Composer Notes:
“Legend said that its players went mad, their nerves shredded by its clarity of sound… it was so beautiful that it stung the brain.” [Science-fiction writer Bruce Sterling’s description of a future Glass Harmonica performance.]
Future images are often founded in the objects of the past. In trying to compose as of yet unheard music I find myself drawn to that which has fallen silent. Lost and forgotten musics are a creative impetus for me. The relics of such musics – ancient manuscripts, depictions of instruments, even legends or fables about music – provide a rich landscape of musical ruins; not for historical reconstruction but for fantasy. The Glass Harmonica, its angelic sound, its beautiful repertory, its reputation for triggering insanity and its virtual extinction was fertile ground to explore in the creation of Fractured Again.
The fact that the instrument is made of glass makes it distinctive. The medium of glass – from ancient Mesopotamian beads to gleaming city towers – captures paradoxical impressions of antiquity and modernity. Reflecting and refracting the world around it, the optical qualities of glass have made the medium visually and conceptually central to object arts, as well as installation, architecture and poetic imagery. The musical qualities of glass, however, remain a poor cousin. Obscure as it may seem today, the Glass Harmonica is but one example of a rich and diverse world of glass-derived sound. From the ancient sounds of the Chinese Shui Chan or Arabic Tusut to the contemporary sounds of Toronto’s Glass Orchestra or the sculpted (and sometimes blood-spattered) noise of Sydney’s own Lucas Abela, the sounds of glass are numerous if not ubiquitous. One of the most noteworthy contributions to the world of glass music comes from the Melbourne-based Glass Percussion Project. Founded by installation artist Elaine Miles and percussionist Eugene Ughetti, several of Elaine’s glass instruments are featured in Fractured Again including chimes, a glass xylophone and glass panels.
The metaphor of glass in Fractured Again, however, runs more deeply than the use of glass instruments as a sound source. Much of the music scored for the more conventional instruments of clarinet, violin and vibraphone has been derived from repertoire written for the Glass Harmonica. For example, there is a faint reflection of Mozart’s Adagio for Glass Harmonica in a clarinet solo towards the centre of the work and a couple of allusions to the ‘God Music’ movement of George Crumb’s Black Angels; a contemporary string quartet that included a symbolic Glass Harmonica in the form of bowed crystal glasses. The references to Mozart and Crumb, however, are misshapen as though they were viewed through a strange and distorted lens. The most tangible reference occurs at the opening of Fractured Again with a rewrite of the ‘mad scene’ from Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor. When Lucia descends into madness after she kills her unwanted husband, her beautiful aria was originally to be accompanied by a Glass Harmonica (in most productions this melody is played by a flute). In Fractured Again, this scene is quite literally ‘fractured’ into thousands of pieces and reassembled like a mosaic, each tiny shard collated to gradually reveal a new form.
The process of fracturing time is also characteristic of the electronic music technique of granular synthesis where the looping and reordering of microscopic samples are used to create something new out of something old: a musical approach that is exemplified by Pimmon whose electronic music in Fractured Again also is mostly derived from the sound of glass.
The theme of glass forms a conceptual gathering point by which diverse media, sound-sources and approaches to composition are melded into a multifaceted whole. Although the presence of the Glass Harmonica is felt throughout Fractured Again, it is heard only fleetingly towards the end of the work. Just as relics remain evocative by what is missing, the reputation of the instrument - the idea of the instrument - resonates more loudly than its delicate actuality. With its reputation preceding it, the instrument finally awakens with a strangely frail and softly-spoken passage before receding into a future no less fragile than its past.
Damien Ricketson
Biographies:
Ensemble Offspring is dedicated to the performance of innovative new music. The ensemble is committed to a living classical-music tradition combining classic 20th century repertoire with new work of our time. Ensemble Offspring is based on the philosophy of promoting artistic integrity, open-mindedness and challenging the way musicians and audiences think about music. Over its 14-year history the Ensemble has developed a reputation for its original programming, performance excellence and successful audience engagement. Highlights have included a European tour as guests of the prestigious Warsaw Autumn Festival, appearances at the Sydney Film Festival, the Canberra International Music Festival, the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Recital Centre.
Damien Ricketson is a composer as well as a founder and Co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring. Damien has developed a reputation for creating music of delicate textures, exotic pitches and open forms. His string quartet So We Begin Afresh received the NSW State Award for Best Composition by an Australian Composer (AMC/APRA 2008). Damien lectures in music at the Sydney Conservatorium.
Claire Edwardes is a leading interpreter of contemporary classical music and Co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring. She has performed concertos with the Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland orchestras and presented solo programs at many international festivals. She has been awarded for her Outstanding Contribution to Australia Music (AMC/APRA 2007) and was named Australian Young Performer of the Year (1999)
James Cuddeford is a violinist, composer and member of Ensemble Offspring. James has performed concertos with orchestras including the Camerata Lysy Switzerland, BBC Scottish National, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Queensland, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. As a chamber musician he performed with the Grainger Quartet, the Sydney Soloists and the Australian String Quartet. James is currently Concertmaster with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
Jason Noble is a clarinetist and member of Ensemble Offspring. As both a soloist and chamber musician Jason regularly appears with specialist new music ensembles. Jason is also involved in the award winning Narakulawala, a collaboration with the Women’s indigenous choir of the Tiwi people, where he has toured Darwin and the Piwi islands. Jason lectures at the Sydney Conservatorium.
Elaine Miles is an established artist working in glass and mixed media installation art. She has exhibited at many noteworthy venues including wPSI art radio (an affiliate of the Museum of Modern Art New York), Roulette Experimental Sound Space (New York), Melbourne Recital Centre (inaugural opening) and Federation Square. Together with musician Eugene Ughetti, she is the founder of the Glass Percussion Project.
Pimmon is the alias for electronic music composer Paul Gough. Paul has forged a reputation for creating dense drone and glitch-based digital soundscapes. Paul has recorded for various international labels including Tigerbeat6 and Fat Cat. He recently released Smudge Another Yesterday (2009, Preservation) and collaborated with Ensemble Offspring on their Kontakte project. Paul also hosts ABC Radio National’s Quiet Space and Paul’s Play Lunch on FBi.
Andrew Wholley is a Sydney-based filmmaker who has worked with music videos, dance & performance films and short drama. He has created vision for live music & performance including the AV design for Legs On The Wall's China Now during the Beijing Olympics 2008, and Smallthing’s production of Ladybird at Belvoir B-Sharp (2009). He directed the feature Left Ear (2007) and his short films as cinematographer have screened at Tropfest and St Kilda Film Festival.
Bob Scott is a versatile and experienced sound designer and recording engineer. He has produced live sound for Nigel Kennedy, Ensemble Modern, the Sydney Symphony, the Sydney Opera House and many new music ensembles. Bob is currently writing the music for Alexandra Harrison’s dance production Dark, Not too Dark and creating the sound design for Opera Australia’s upcoming production of Bliss.
