; and then with John Cage and a Rajasthani sarangi master; and she was a member of the Australian contemporary music group Machine for Making Sense. Wishart explores the liminal spaces – between early and contemporary music, between natural, played and synthesised sounds, and between composition and improvisation. Sometimes her work is very much experimental. It ranges from small chamber pieces for performance in art galleries or museums, to large scale choral pieces. Wishart enjoys teaching composition and is as a performer-improviser who has appeared at the Proms both as singer and as hurdy-gurdy player. Recent works include solo piano pieces for Joanna McGregor; Voicing the Dawn, a vocal piece for Ex Cathedra and some songbirds; and The Seasons, a large-scale choral work for Ipswich Choral Society. Future plans include collaboration with Alice Oswald; a reworking for acoustic instruments of The Sound of Gesture, originally a hybrid electroacoustic composition for solo violin and electronic sound; and a piano concerto for Joanna MacGregor.
www.steviewishart.com
With her roots in early music, traditional music, and improvisation, Stevie Wishart’s “old-and-new” sound defines her unique contemporary voice as a composer. She studied at the universities of York and Oxford, and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama; and then with John Cage and a Rajasthani sarangi master; and she was a member of the Australian contemporary music group Machine for Making Sense. Wishart explores the liminal spaces – between early and contemporary music, between natural, played and synthesised sounds, and between composition and improvisation. Sometimes her work is very much experimental. It ranges from small chamber pieces for performance in art galleries or museums, to large scale choral pieces. Wishart enjoys teaching composition and is as a performer-improviser who has appeared at the Proms both as singer and as hurdy-gurdy player. Recent works include solo piano pieces for Joanna McGregor; Voicing the Dawn, a vocal piece for Ex Cathedra and some songbirds; and The Seasons, a large-scale choral work for Ipswich Choral Society. Future plans include collaboration with Alice Oswald; a reworking for acoustic instruments of The Sound of Gesture, originally a hybrid electroacoustic composition for solo violin and electronic sound; and a piano concerto for Joanna MacGregor.
www.steviewishart.com
T H E S O U N D O F G E S T U R E
For The Sound of Gesture DVD performance, interview, and live performance, click here
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The Sound of Gesture, 2010 |
"In everyday life we look without seeing, hear without listening: when a car passes we think “car” - we may not even notice what colour it is or pause to identify its engine from the engine sound. In life we concentrate on the basics in order to get along. As a composer and performer I want my audience to immerse themselves in the world of sounds I have carefully constructed. In the Sound of Gesture I hope that my musical gestures (those engaged in the act of playing the violin) will engage the audience, to lead them towards the various electronic transformations of the violin-sound as they emerge in the soundscape. Just as a pianist builds anticipation when lifting a hand before bringing it down onto the keyboard, so my visible gestures - themselves triggers to the sounds that accompany or follow - encourage the audience to expect what comes next and to notice when it happens. The Sound of Gesture is all about intensifying the listening experience."
T H E S O U N D O F G E S T U R E I N S T A L L A T I O N
The Sound of Gesture was on show at Netwerk / Center for Contemporary Art, Aalst, Belgium in 2010. This was developed with support from ZKM, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie and the ADK, Akademie der Künste from Germany and follows on from a series of installations Wishart has produced on the visualisation of music with the artist Joan Grounds at the Arts Gallery of NSW, Sydney; with Machine for Making Sense at the Sydney Opera House; and at CACSA Contemporary Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
The Sound of Gesture was on show at Netwerk / Center for Contemporary Art, Aalst, Belgium in 2010. This was developed with support from ZKM, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie and the ADK, Akademie der Künste from Germany and follows on from a series of installations Wishart has produced on the visualisation of music with the artist Joan Grounds at the Arts Gallery of NSW, Sydney; with Machine for Making Sense at the Sydney Opera House; and at CACSA Contemporary Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
T H E S O U N D O F G E S T U R E C D / D V D
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Stevie Wishart, concept, composer and performer
Ⓟ 2010, Stevie Wishart | Ⓒ 2010, Stevie Wishart | Stevie Wishart SW001CD-DVD A hybrid of music technology, interactivity, real-time sound processing, music gesture and the violin, improvisation & electroacoustic composition. The DVD includes videos of the live recordings, and a discussion about music technology and acoustic instruments with Professor Ludger Brümmer of ZKM. Recording enginer Josh Martin. The package comes with fully annotated notes describing the music and technology processes making it a useful tool for music technology students as well as for the general contemporary music audience. |
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